So, here I am sitting in the colonial district of old Singapore. The fan is whirring away above me and I am necking a Tiger beer. I am on holiday!

I had almost forgotten I had the rights to vacation – especially since the locals in the office do not really get much. I am ready to have a massively decadent 2 and a half weeks here and plan to jungle trek, then up to the perinthians to dive. I am sure that will change, but this is the contract for now.

The trip from Taipei was smooth. I flew with Jet Star Asia – more or less the first budget airline to operate out of Taiwan, and my ticket to paradise… for about fifty quid. All of a sudden, Singapore, Malaysia, and all of south-east Asia is laid out in front of me.

The four and a half hour flight was punctuated with children puking and coughing and crying in my immediate viscinity, which was exactly what I did not want. However, the little critters redeamed themselves when one turned around when alighting the aircraft and said ‘goodbye mister airplane’ in the cutest possible English. I almost puked.

Singapore itself, apart from the astonishing humidity, seems nice. Very tame and quiet after Hong Kong and Taipei, but nice. Strangely, at night my local area (the Indian quarter) takes on the feeling of a northern town at night. Old houses and a moaque juxtaposed. All is very clean and controlled, which is fine by me on the first night when arriving at midnight – but it does have a reputation as a ‘Switzerland’ of Asia, with many rules and disinfectants.

And, mes parents will be mid air right now. So hello to them. And a special hello to July – the new sunshine of my life.

Just realised… it’s April Fool’s day… let’s see what happens to me…