I visited UK as part of a school trip spanning from 29th May to 9th June. The cost was somewhat reasonable, at around SGD $3000 (with a school subsidy of $800). The cost can only be regarded as “somewhat” because many (at least 5) meals where not provided for. Moreover, we did not have a direct flight there but had to transit twice (more on the flight later) and that we had to take Royal Brunei Airlines. The “reasonable” bit comes in after you consider that the places we visited could amount to $100-200, and the (5) performances were an expensive ₤87 English Pounds (~$260). Moreover, the standard of living in UK is very high (hence costly hotels, meals, etc). On the whole, the trip was rather tiring but enjoyable.
Day 1: 29th May (Monday)
Locations: Singapore/ Brunei
I arrived in Changi International Airport at 12.45pm to discover that the fight was “re-timed”. This was a euphemism for “delayed” as the flight was in fact “delayed” by 1 hour. This was good news actually, because it meant that we need not spend too much time in transit at Brunei. Not that I don’t like that place but I don’t like the nature of transition. Quite shockingly, no one realised this, or at least, they did not bother to disturb the teachers about this.
The flight was around an hour and a half and was fine, though there were namely 3 weird things going on. Firstly, there was liquid (floating in the air, not leaking from the plane) being released from the sides of the Airbus 319 we were on. Secondly, despite having televisions, and that the cost of recording a simple programme be insignificant to a medium scale airlines like Royal Brunei Airlines, the safety instructions were “performed” to us by the air stewards and stewardess. Thirdly, a few cans (I think 2 for each cabin) of aerosol was sprayed before landing at Brunei. At least they served us lunch which was quite nice (much better than the Hong Kong noodles served by Singapore International Airlines which I was on a couple of years ago). It was something new to me that Royal Brunei Airlines, based in Brunei an Islamic country, actually played a video of a Muslim prayer before the aircraft engines were even started. Moreover, the direction of Mecca was constantly being shown alongside with the flight statistics. Maybe the Vatican City should do the same thing if they ever establish an airline company themselves.
Transiting in Brunei was rather boring, nothing much to do whatsoever, so I read the little yellow book which was given to us before the trip for the trip of which I had been reading during the flight to Brunei. Of course, we played simple games too. One important thing to note if you are even buying any mineral water from Brunei: while it seems to be more expansive to buy from a café than a convenience stall, it is not so in the airport there; the café sells 500ml of water at $1.50 (Brunei Ringgit) but the convenience stall sell 600ml of water at $2.00 (Brunei Ringgit).
Day 2: 30th May (Tuesday)
Locations: Dubai/ London
Because of time difference we “gain” 7 hours by travelling to London from Singapore. Thus effectively, by the time we reached Dubai for a transit, it was already Tuesday in Singapore but still Monday in London. Nevertheless, we waited for a long time in Dubai to disembark because we are transit passengers. Our boarding pass was also kept and a hard plastic tag (of which I got a broken one which was held together with 3 staple bullets of which 1 has came off already) was given to us to exchange for the boarding pass at the end of the transit. Because of this long wait, 1 hour seemed short and we are left with only around 10-20 minutes to go to the washroom.
We reached London in the morning, at around 6-7am. Heathrow was already busy by then, and the temperature was spring-like (cold), and I guess it should be less than 20 degree Celsius. Apparently, the bus was too small to fit in every single one of our luggage and many were left in the open cold waiting; we were in the warm bus waiting for the teachers to settle the issue while the tour guide for the day distributed tube (train in London) maps and stuff. Afterwards, it seems that the luggage was brought to the hotel first while the rest of us went around London.
In the morning we visited the Tower of London, and on the trip there, the tour guide was explaining to us almost everything about London. It seems that everyone was so tired that we were quite unresponsive… Anyway, the Tower of London was quite interesting, and we finally got a taste of how pricy the items in London are (just check the prices in the gift shop there). Lunch was at Pizza hut, and we did a bit of shopping at Covent Garden. After lunch, we went to the London Eye, after what seemed like 10-20 minutes of walking. The system there returned inconsistent results: we were split into 3 groups and while my group was the last group that queued up, it was the first of the 3 that got up the London Eye. The souvenirs were sold in an unusual location where the queue was moving (relatively) fast. The sun caused the cameras a lot of trouble with harsh reflections, and I’m very glad that I brought along a polariser!
