New Zealand

It’s a little after 8 AM when we wake up and sadly enough I didn’t sleep at all. I woke up a couple of times during the night and in a way it seemed to last forever. I guess the jet lag has won the first round, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he has won the entire fight. Instead of moaning about it, I decided to do something about it and today was as good as time to begin with „start to run” as well. It is my first lesson, so I am glad that I survived it about half an hour later. I am just so out of shape! Tania needs to do a bit more since she already underwent the first 10 lessons and boy, can she run. I can only hope that by the time that I reach lesson nr. 10, I can pick up the same speed coz now I look more like a turtle than a bunny!

Once back at the hotel, we first had breakfast and because we were urgently in need of a shower, we decided to just take the biggest bathtub there is and went for a swim as well, it felt like a bliss. The morning went by so very fast and when we finally were ready to explore the city it was already noon.

A few years back we also visited the city, so this time we wanted to do it more in a relaxing manner. Now that we got the idea on how the use the subway, we took it all the way towards Little India where we had a stroll through some of the streets and found some yummy food in the process. And that wasn’t the only thing we found. Ever since Vietnam I wanted to do ear candling and miraculously enough, we found a massage parlor which did this kind of thing. So the opportunity awaited us and we grabbed it with both hands. Half an hour later I can say that it wasn’t all that unpleasant and it really did clean my ears, but my hearing wasn’t better, so no real miracles here!

From India we walked all the way towards Arabia or more precise, Arab Street, but this was kind of a disappointment. I expected more of it, but luckily we walked in the wrong direction (without knowing it) and ended up in another massage parlor where we escaped from heavy rainfall and enjoyed a sometimes „relaxing" foot massage. It felt like walking on air when we arrived back on the street, it really felt good and I just can’t wait for the next massage. Bring it on!!

As it was getting darker and darker already we decided to go all the way back to the Raffles hotel, which was a bit overcrowded, but on the other hand, I guess it is always like that.

Not yet in the mood for a cocktail, but more for some real food, we stopped at a Mexican restaurant we tried out a few years back and boy, it was still delicious.

With the sun (not that we had seen it for most of the day) entirely gone, we walked all the way back to our hotel, but not feeling completely tired yet, we decided to have another look at Chinatown and to be more precise, the market near Temple Street, but for some reason when we arrived, it wasn’t as popular as a few years back. Maybe it isn’t really the season yet, but I remember it more being fully crowded, now it looked so sad coz although most of the shops were open, there were still many of them which were closed as well. 

By the time we arrived back at our room it was already pretty late, but updating this blog made it even later, so by the time it was almost 1 AM, I said goodnight to Tania and closed my eyes. I guess Mr. Sandman won this battle.

It’s 1 AM in the morning when we finally reach the transit zone of the airport and although not much is open at that moment, we do manage to find a Burger King and if you are hungry, you can’t pass on such an opportunity so, we ordered some fries with chicken thingies.

With our tummies filled, we slowly walked back towards the boarding gate and about an hour later we could finally board on our Boeiing 777 and let me tell you one thing, Airbus is the best, Boeiing sucks majorly. I personally think that Mr. Boeiing should go and have a look at the competation coz his airplanes aren’t the best around. Although the interior is still the same, we quickly found out that we had ample space and unlike the previous flight, this one was completely packed, no seats were left untouched so to speak.

Me and Tania made the best of it and as soon as we got our drinks (which took a while I might add), I selected a music list which could get me through this 8 hour flight and I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

I was surprised that I actually dozed off from time to time, but as I woke up again, we still had 3 hours to go. It seems this flight was going to take forever, back to the music it is.

Luckily however, time went by and about 3 hours later, we safely landed into Singapore, the Lion City.

Getting through customs is not all that difficult and goes rather swiftly, the same can be said for getting our luggage, but taking the subway is a totally different story. How difficult can it be, you can ask yourself!?

Till now we never had troubles and last time we visited Singapore we took a taxi, now I know why!!!!

Finding the MRT wasn't too big of a problem, but getting a ticket, now that is something entirely different. First you have to take a ticket from a ticket machine which doesn’t except a credit card. This means you have to find cash money. Not all that difficult of course, but than when you finally find an ATM, you receive only large notes and when you want your ticket, make sure you have small change coz they don’t except anything else! If this isn’t nerve-racking, I don’t know what is. Luckily we found someone who could change some money and after more than half an hour walking from one place to another, we finally hold our single ticket in our hand, live can be sweet sometimes!

