OK, so I cheated a bit with the title, and it is actually day four technically this morning, UK time. Anyone who has flown the Australia – UK flight should understand why I didn’t have enough in me to post last night.

That, and the fact I was in a little pub in Bishop Auckland, drinking beer and watching soccer should be a valid excuse.

What a flight. I’ll say that again for impact; What. A. Flight. We boarded the Qantas flight from Changi Airport in time for our takeoff at 10.55pm on Tuesday night. All went well at this point, until I realised we were on an older and much simpler entertainment system than previously mentioned – in fact, there was no Video On Demand, you had to watch the movies when they dictated. That’s fine, I thought, it’s only 13 hours in the air.

40 minutes from landing at Heathrow, and our plane took a sharp right. Then the announcement came over the PA that due to an unexpected issue, we were being diverted to Frankfurt airport.

We landed at Frankfurt to be told we are going to refuel, since we’re at an airport and it seems like the right thing to do. That’s fine, but we weren’t allowed to disembark or even eat or drink much, since we’d all just about cleaned out the plane. OH, and we were told we couldn’t use the restrooms either, whilst on the tarmac.

40 minutes later, refuelling finishes, to be told that the pilot and first mate had already had their allowed share of flying time for one shift, and that we were getting replacements from a hotel in the city (handy that Qantas has backup crews in various hotels). It’ll only take an hour for the new crew to get dressed and get to the plane.

This brought on a collective sigh from the couple of hundred passengers, but these things happen. The crew finally boards half an hour after that, and then start the engines to discover… a mechanical issue.

Just over three hours of sitting on the Frankfurt airport tarmac, and we finally got back in the air. We landed just over 19 hours after we left Changi. Given I start pulling my hair out and climbing walls after a four hour flight, you can imagine my excitement at getting off this plane.

A zippy four hour drive up the M1, thanks to my brother and his fiancée, and here I am in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. I’m trying hard to not think of my Heathrow to Perth flight next week, believe me.

Image: down the aissle, aircraft to Heathrow.

OK, so we’re at Changi Airport, listening to bad karaoke, drinking $10 beers and paying $6 for 30 minutes of wifi. The beers great, but the uniformed patrols carrying sub machine guns makes me a bit nervous though.

Today was hot, humid and slight rain, but a great chance to try and see as much of Singapore as we can in one day. The MRT, buses, Arab Street and Little India were our haunts today.

The architecture is a weird mix of funky modern and ancient and collapsing (as per image above). Then again, I thought that about the cars as well. :)

The prices for everything are very similar to Western Australia, although I managed to buy a stack of designer tee shirts for S$3 each! A few small pressies for family members too, but they’re reading the blog, so we’ll keep that under wraps. I would like to throw a quick “I love you, and miss you madly!” to Meredith, Davis and Leia though.

Dinner was at Alatuka Turkish Restaurant, Bussorah St. Ispanakli Pide’s to die for, and fantastic friendly service. Then onto the coach for a hair raising drive back to Changi by 8.30pm so we’re boarding at 10pm.

My feet are killing, but so is the idea of spending 13 hours plus stuck on a plane, travelling all the way to London. A few more beers, and hopefully I’ll sleep for half the flight. A few more beers, and the singing may sound good too.

Photo: Victoria Street, Arab Quarter, Singapore.

I left Perth this morning at 11.25am on a Qantas flight to Singapore. What a great set up on international flights – hundreds of audio and video channels, including lots of the latest movies, computer games and more… even a map and current data from outside the plane.

We touched down just after 5pm, checked in to our hotel and then wandered down to the Bugis Street Markets. Great place, over 500 stalls says the sign, although I think we only visited 100 of them. Some great t shirts, cheese pancake things (tasty!), clothes, dvd’s, cd’s and more.

Afterwards I wandered down to Liang Seah St, and had a Beancurd Noodle Claypot from Causeway Bay Café, then off to a nearby seven eleven for a six pack of Tiger beers, now it’s 11.00pm and after watching some local TV (complete with Singapore Idol advertisements) it’s time to crash.

Tomorrow we’re in Singapore until our flight at 11pm through to London. I’ll get the camera out more tomorrow, and try to post again soon.

Photo: Street scene, near Bugis Street, Singapore.