Ticket to ride.

We are officially in transit again. Bali, all the way back to Helsinki, with stops in Singapore and Amsterdam. I was tempted to just repost the blog and photos in the reverse order, and see if anyone would notice, but decided that discerning viewers would not want to miss out on how bloated our bags and bodies have become.


The business lounge in Bali had a patio that looked out on the tarmac and ocean.

So I have yet to have any success posting a video to blogger, so I hope this works, but THIS is what we encountered boarding our Singapore Airlines flight out of Bali. (Sigh.)



The next time I encounter a frosty Northwest flight attendant, I will remember these airline employees.

I wonder if anyone will serenade us in the Baltics.

Anyway, once in Singapore, we still had about 7 hours of transit time before our monster flight back to Europe, so we changed into shorts and tees in the most immaculate airport bathroom I've even encountered, ditched our bags at the left luggage counter, and jumped in a taxi. Instead of going into the hustle and bustle of town, or doing a city tour, we opted for something different. First, a little shopping at Tampines Mall, in a suburban housing development east of town. Where the real Singaporeans shop.


There was a sale on Pumas and the ladies were going nuts.


Jeff and I agreed that these were the best waffle cones we've ever put in our mouths. And there have been a few.

After getting our fill of the mall, we hopped another quick cab over to Changi Beach, a coastal park that is RIGHT over the flight path for the airport.



Normally, flights in and out of SIN fly in directly over the park and get crazy low, as it's just before the runway. Unfortunately, because of the day's wind direction, the planes were taking off over the park, which isn't nearly as dramatic, but still kind of cool.

All was not lost, however, as we also came here to go to nearby Changi Village, but fortunately, not on bikes. Ouch.



The street food in Singapore is delicious, and is all regulated and consolidated at hawker markets at various places like Changi Village, so you can feast without much worry of food safety. And feast we did.


This is called carrot cake, but is neither carrot nor cake. Talk amongst yourselves.


Hello, spicy octopus. Can you say tentacle-y goodness?


Barbecued stingray. A first for me. No bones, very tender, not fishy at all.


Shorty and Wags have some serious competition here. Awesome wings.


We threw in a vegetable just to shock our bodies a little. Garlic chinese broccoli.


Yes, that's grease on my chin. What's your point?

Apparently, Changi Village also boasts a few tranny hooker bars. We did see a few working girls, but there were no obvious she-males in the bunch, and I wasn't about to start snapping photos anyway. I did score this bag, though, at the nearby 7-Eleven.


Doraemon is a cat-like robot, and yes, I am a 40 year old man. What's your point?

While I bought my bag, Jeff discovered this.



Back at the airport, we showered, and tried to lighten our luggage load and avoid an international incident by finishing up all of the passion fruit, mangosteens, and other tropical fruit we had purchased back in Bali.



More of this on the plane.