Frugal Bastard's Cruise 2008 - Day 11 - October 14th 2008

Last morning overseas today. Chinatown was our destination before returning home. Quite warm. Quite a bit to see too. One or two shop owners in Chinatown got upset when asked for a discount. One Indian man told us that the price was S$6 for one item but that we shouldn't pay attention to that as he would discount it. It was only S$3 a few doors down and it was quite difficult to tell the shops apart once you'd finally made up your mind what you wanted to buy.

Singapore - old meets new.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Inside Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Another shot inside Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

Chinatown markets.

The Boy got a seat on the MRT. Premium item this.


I bumped into the t-shirt seller from Bugis Junction market who recognised me from a few days ago. Miky found a Chinese antique dealer just outside of the markets and haggled seriously with him for a jewelry box. He discounted below his normal price because it was our last day of shopping and looked in great pain to sell. Further down South Bridge Road we came across the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. [Editor's note - I had to search through my credit card statement to find the jewelry shop name, locate the street, use Google Maps to find the temple so that I could work out what the name was.]

We headed over to Food Republic (where else?) for lunch, and I had delicious Thai food - pad thai, after I called my friend Vanessa who couldn't make it. It was a bit much expecting her to be able to meet us at such short notice.

We decided to buy some luggage and Miky boasted about how well her bag had served her for 10 years. As a freebie we received a pearl for purchasing the bags. Back at the hotel we repacked our luggage and the concierge said that he would dispose of our old bag. They were so helpful at the Concorde.

I got in a little bit of trouble at the airport when my bag was x-rayed and I was told that there was a bottle of water inside. Well, I knew damn well that there wasn't and said so. After looking through my bag the lady official didn't find it and so she rechecked. Right down the bottom at the back was a bottle of water, and a magazine, that had been weighing me down the whole time we'd been walking around Singapore. I rather sheepishly apologised but it was an honest mistake. I had no idea that the bottle was there or had any intention of smuggling it onto the plane.

On the flight we were split up again and I said that I'd swap seats with Miky to play games against Yu-Jin. Following the meal I went to change seats and when I told her that I was sitting next to a fat, smelly older bloke for some strange reason she was happy in her seat and refused to change. Dammit. Watched Indiana Jones and read The Financial Times. The plane, being code-shared between Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic, was pretty well packed and the cabin crew offered great service. As we came into land one of the overhead compartments opened, which is something you don't see too often, and it was a bit shaky. We didn't have any problems with immigration/customs bringing in our wooden jewelry box, coral collected in Thailand and chocolate.

Weight gain for the holiday was 1.5kg. Once we returned home Miky's old luggage pretty much disintegrated. Perfect timing.