Macau Airport

The site is in Chinese so hopefully I press the right buttons to publish this.
We are at Macau at the airport, not long till boarding. Glad to be leaving China. Not as hot as we expected though.
Border crossings were on the whole very successful. We managed to get about 40 boxes across in suitcases and backpacks with varying amounts in them and repack them and get 2 shipments out of our hotel room. We did not have any of our Bibles confiscated and nor did Coral but Frank had about half of his trips picked up and the Bibles confiscated. The 1 time we did get caught we played dumb and were able to keep them but then we were followed and spent the next 4 hours wondering around the city being followed by various men in black with mobile phones. But while we were doing this the others were able to get everything out of our room and on a truck. When they were finished they came and took our bags and went to an office. Were also followed but managed to lose them. So all in all very successful.
We are off to Singapore for a few hours tonight and then tomorrow morning we head to Bangkok and then Laos. So not much sleep and lots of flights.
Will blog again soon. Our flight is being called.

China

China, what can I say. We arrived in the middle of the night. Were yelled at by a customs official at the airport for not filling out a form that he didn't even look at when we gave it to him. Spent an hour in an unairconditioned taxi breathing in fairly offensive smells. The amount of traffic at 2am in the morning was amazing. There was 2 lines of trucks waiting to cross the borders that was hundreds of trucks long, all blasting their horns. Taxi driver then added an extra 50 Yuan to the price he had quoted us. No one in the hotel spoke english and we couldn't get our room. Found a lady outside who took us to 3 other hotels before we found one that could take us and it only had 3 beds.
Went to a shopping centre on Saturday it was not an enjoyable shopping experience. Every shop worker hassles you to buy from their store and others follow you around wanting you to go to their store. They are all very insistent. There are no prices on anything and you have to bargain with them. So it makes it very difficult to look and compare as once you ask the price they expect you to buy it. Came away very exhausted.
Went to a different shopping centre on Sunday and it was much better. You still bargain but you aren't hassled and their are prices on a lot of things.
It rained and the offensive smells were not improved.
All meals are ordered in restaurants by pointing to pictures. Most have one copy of the menu with english.
The chinese are very rude and arrogant and not a very nice race of people.
Shenzhen was a fishing village 20 years ago and now is a large city. Most of the population are under 30 and come from other areas. It is supposed to be a bit of tourist area but leaves a lot to be desired.
Went throught the border into Hong Kong (lots of paperwork and checking)and caught a train. Pretty good system. Hoping to go on Chinese junk ride and to the Peak Lookout on Thursday. Everything going well can't say anything else. More detailed update when we get to Bangkok.

Singapore Departure Continued

Had to sign out because the computer time comes in 15 minute blocks and the boys had already been on before me.
Singapore is really just one big city. Saw our first individual houses and townhouses yesterday. Most people live in apartment blocks. Train stations seem to be near areas of apartment blocks. They are also above or below ground so they cross no roads. Leads to a very smooth ride ( lady was putting on mascara on a moving train). There is mostly standing room with some seating along the walls. Ticketing system is easy to use. Australian councillors and ministers should take one of their junkets over here and check it out. Buses connect to trains. Singapore is mostly fairly clean. Went to suburb of Paris Ris yesterday where all the major roads are Paris Ris something (eg Drive, Road, Street, Close etc).
McDonalds, KFC are both here but are different to Australia - different things on menu and less range (eg only 1 flavour of McFlurry) KFC doesn't even taste like it has the same herbs and spices. It is also not a teenage workforce. Lots of middle aged and elderly workers. Didn't see to many teenagers working anywhere. I think maybe there culture encourages them to be in school and studying. Lots of schools in the east where we went yesterday. All have same basic uniform but in different colours (boys in all white Ah!!! I'm glad I'm not washing it). See You. Will blog again as soon as I can and hopefully get some photos on.

Singapore Departure

At the airport ready for departure from Singapore to Shenzhen in China. Leave here at 7:10pm and arrive in China at 11pm. Came a little early and were going to make use of all the facilities the brochures said were available at the airport (free internet, xbox, showers, pool etc) but they are only available to passengers departing from Terminal 2 and we are departing from the Budget Terminal. Went to the outer east areas of Singapore yesterday to a water park. It was closed for annual maintenance. Used the bus system and went to Changi War Museum. Museum was free and very interesting. Buses were air conditioned, clean, cheap and the drivers spoke pretty good english. There is no graffiti in singapore. Saw a news article on the way over to say that several years ago Singapore introduced several lashes, jail time and payment for clean up of graffiti as punishment for those caught, leading to no graffiti. They seem to have a big push on green areas as there is lots of open land and gardens.

Singapore

Arrived in Singapore at 6am after leaving Darwin at 3am. Singapore is 2 hours behind Melbourne. Quite hot and humid but bareable. Have spent a lot of time wandering about and having look at a lot at different areas. It has a great train system and is very cheap. Singapore itself is very expensive. Hotel is in a back street area. There are female street workers at a hotel across the street but they are more modestly dressed than a lot of teenager girls in Australia. Very modern city. Very green and lots of gardens. Bouganvillias are prolific and many different colours. Went on a cruise up the river last night, very interesting. Not sure where to eat that is safe but haven't had any problems yet. Struggling to get the boys away from Burgers at Burger King. Did have local food last night though. Have a photo that I will try and put on sometime of the Thai deserts we tried. They were not real nice. We have today and tomorrow in Singapore and then we fly out to Shenzhen, China tomorrow night.

Darwin

Hi everyone. We safely arrived in Darwin in the early hours of yesterday morning. It was already 25 degrees (hotter than the hottest day we have had since being in Phillip Island). Our first thought when we walked out of the hotel the next morning was that it reminded us a lot of Cloncurry and Normanton. When they told us to wind back our watches 1/2 an hour on the plane the man in front of us said and about 30 years. And he's probably right. It's similar to Qld in the 1970's.
FOR THOSE PEOPLE HAVING TROUBLE FINDING OUR ITINERY GO TO THE BLOG ARCHIVE ON THE RIGHT AND GO TO AUGUST. IT IS IN THE SECOND ENTRY - THE LONG ONE.
Did a lot of walking yesterday and spent the evening at the Mingil Beach Markets and watched the sunset sitting on the beach. Got a hire car today and have been driving around. Darwin is very spread out but has heaps of facilities and lots to see and do.
Having a great time. Head off to Singapore tonight (well tomorrow morning really).

Immunisation Survival

Well we all survived our needles, except for the bank balance (over $600). It wasn't fair because I had to have 3 while the 3 boys only needed 2. But it is another thing out of the road. Took some photos from Frankston. The last one is looking towards Melbourne (that's what it says in the white box just a little small to be read). Looks heaps better in real life.

It's footy day at school tomorrow so the boys will be in their element. Patrick had a tie in basketball last night so he was pretty excited.