Day 27 (Sunday 12th November 2006)

Today was a very long day! Our heads had barely touched the pillow when we were being ushered in a taxi to the the train station at Jerantut, where we had a lovely 10-hour train ride down to Singapore awaiting us. No wonder it's such a long time...we sat at Jerantut station for an hour before even going anywhere

When we finally reached Singapore, without getting much sleep we must add, we were amazed at how short the crossing was from Malaysia...Marc reckons he could throw a stone from one country to the other! Once there, we started causing chaos...

..Having never been to Singapore before, when the train stops at the station and everyone gets off, you kinda' assume that that's the station, right? Well we did and after going through passport control and filling in a few immigration papers, we casually strolled our way around. So after Sarah had nipped to the loo while Marc watched the bags, he then went in to drain the main vein. While Marc was taking his time in the little boys room, Sarah was finding herself on the recieving end of some menacing glares from the guards. So Marc's now poncing about in the mirror, totally oblivious to what's going on outside and the glares poor Sarah's recieving have turned to barks from the Singaporian officials.

"Get on the train...get on the train" they were shouting, even the cleaners were getting involved! Marc, now looking his best, came out of the toilet and sensing the tension, casually asked them "what train's that then guys?"..."This one outside that has been waiting for you for the last five minutes", snapped a now seething guard.

Ok, so it turns out that this was just passport control at the border and that the whole train was waiting for us to get back on so they could get to the station!! You're supposed to just fly through with your passport and get straight back on...whoops!!

Now at the real station, we stumbled off with our bags and looked at each other as if to say what now. It was coming up to 12:00 midday and our flight wasn't until 19:25. We stepped outside the station, half expecting a Singaporian 'Frankie' or 'Bob' to pop up and show us around, but instead all we were faced with was a suffocating heat, enclosed by a galaxy of skyscrapers.

We flagged down a taxi and told the driver to take us to a McDonalds and a pharmacy..."Orchard Road" he replied and within a few minutes we were there. The place was like West Quay shopping centre, only a million times bigger and fancier...Kaileah you'd have been in your eliment! The place was heaving and the Christmas decorations were up, and with everyone speaking English (and looking Asian), we felt like we were right back at home!!

We weren't there for long, but just long enough for Marc to buy a fridge magnet!! The place was so big we failed to find McDonalds, but settled for a Burger King instead (we hardly ever eat them back home, but just craved some good old English junkfood). Our most important stop before getting a taxi to the airport was the pharmacy...and that's all thanks to you doctor Pete!

Whilst in the Malaysian jungle, a risk area itself so we've learnt, our friend Pete, who happened to be a pharmacist back home before he left, could not believe that our doctor surgeries had been so neglegable. According to him, anyone going to Thailand and critically places like Koh Chang, should be taking the preventative measures, not to mention the Malaysian jungle and Lombok, the place that triggered the whole conversation. He told us that in Lombok it's a serious problem!

Already scratching the countless bumps all over our bodies, we listened to his slightly alarming news, while he quickly turned to his notepad. Bless him, he wrote down all the different types of tablets we could take, their side effects and course of treatment. He also pointed out a couple of drugs that were antibiotics and would help if we had already been infected...great!!

So here we were Pete and at the counter, the lady prescribed us 8-tablets each of Lariam (Mefloquine). As she beautifully put it, if we are 'carriers' then it will also help, but it comes with some lovely side effects, including pshycotic reactions...brilliant!! As if Marc hasn't got enough bodily malfunctions going on right now!!

After a quick cake and coffee at a cafe, we chucked our first tablet in our mouths and swallowed it down...so far so good...but how could you tell if Marc really was going mad??

A crazy taxi driver,who also seemed to be alarmed about us and infectious diseases, also told us of 'Dengue fever' (some horrible Asian thing that we'd never heard of)! He was worried about how much Marc was scratching and proceeded to give him a lecture.."you not read books, no?"!! He couldn't drop us off quick enough, well I guess I did have Sars and we checked in for our flight to Bali.

By now us and our bags were truly starting to reek. A concoction of damp clothes, the Malaysian jungle and the stench of a leaked bottle of insect repellent had taken hold of our bags and we must have cleared several lounges and cafeterias before we boarded the plane. In the world's most clean and hygenic city, stood us, wafting through like a pair of green clouds! The smell of Sarah's little rucksack was so bad at this point, that we were forced to bin it! Don't be surprised if you hear Singapore airport has been closed down for fumigation in the next few days. Sarah bought a new little funky backpack and we boarded the plane.  

We arrived in Bali about 22:00ish and after briefly thinking we were millionaires (withdrawing 1,600,000 Indonesian Rupiah...about 100 quid) we grabbed a taxi to the hotel. Pete and Jodie you're right by the way, we did have to pay US$25 for a 2-week-plus visa. The wina hotel (www.winahotel.com) is lovely (except for some wierd smell from the water) but we are in the major tourist hub, Kuta. We have one more day tomorrow to suss it all out, before we decide what we want to do with ourselves. At the hotel, we arrived just in the nick of time for Marc to flick on the tv and watch Arsenal teach Liverpool a footballing lesson!!

Miss you all x

Well done to Spartans, great win!! A first division scalp ay? Well done "Beast", what a legend and well done Tom...but we all know who will forever be the first BDML Spartans competitive hat-trick scorer...! Cheers for the update 4pers and hope you didn't cry too much over the footy!!

Sarah says how's Charlene getting on with her mini...how many times has it broken down so far????