We still needed to wait for a couple of minutes and of we went, towards Clarks Quay, where our hotel is situated. I must say that I was surprised to see the distance between the airport and the centre of town, we even needed to change lines a few times but in the end we made it to our hotel about an hour later. I guess taking a taxi would have been a lot easier, but that’s something for later this week!

Thanks to our friendly receptionist, we even got an upgrade (basically just a standard room WITH window) and thanks to his fast service, we could drop off our bags immediately and a little after 5 PM we were back on the streets again, ready to discover the Lion City for the second time around.

Sadly enough it started to rain but it's not like the both of us were made out of sugar (some saying we have in Belgium), so we took our chances and started walking all the way towards the Marina Bay area.

It still keeps to amaze me how big those skyscrapers look like and the darker it becomes, the more I love to gaze at them. Simply one word comes to my mind … amazing!

It is almost 10 PM when we finally arrive back at hour hotel and after walking for such a long time the only thing I want to do is sleep and that is just the thing I am going to do!

As my alarm clock went off at 5.30 AM, the first thing that went through my mind was how I could silence that small annoying thing. It took me a few tries, but after a minute or so I finally hit the right button and not totally awake yet, I crawled out of bed with a big smile on my face, after all … today was the day I was counting down for, for quite a long time if I have to be honest and although it seemed to take forever, I was more than happy to see the months, weeks, even the days pass by, so that today I could finally leave for the furthest place I have ever been.

Excited as I was, I needed a good splash of cold water to wake me up properly and as soon as I got dressed, I woke up my parents who were going to bring me towards Tania’s place, but not before we had one last breakfast together.

With my bags packed safe into the trunk of my car, the three of us left at about 6.45 AM and although we needed to drive about 30 kilometers towards Hemiksem, it felt like eternity getting there. As soon as we got on the highway, we drove from one traffic jam into another. After about half an hour we got sick of it, left the highway and took our chances at the secondary roads and the only thing I can say : thank the Lord for the miracle that is GPS.

Although we drove from one red light to another, we still managed to arrive in time at Tania’s place, a little after 8.30 AM. We crossed lots of small towns and cities, but hey, we made it in time and that is the thing that counts the most.

Upon our arrival, Tania’s parents where there as well. They were going to bring us to the airport of Schiphol, where we arrived about a few hours later and after searching for a nice enough spot to leave the car behind, we could finally begin our first important thing of the day, CHECK IN!!!

Surprisingly enough it went very smoothly, it is like Tania said, who the heck is traveling to Dubai on a Tuesday, apparently not many people, but we are the lucky ones!

As soon as we got rid of our bags, we strolled along the many shops of the airport, found a good enough place at the local Starbucks for our traditional cup of coffee and together with a sandwich, it was more than a perfect lunch for me.

Sadly enough it was also time to say our goodbyes to Tania’s parents and as soon as we got through customs and we waved our last goodbye, we could finally start our new adventure.

Because we still had a bit of time to kill before we could board, we walked along a few shops, did a bit of „window-shopping”, catched up on recent things that happened in our lives and even found time to have another delicious drink. Are we good or are we good!

Like everything else today (besides the traffic in Belgium), boarding went quickly as well and as I walked through the plane of Emirates, I must say that I liked it immediately. The design of the interior is light and cozy looking, the stewards handsome and I didn’t even began to tell you about the space… and we are in economy! Me like this so far!

Even the inflight selection of movies and music is amazing and as soon as we were airborne, I felt that the time was right to watch a movie. "Hercules" is my choice of the moment. My dad is constantly talking about that movie, so I was a bit intrigued and after watching it, I must say that it wasn’t all that bad. Not something I could say about the white wine I chose, but hey, it certainly made me feel a bit woozy and heavy in the legs, so somehow I guess it did its trick. I know what I am going to order on my next flight.

And it doesn’t stop with wine either, at any given moment, they even resort to pouring us other drinks such as water, juices to even the known hot ones. It feels like paradise in the sky, can things get even better?

Yes, it can … I forgot the ice cream … man, I died and gone to heaven! I sound like a first timer don’t I … Oh what the hell, see if I care!

With still a bit of time to spare I resorted to watching another movie. This time it is „Into the storm” and although I liked the trailer, the whole movie is kind of odd but one thing I know for sure, please don’t let it storm when we arrive in NZ coz I don’t like experience something like that.

I guess there wasn’t even a better timing coz as soon as the movie ended, we were ready to land and like predicted nothing went wrong, no storm outside only hot temperatures and me like this very much. On the other hand, who wouldn’t be happy with 28 degrees Celcius after midnight.

DUBAI you are a country to my heart, I know we will meet again one day or another!