Dinner was at Jury’s Inn where we stayed and was a simple fare of soup and chicken with potatoes. The room was fine though the bed size was disproportional, where one was larger than the other and the number of pillows was odd. We went to Sainsbury, a local supermarket, under the leadership of our teacher Mr. Koh and I bought 1kg worth of mints and many other things. Upon return to the hotel, my card stopped functioning and for the rest of the days we were there, it worked only when it liked to (which is not that often most unfortunately).
Day 3: 31st May (Wednesday)
Locations: London
We visited Globe Theatre in the morning. Quite a fine place though the prices at the gift shop was way too inconsistent. There were 2 bags of similar quality but with a different design, and it cost a huge difference of a few pounds. We had a “picnic lunch by the Thames” but actually it was us + benches + the Thames + sandwich + a can of coke. The vegetarian sandwich was excellent, and the main ingredients (if I remembered correctly) were cheese, sun sweet tomatoes and basil.
We went to Tate Modern Gallery next and the artworks there were all quite interesting. In fact, we (in this case some of my class people and me) visited all the galleries that are free before heading down to the gift shop. I bought quite a bit of things there too. When we were leaving, I spotted graffiti on the wall of the gallery that says: “Climbing up the walls”. Maybe it isn’t graffiti but a piece of art; maybe not.
Next we went to Totterham Court Road area and did more shopping. The most interesting thing here is a toilet. Not an ordinary toilet but one that is designed like a vending machine, where you pay 20 pence and the door opens for you to go in and use it. It is also quite awkwardly placed in the middle of a large pavement.
We watched ‘Smaller’ at Lyric Theatre at night. Quite an interesting performance pity it was with such a strong English accent, and I couldn’t really understand the jokes. At least it was still interesting (from what I could understand) and I did not fall asleep.
Day 4: 1st June (Thursday)
Location: London
Early in the morning we visited University of College London. The presentation was fine though it was weird that the presenter actually has one slide talking about the percentage of male and female students and claiming that they are a gender balanced school (or something like that). Next was the tour around the college which was also fine, though I must comment that there is definitely a need for more toilets there. Near noon time, light “snacks” were served, which I gladly regarded as a free lunch.
Kew Gardens was the next stop. It was really different from the botanic gardens we have here in Singapore. Firstly, it is much quieter, rather noise free and peaceful. Secondly, the greenery there is more (well) green; trees from temperate countries seem to have a darker shade than those in equatorial countries. Thirdly, the atmosphere was better, perhaps because there was little (if any) evidence of unnecessary trimming or maintenance and the foliage there look natural, whereas in Singapore, all the plants seem to be “built”. One example is the evolution garden, which is present in both Singapore and Kew Gardens. The one in Kew Gardens look much more natural albeit smaller, as real (or real-looking) decorations were used instead of the blatantly fake ones we see in Singapore. Another example is the roads that we walk on. In Singapore, roads (concrete and brick roads) are laid out while in Kew Gardens, they look more natural (perhaps because roads were made of more rocky like material). The gift shop is one of the most expensive ones there, though the smaller stalls outside as slightly cheaper (but still relatively expensive). Generally, the grass is greener on the London side.
Performance at night was ‘Chicago’. Moderately interesting but deserve credit as it was the only musical we went for. Ticket was too expensive since there were no special props or elaborate costumes. Theatre was quite cramped too, one of the worst. One more thing, smoking as part of the performance did not help much too.
Day 5: 2nd June (Friday)
Location: London
In the morning, we visited the London School of Economics. We waited a long time before we could go in (I wonder why) and there was a period of photo taking frenzy. The presentation was fine, though everyone became more responsive to the question “any questions”, after we were all told to prepare questions beforehand in the bus trip. An interesting thing to note was that they had a 49% international student population, which is very large. Generally, the toilets were very accessible though the place is very small (for a university).
