Today is our first day in a new country. We arrived in Singapore late last night after a long day of travel. Actually, the flight here was only 2-1/2 hours, but we left Nusa Lembongan on the ferry at 8:30 am, took an hour to cross back to Bali and immediately jumped on a bus to the airport. We were there by 10:30 and our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:40 pm. It turns out the airport is pretty dead until you get into the departure lounge, which you can't do until about 1-1/2 hours before your flight. So we sat around and read, played computer games, and generally killed time. When we finally got into the departure lounge, we fond the duty-free shopping and did the obligatory check of Bombay Sapphire and Cuban cigar prices. Both were very cheap, so we grabbed 2 liters of Sapphire for $25.50. That's total, not each!!!!! We're laughing in our tonic as I'm writing this:) I also grabbed a nice cigar just for the heck of it.

When we finally got to Singapore, we were in for a great shock. The airport is similar to SFO. It is huge, clean, modern and has free internet throughout the terminals. There are clusters of computers scattered around and you can log on for 15 minutes at a time for free. We did a quick check of email, checked the directions to our hostel, and then went through customs and immigration in about 1-1/2 minutes. Very civilized!

The cab ride to our hostel was fun. I had been thinking about an irony for a few days, but it didn't come to pass. For the past 6 months we have been in the southern hemisphere and in every country, people drive on the left hand side (although in Bali they drive wherever the hell they want). When we flew from Bali to Singapore, we crossed back into the northern hemisphere for the first time on the trip. I also thought that driving was on the right hand side, so I was already to write about how the side of the road one drives on is really a function of which side of the equator you're on, but alas, Singapore disproved my theory! We are still in a country that drives on the left hand side of the road:( Now I am shy about predicting when we'll see drivers on the right hand side again.

We arrived at our hostel. A newly remodel traditional 'shop' building in an old historic neighborhood of Singapore which seems to also be a huge 'clubbing' part of town. We got out of the cab to the sounds of disco music and tons of people milling around the streets. We went through a small door in the side of the building and up to our hostel. What a treat once we got inside. A clean comfortable place with AC in every room, free breakfast and internet! I can plug my laptop in at any time and take care of 'stuff'.

Today we are gong out for some shopping. Val wants an Ipod and I am looking at electronics. It's all very cheap here, so we may be upgrading more than just a few items. I wish we had more than a few days here. Even though Singapore is relatively small (1,000 sq/km), there's tons to see.

Look for an update or two from here before we head into Malaysia where it looks like we may be spending more time than originally planned.

Eric and Val