Day 1 - Dave Clucas Personal Log
After making final purchases, packing and repacking and weighing I finally arrived at a total baggage weight of 42 kg, well over the 20 kg limit. I believe the maximum number of bags allowable is only three so I strapped two of my caving bags together. At last it was time to go.
I set off with my wife Liz to the airport. At check-in I was told I would have to pay excess baggage. I tried to get extra allowance for sports equipment but Malaysian Airlines don't seem to have a policy for that. I managed to get an extra 7 kilograms allowed as I argued that I would be allowed to take that much on as cabin baggage. I then managed to negotiate the fee down to RM50 (around US$12.
On arrival in Singapore I checked everything into left luggage and caught the number 36 bus into the city. I got off the bus at Raffles and, after a few minutes of orientation, walked to Bencoolen St where I checked in at the Strand Hotel for S$85 per night. After a brief rest I walked down the road to the Sim Lim Tower. This is reckoned to be the best place in Singapore for buying cameras and computers.
I spent an hour looking at small compact digital cameras in the first couple of shops and ended up buying a Canon 750 for S$820. My ideal camera would have been the new Canon 5D but, as I had my Canon D1S Mk II with me, I didn't fancy carrying around two SLR's. I did check the price though and was told around S$5000 plus tax.
Back at my hotel I showered and went across the road to a food centre for a quick meal. Outside football was showing on a large screen so, after eating, I sat outside with a beer and watched a match. As I was finishing my beer it started raining, a typical tropical downpour. It didn't look like stopping soon so I made a dash across the road back to the hotel getting soaked to the skin before I was halfway across.
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