Lunch was picnic (again), and it was an improvement over the previous one as it was us + benches + a park = beautiful grass and flowers and trees + wraps + a can of coke. The duck wrap I got was very nice, though the meat was rather tough. We had loads of spare time after the meal and everyone seemed to be half their age, playing catching (or variants of) in the park. The park was actually just outside the Imperial War Museum, so after resting for an hour or so, we strolled quite contentedly into the museum.
The museum was quite well designed and the exhibitions were very attractive. Some things you will never see in Singapore include: Hitler’s speeches, the anti-Semitism remarks and propaganda tools (all we have are the Japanese version of World War 2). Compared to museums we have in Singapore, the Imperial War Museum seems to be more realistic and impressive; Singapore’s museums are too specific and informative based (often overtly simple explanations), and lack the depth and scale that can be seen in the Imperial War Museum. The gift shops are worth a visit and their postcards are unusually cheap (for a gift shop) but also very boring. The things in the restaurant are relatively expensive too.
After dinner was another performance, ‘The Field’ by the Tricycle Theatre. The theatre is very small; the seats were just temporarily built stands. Nevertheless, there was quite a bit of leg room. Storyline is a typical one (remember the graph your teachers teach you to take note when writing an essay) but it was quite well acted out. The interval was well placed, ending in a cliff hanger and leaving you actively wondering what would happen soon (though you probably can easily predict what would happen). Once again, there was smoking, and it didn’t help much. A pity was the use of some Irish (or whatever) accent, of which I hardly understand. On the whole it was still not too bad, save for the smoking bit and my inability to understand much of the accent.
Day 6: 3rd June (Saturday)
Location: London/ Warwick/ Stratford
We went out of London for the first time in the trip to Warwick. We didn’t visit the town but went to Warwick Castle instead. By the time we reached there and got in, it was already reaching 11am. I felt that the most interesting demonstration was the trebuchet (at 11.30am I think) and so I was waiting for it to start near the benches around the area while I started to eat lunch. The demonstration area was on an “island” (a designated area that is separated from the rest of the castle land by a river) and it was entirely sealed of before the demonstration. Across that island was a slope filled with grass, and that’s where everyone sat on as it gave the best view. There are benches littered all over the surrounding area, though they might be further away (compared to the slope) and your view might be blocked by tress (though this mean you get shade). The demonstration was most interesting when the shot was fired, though I was a bit disappointed that they threw such a small (relatively speaking) stone. The sun was too strong that day, and even with a lens hood, there was still clear evidence of lens flare. The gift shop had an unusual corner where Cadbury bars were sold; it was not really a souvenir and I wondered why it was there. There was also an exorbitantly priced service outside the gift shop, which is a certificate printing shop, where computers analyse your name and your characteristics are shown. ₤5 for a piece of paper is certainly not worth it, considering that you can buy 4-5 cheap lunches in Singapore, and maybe up to 2 very cheap lunches in London.
More travelling brought us to Stratford where we visited Shakespeare’s Birthplace and Visitor Centre. We can attribute it as “incredible”: incredibly small. There was not much to see though the gardens had a generous variety of flowers. Though it looked quite artificial (worse than botanic gardens), at least the flowers looked nice. The other exhibitions and the real life model of Shakespeare’s house (where he was born) were far too small. We took only about half an hour to see the exhibition (very small place) and even the gift shop was cramped.
Dinner was on our own once again, and I got MacDonald’s for dinner, just to see whether it was better than Singapore, or worse. I wouldn’t have minded going to the fish and chips shop down the road, if only I knew that they accept takeaways… Anyway, MacDonald’s was nothing like Singapore’s: the burger was too small, too fried (I bought Fish Filet) and too expensive. Considering that in Singapore, MacDonald’s pricing is above the average of the food here, but that in UK, it was lower than the average of the food there, the lack in quantity was somewhat justified. The salad and milk shake was excellent though, a pity that the burger was that poor. We sat in the park in a relatively shady area with trees and shrubs around us. Other people, I am guessing mostly, if not all, natives, started sunbathing.
