Diwali came and passed last weekend, and shortly before, I was happy to leave my previous residence and move into much nicer accommodation on the other side of the town. Whilst I am now sharing with two greater-than-seventy year olds, compared to mostly twenty-something young men, the demographic change is more than compensated for by the clean bedroom, comfortable bed, and generally pest free kitchen and
bathroom. The food is slightly more on the mushy side than I am used to but my tastebuds can just about deal with the magnificent lack of flavour.

My good friend Shweta who lives in Gurgaon but studied with us back in Cambridge came home for Diwali weekend; she was kind enough to invite me over to spend the night with her family. It was largely similar to how we celebrate the evening back home (they were surprised we had fireworks in England, despite my assurances to the otherwise). I did miss the usual extended family gathering at home though.

All the Diwali fireworks and festivities must have taken their toll on my body since sometime on Sunday I came down with a fever and noticed this as I went to the gym and my resting heart rate was pushing 100 beats per minute. Getting bored in Gurgaon I planned a trip to Singapore for the following weekend. A few feverish and restful days later, I made it to the airport in a sickly but recovering state.

Much to my delight, the flight, booked using Air India since it was the cheapest, was actually a code share flight with that of Singapore Airlines. A nice wide seat and plenty of legroom gave me a peaceful night's rest and as Friday rolled around, our Boeing 777 touched gear in what is possibly the nicest airport I have ever travelled through.

As we walked down the arrivals concourse and made our way through immigration (it took just FIVE minutes), I could barely hear the whisper of the ventilation units. Walking onwards to the baggage claim and my bag was out just as quickly. A cheap metro ride into the heart of the financial district to meet my uncle and I was free to explore Singapore!

Singapore is a wonderful place, which I much preferred to India. Notable features-
1) The roads and everything is SO CLEAN. The roads are fast too. Never much in the way of traffic.

2) People are much friendlier. They reply when you ask them questions instead of grunting or nodding. The rudest experience I had was when a camera salesman told me to go to a swimming pool and go for a swim instead of standing in the shop wasting his time. I found this more amusing than offensive.

3) The cars are amazing. I saw some unbeliveably desirable Japanese muscle cars. The cars in Singapore are the shiniest I've ever seen, anywhere in the world. Possibly due to the clean roads.

4) The food selection is good. Lots of variety. It's a big city.

5) The nightlife is great. Plenty of trendy, well kept bars.

6) It's very green. There are lots of parks. The climate is great, year round.

7) Cycling is a national sport of the country. Singaporeans love it. Supposedly there's a cycle trail all the way around the island!

8) It's an electronics hotspot. You can get nearly any gadget there!

It was quite a laid back long weekend and Singapore seems like a lovely place to work and live. Now I'm back to India for 4 weeks of work, 2 weeks of travelling and then back to glorious home. (Over the halfway point!)