Steamy goodbye

Hello from Singapore!

We booked a stopover in the city when DD thought he had a conference there … But it got cancelled.

Damn!

So he’s flying home today and I’m hanging around until Friday.

I wish he could stay, but it’s his son’s 18th birthday and he wants to be there to give him a congratulatory hug.

I’m sure I’ll manage to adult on my own for a few days, since I lived here for two years when I was editor of Singapore CLEO.

But I will miss DD very much. We’ve had the best time together in Italy and Switzerland. Bulk fun!

Even the flight to Singapore tickled me. Though I was a bit appalled by how DD positioned his bare feet on the plane.

We flew Finnair, which was pretty cool. Marimekko slippers for the flight, a blueberry liqueur and champers aperitif, a choice of reindeer and roasted Arctic char for dinner …

I went for the char, which turns out to be some sort of fish. It looked a little scary but was delicious, served with cabbage, lemon and lingonberries.

We had time for a quick dash through Helsinki airport duty free – after scoring a Finnish stamp in our passports – where we managed to spend all my euros on Finnish chocolate, dried lingonberries and booze.

Oh and they even had reindeer rugs for sale! It was a buzz to see all the Finnish products, but we were running late for our connecting flight, so there was no time to explore all the fascinating shops.

Now we’re staying at a hotel in Singapore that’s right next door to where I used to live. I thought it would help me feel more settled to be surrounded by familiar things. I’ve pointed out my old 18th storey apartment to DD and taken him across to my old favourite dodgy Chinese restaurant – Fatty’s – for dinner.

Fatty’s features scuzzy plastic tables and chairs under the stars and we were fortunate enough to have a little breeze in the alley as DD sipped his cold beer.

The Indonesian chicken and beef Kway Teow were just the way I remembered, as were the waiters from 16 years ago.

Then we wandered through the lively local markets and down to Rafffles Hotel for cocktails in the Long Bar that rivalled Switzerland with their price tags.

I was so buzzed to be back in my local neighbourhood, but DD was shattered by jetlag so we called it a night.

An old rickshaw driver offered us a $30 ride back to our hotel … Four or five blocks away … But we decided to skip the old-time ambience for the sake of our bank balances.

I can’t believe our holiday together is over tonight.

Sob.

Here are some motley snaps …