The evening performance for the day was ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by the Royal Shakespeare’s Company, as excepted. While there was aspects of modernity and creativity in the performance (e.g. the use of metal structures as a tower and imitating tap dancing during fight scenes), they still used old English. I didn’t really understand it, though the actors quite understood that we didn’t understand old English and used many elaborate actions to express certain things for easier understanding (that’s 4 understand in 3 forms in a single sentence!). It was quite interesting, though I almost fell asleep in the middle, the part where it was building up to the climax. The price was quite reasonable, considering that the actors were good, there were many actors, and that it was by the Royal Shakespeare’s Company. Though I am quite sure they profited quite a bit from this, since there was no elaborate costumes and props, the script was already written (by Shakespeare of course), and that all they needed to do was to modify it slightly.
We did not stay in Stratford but travelled to a traveller’s inn, which is somewhat like a motel, in Birmingham. Strictly speaking, we did not stayed in Birmingham, but only went near the area though the address of the traveller’s inn was Birmingham.
Day 7: 4th June (Sunday)
Location: Birmingham/ Oxford
It was already 12++am when we reached Birmingham, hence we can consider it as being a new day. It was chilling cold in midnight and the wind didn’t help. We took sometime to check in, and it was 4 to a room (instead of 2 to a room previously in London). We were informed that we can wake up late, not because we slept late, but because there was some law in UK that stated that bus drivers could not work for more than 17 hours a day (as it might get dangerous). Technically we didn’t work our bus driver for so long, because he wasn’t there when we were shopping or watching performances, so he could have rested. Either way, the bus driver stayed with us for the night. The room was cramped and definitely not designed to fit 4 people. The shower had a stupid system that (I think) goes like this as you turn the knob (one directional): no water – hottest water – hot water- warm water – colder water – ice water – stop. They also encourage us to “save the world” by putting up signs entitled “50 ways to save the world”. I suggest that it should be renamed to “50 ways to save money for the traveller’s inn” as one of the suggestions was to put towels on the towel rail. This would indicate that you wish to reuse the towel and not get a new one (you get a new one by placing it in the bath tub).
Breakfast was on our own, and fortunately I brought along breakfast bars. We watched Spongbob Squarepants in the room and it was an episode I didn’t watched before. There was also a large group of stores which is a car park away from the inn. Restaurants, shops, food, you can find many things a traveller need in there.
We left the inn and travelled to Oxford, and fortunately, it wasn’t that long a journey (compared to Warwick to Stratford or Stratford to Birmingham). There, we toured around the Oxford Colleges under the leadership of some students there (all alumni perhaps, or at least international students with a Singaporean majority). Nothing much to do in Oxford albeit some shopping. Shops closed quite early as it was Sunday.
Nearing evening, we had a short trip to one of the hostels in Oxfords. While we were promised to be grouped into groups of 2, 4, 6 and 8, there was no group (girls and boys alike) that had 2 or 8 (correct me if I am wrong). I was lucky to be in a group of 4 but in a room of 6 (extra beds). Once again, the poor bus driver has to eat and stay with us. Dinner was at the hostel and was quite fine. I “raided” the water dispenser though. The next day’s breakfast was on our own once again, and we headed down to a small convenience stall on the other side of the road. Equipped with a few breakfast bars left from morning, I only bought a small pack of biscuits in addition to the breakfast bars. There was a “ghost tour” at night. But it sounded completely stupid as it was still broad daylight in Oxford (sun sets very late). Instead, I slept after reading a bit of the little yellow book.
Day 8: 5th June (Monday)
Location: Oxford/ Warwick (Coventry)/ London
We went back to Warwick University in the morning, which is in Warwick of course. However, it is surrounded on 3 sides by Coventry thus this effectively means that we have to pass by Coventry to get to Warwick University. On the bus trip there, I recall having a bottle of pear and apple juice which I bought on Day 6 at Marks and Spencer’s. With its seal still on and its cap tightly in place, it started to show signs of danger. Firstly, it was getting very turgid. Secondly, there was mild leakage, insignificantly staining my jacket. Thirdly, the temperature was way past the recommended “1-5 degrees Celsius. Keep refrigerated” for a long period of time, 2 days in fact, since I only kept it in my bag. I decided to leave it in the bus so that I would be reminded to drink it for lunch later and that it would stop leaking onto my bag.
