A farewell to Africa - well South Africa anyway. Have to say I really enjoyed it, probably more than I thought I would, if I'm completely honest!!

Bit of a shaky start, what with lack of sleep, ear infection and a "oh my god what am I doing - am I mad??" type feeling going on, but once I got going I was okay.

All the Africans I met were incredibly friendly and welcoming and helpful and although I mostly stayed inside the tourist bubble, I never once felt threatened or in danger. I think I only got approached by beggars twice & each time they were completely apologetic about it. Also, when street hawkers approach you, as soon as you say "no thankyou" they leave you alone straight away, no hassling or anything - which is really refreshing. Most things in SA are very cheap, so it is very easy to spend money very quickly!!

What struck me most in SA was the amount of space they have - and in a bizarre kind of way, the way their building/infrastructure has grown reminds me very much of parts of the US that I have been. The cities have a small district with skyscrapers & the like and then the rest of the city is 2 or 3 storeys high. There are enclaves of large, spacious houses for the well off, then areas of small 2 or 3 room bungalows for the not so well off. Fortunately they haven't quite got to "strip malls" along the main roads, but I suspect that may happen soon enough. One other thing that struck me, was that there was a lot of roadside enterprise - people just setting up stalls along the road, or stuff in their houses/backyards/sheds etc, which is also very remininscent of the US for me. That sort of stuff just doesn't happen in the UK. The shanty towns, however, are a whole different story.

The other thing that struck me, was how brown everything was - I don't know, I think I expected it to be a bit greener and in places it was, but it wasn't the kind of lush green I was expecting. The earth was either red or a light dusty brown or just plain sand and where there was green, you almost felt it was there on sufference, because it was agriculture and man made in a way and it felt kind of sparse, with the dusty brown still in the background waiting to take over again. The only place that felt kind of lush & overgrown was in the Kruger, but that really was only because they had had floods 3 weeks prior, so the vegetation was simply being opportunistic!

So, on to Singapore and I don't think I could have chosen two more contrasting places if I'd tried - one spacious, dusty brown and mostly slow paced, one cramped, lushly green and seemingly awake 24 hours a day!!

Flight to Singapore was okay, but long!! 13.5 hours, some of which was due to stopover in Jo'burg, which took at least 3 hours. The service was great, the food ok, but was disappointed with the seat. Maybe I'm spolit by Virgin & BA business class, but I expect a flat bed in business class & although my seat did fully extend on Singapore Airlines, it was not flat - I am not the kind of person who can sleep while they are sliding down out of their seat!! Plus, after a perfectly smooth flight, turbulence started after it got dark. Fortunately I did pack a sleeping tablet, unfortunately I was so busy watching a film & eating dinner I missed the opportunity to take it - I had less than 5 hours of flight left and the tablets knock you out for at least 8 - so no real sleep for me again!!

Transfer was a little late, but got to Trader Hotel ok and decided to upgrade to one of the business club rooms - key benefit being access to the Club lounge, where you have free tea/coffee/soft drinks all day, which as it was chucking it down when I arrived, seemed like a good idea - especially as the desk clerk said it would probably rain for the next 3 days!!

Hit the lounge for a cup of tea and then went back to my room to try & get some sleep before my Night Safari tour in the evening.