‘Home’ at Last

I have arrived at long last at my final destination, Penang, Malaysia. I’m sitting in my hotel room relaxing. I’ve finished unpacking all of my things (including the 10 small zippered totes I started the trip with plus the 2 new ones I obtained courtesy of NWA).

As I didn’t get a chance to give my full story of Singapore, I’m going to start there and work my way to Penang, to keep the tale chronologically correct.

I arrived at the Singapore airport around midnight, and it was still pretty bustling. I had no problems changing money, finding a cab and getting to my hotel as English is apparently one of the four official languages of Singapore.

All I can say about the hotel was wow! If you’re going to Singapore, and don’t want to stay in the middle of everything, I highly recommend the Le Meridien Changi Village. There are lots of pictures of the room, and when I get around to uploading them you can check them out.

The room was very modern. I was quite happy to discover that it also had a multi-holed ‘shaver’ outlet in the bathroom. Though this claimed it was for electric razors, I re-tasked it to charge my camera battery. Thank goodness it worked, otherwise I would not have been able to use my camera the next morning.

I hit the roof the next morning to take pictures of the view and the rooftop pool. Then it was off to breakfast, a dream come true for me. It was a lovely buffet featuring foods from several different cultures. I personally stuffed myself with my favorites – chicken steamed buns and guava pastries, chased down by fresh ground espresso and guava juice.

Though I’ve only seen one hotel, and the route to and from the airport, I really think I’m sold on relocating to Singapore. It has all the things I want from life, and for my kids (you know, the ones I don’t have but always seem to be thinking about). It’s culturally diverse, technologically advanced, has beautiful scenery (despite being the country with the second highest population density in the world it is filled with trees, green space and beaches) and it’s warm, oh so wonderfully warm.

At the airport I picked up a power converter for S$4.50 – about $2.70 USD. We really get short changed on the cost of these things in the US, I’m glad I waited to buy one there.

A quick airplane hop (which actually included a hot meal in coach, remember those days?) took me to Penang. At the airport I managed to find a SIM card for one of Grant’s old cell phones, so I’ve got cell coverage the two weeks I’m here. This has Grant very happy, as he seems to think I need a cell everywhere I go. I must admit, had I managed to find a SIM card in Germany last year it would have helped when Grant was stuck in Amsterdam with no way to reach me.

The hotel Equatorial here in Penang is beautiful. I’m about to head off on a photo safari; these pictures too will be posted one day. After my photo safari I’m going to soak up some of this glorious sunshine down by the pool. Life is rough!