Warwick University is the cleanest university we saw in UK, rivalling universities in Singapore. Moreover, it was the only campus university we visited in London. The place was extremely spacious, and the empty spaces look bigger than those of Ngee Ann Polytechnic. We were brought to a lecture theatre and there were actually 3 members of staff that talked to us. The first one was a philosopher (or rather, a philosophy lecturer) who introduced us to newer courses like PPE (philosophy, politics and economics) and talked about how the course would be carried out. There were 5 combinations from PPE and he briefly explained the difference in each of them. The next one was a mathematician (or rather, a mathematics lecturer) who introduced us to the various combinations of maths + x, where x is a subject related to maths. This included computing, physics, economics, etc. He went to great details telling us things like: the computing bit of the maths and computing course would be 25% while the mathematics part is 75%. There was an interesting new course called MORSE (not Morse code…) which stands for Mathematics, Operational Research, Statistics and Economics. It sounds too diverse or too tedious, depending on how it is being taught. He also posed us interesting questions and even gave us samples of the Advanced Extension Awards and Sixth Term Examination Papers which are supposed to be harder than A Levels. One interesting thing, he uses a blackboard, which is virtually extinct in Singapore. Lastly came a lawyer (or rather, a law lecturer) who explained to us how law is taught there. There wasn’t any special course about law so she talked quite briefly too. There was the usual students-from-Singapore-answering-questions routine after which we walked around the school with the students. My group had a computer science student who was not only alumni of VJC but also the founder of robotics club! He was extremely sceptical about computer science and somewhat advised us against joining (unless we like to stare at code), claiming that most of what is being taught would not be used. Lunch was provided by Warwick and it was disastrous for me. In my attempt to keep my camera from the potentially spilling orange juice, I almost toppled the plate and a bun filled with cheese strips fell onto the ground. I spent the bulk of the time cleaning up the cheese. Well, at least I still have some time left to finish the food before we head back to the bus.
In the afternoon, we went back to London to visit the Natural History Museum. Because of the duration of the bus trip, there was not much time for us to stay in there. The building was very grand and looked like a fossil in itself. It was separated into Earth Science and Natural Science (I think) and the exhibits were all very interesting. We stumbled upon a place in the Earth Science section where they have a large collection of stones. Since I am not well versed in geography, I didn’t manage to identify any of the stones and decided to leave instead. Nevertheless, that place is any rock collector’s dreamland. As usual, the food there was expensive and so were the gifts. There was an interesting clipboard which was made by a flattened motherboard, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find it. There was also a very interesting collection of jewellery made from stones. But seriously speaking, they cost far too much. The exhibition was big for us to finish in time but what I saw impressed me a lot already.
We went back to the hotel we stayed for the first few nights and we were actually given new rooms. At least this time, they gave a key that would work. The view was different but still ugly; who wants to see a flat grey concrete ground surrounded by other rooms? Nevertheless, at least it was more comfortable than the traveller’s inn or the hostel. Food was at pizza express. They gave us bottle of coke to serve ourselves, about 4-6 to a single 1.5 litre bottle (with one refill). The pizza was quite traditional though I am sure they could be more generous with the serving.
Day 9: 6th June (Tuesday)
Location: London
We visited our last university, Imperial College, early in the morning. The building was very modern compared to the other London universities and apparently the place was being rebuilt (we were told by the students studying there). The person who talked to us was a mechanic (or rather, a mechanical engineering lecturer). He told us that Year 2 students were expected to build their own water tap, which I thought was interesting enough. The Year 3 students can participate in the Formula SAE (organised by SAE of course), which is taken part also by NUS. NUS was world 27th in 2006 but it seems that Imperial College didn’t take part in 2006’s competition. Or perhaps they did, but that they took part in the regional one only (since there are various variations of the competition). Before we toured the college with the students, we had a look at some of the projects done by the Year 3 students there. Interestingly, 2 of them did am automatic page turner. It seemed to look expensive, around 100 pounds! This is a potential SSEF Gold project, if the cost can be lowered to at most $100 and preferably around $20-50. There was an air powered hovercraft, another potential SSEF Gold project. It looks pretty impressive; though I am thoroughly convinced it either cannot take much weight or require too much fuel. On the whole the place looks fairly clean and distinctly modern in contrast to the other London Universities.
In the afternoon we visited the British Broadcasting Corporation HQ. We reached there early and were actually given some time to walk around, though there were very little shops around. The tour was quite interesting, with us being shown studios, the blue screen effect, the hidden-within-the-building gift shop (which price is comparable to the Tower of London), etc. We were even given a demonstration of how a production is being made when we went into a mini studio, apparently designed specially for touring people. The final visit was to a meeting-room-like place where we were given the final words and had a short question and answer session. Generally, the place was quite clean and the many pieces of artwork hanging around made the plain walls look less ordinary.
Even though we were early for the tour, the tour ended late. The traffic jam did not help and we reached Lyceum Theatre, to watch the performance “The Lion King”, with only 30 minutes to spare. We should have Chinese food at Chinatown but most unfortunately, we had to miss it. Instead, we were each given 5.80 pounds to settle dinner on our own. Time to finish the breakfast bars! So I only bought a bottle of orange juice to accompany it. The play was the best among the 5 we watched, perhaps because it was the only one in plain English, and that there was no smoking in it. The costumes were impressive and very well designed. The music was plain good, but could be better if it was more traditional, by using more traditional instruments. Outside the theatre was a small gift shop, selling things that were far overpriced. Once again, this is another late night, and we arrived back at the hotel rather late.
Day 10: 7th June (Wednesday)
Location: London
Today is our last full day in London! In the morning we went to Camden Town, which is much worst than Covent Gardens. The things are the cheapest you can get, but the quality is also rock-bottom too. Forget it being too dirty or stuff, but the things they sell there look to be counterfeit goods. The surrounding shops were barren of good goods. We were informed that this area was the outskirts, just like at BBC. Unlike central London, there were relatively few people there.
Next we meet with some Alumini of VJC and toured around London, depending on where they want to go, but we had to meet back at Totterham Court Road at 4pm. Lunch was on our own, but we thought that it was with the alumni. Apparently not, so we stared for a moment there. Unlike some other groups who went to places like Hyde Park or so, we went straight to Totterham Court Road. This was because on alumni couldn’t make it at the last minute and a “replacement” was waiting for us there. A one-day ticket cost you 4.90 pounds, but a one-way ticket cost you 3 pounds (at least, maximum was 5 pounds). Compared to 60cents to a dollar or so in Singapore… Nevertheless, we walked around the area and the first place, after we found our second alumni, we went was the National Portrait Museum. Apparently, it was suggested by one of the two alumni and someone actually wanted to go; not that it was a boring place to go, but I am sure we can go to some other more interesting place. Here was opportunity for lunch! Pretz was opposite the road and I got a sandwich and another (larger) bottle of orange juice. The gift shop sold things that were not necessarily interesting, like postcards of the portraits, etc. Since we were told beforehand to give our “seniors” a treat, we managed to convince them to go to MacDonald’s (though we wanted to go to Burger King in the first place). After much deliberation, we gave them each a 99pence MacFlurry (is that how you spell this word?) and a 79pence apple pie. There was around 20+ of us, and as you expected, the number cannot be evenly divided. In the end, everyone paid 17 pence, with the leader apparently earning one or two pence. After staying in MacDonald’s for quite some time, we left and headed back to the meeting point. We reached the meeting point at around 3.30pm, which was 30 minutes earlier, thus we were brought to a book shop. It was there that I realised that the Mr. Men and Little Miss series actually has a “special edition”. It was a moderately sized bookstore and I didn’t buy anything, because they didn’t sell Barnes and Nobles Classics (only online from US, which was a real pity). Some people actually bought Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses”, which was apparently banned in Singapore (sorry to all those Muslim friends reading this). I wasn’t one of them just in case you were curious.
Dinner was once again on our own, and we went around shopping at Oxford Street, which was not in Oxford but beside Tottenham Court Road. There was a shop selling cheap T-shirts but since I had enough at home, I didn’t get any. The shops were typical of London but only more “touristy”. We walked along the road and the first shop that sold postcards sold it at 12 for 1 pound, further down the road was another shop, selling it at 12 for 99pence, and if you continue walking, you would see a shop selling 15 postcards for 1 pound. Since there were no performances at night, we went back quite early. There was a trip to Sainsbury at night but since I am done with all my shopping, I didn’t go.
Day 11: 8th June (Thursday)
Location: London/Dubai
The hotel was kind enough to give us a “packed” breakfast. It was (if memory doesn’t fail) a croissant, a bun (hard), a yogurt, an apple, some jam or butter (for the bread) packed in a laundry bag. To solve the problem of the bus being unable to hold all the luggage, the bus driver kindly added a removable compartment at the back of the bus. While the luggage was being loaded up the bus, which took around 10-20 minutes, 5+ planes flew past us, one by one, each with an interval of approximately a few minutes. After loading the luggage, I went up the bus and finished my breakfast, and was left with the bag of rubbish.
At the airport, there was no dustbin to be found, due to the terror scare. When we check in, we were told to check in with people we want to sit with, so that we need not change places. However, it seemed that the plane seats were predetermined. After checking in, there was a bit of time left, and some people did some duty free shopping, but I just sat there and wait. After boarding the flight, I changed place so that everyone, more of less, can be happier! Changing seats didn’t really matter to me; since I figured out I would be sleeping most of the way. The plane took very long before it took off as there were too many planes and there was a need to “queue up”. I think it took 20-30 minutes and I fell asleep waiting for the plane to take off. Lunch was served very late, and I initially though there was no lunch, and ate 2 breakfast bars already. Since I was quite hungry, I finished all the food. After more sleep, we reached at Dubai.
Everything was the same at Dubai: late at night, long queue for transit passengers, nice clean airport, changing of boarding pass with a plastic tag (I didn’t get a broken one this time) etc. I went to the washroom and as I was using the autonomic sensor tap, I realised that it has “自动” written on it (which means autonomic in Chinese of course). Come to think of it, the majority of people inn Dubai speak Arabian, and they are surrounded by any other Arabian country; the most commonly spoken language is English; Dubai is not the Chinese’s favourite place to transit either. Probably, it was to save cost, and that the taps were imported from China. The chocolate I kept in my pocket melted, messing it up and dirtying by wallet; at least there was a dustbin at the waiting area before we boarded the plane.
Day 12: 9th June (Friday)
Location: Brunei/Singapore
There was no dinner; perhaps due to the time difference. If you recall there was one extra meal when we flew to London and I didn’t take it as I was sleeping and that it was, well, an extra meal. They gave out a sizable piece of cake with some tea, and I took it as dinner, as I was quite full. Because of the new passengers, we did more changing of seats. I did more sleeping to pass time and to prevent jet lag.
Breakfast was just as good as every other meal we ate on Royal Brunei Airlines, and we landed in Brunei soon after it. This time, we spent only 1 hour transiting, which was a relief. Everything was the same as before.
The flight back to Singapore was similar to the one we took from Singapore to Brunei. We were served lunch and I listened to my iPod the whole time to keep me awake, since there wasn’t any interesting thing showing. After an hour and half or so, we landed safely in Change International Airport. Back in Singapore! However, we seemed to have landed in the wrong terminal. The reason being we travelled around 10-20+ minutes on wheels before the plane stopped and we can get off. On the way there, I, sitting at the window seat, saw the expressway leading to Changi Airport! There was light rain when we touched down, but since we were sheltered all the way, there was no problem (for now). After checking out, we took waited for our luggage. Some of them, including mine, were wet and slightly muddy. Since there was no rain in London when we left, no rain in Dubai, no rain in Brunei, and that there was rain in Singapore, I safely concluded that it was poor handling in Singapore. Moreover, even if it was already wet in Brunei, Dubai or London, it should have dried by now. But no, it was fresh mud…
End of trip! I went home and took out all the gifts, and rested at night. The next day, everything went back to routine… …
