Going to Singapore!

Finally getting really excited about the trip to Singapore. Haven't thought about it much until now, since wasn't sure if we'd be really going - pending the visas approvals. But now that they are (what a relief!) we are going to Singapore!

So now a geography lesson:

Singapore is one of the only few city/states in the world. It's located in Southeast Asia, on the Malaysian peninsula and literally on the equator. See map here. So the weather is sunny, hot and really humid! Sounds fab to me, although I'll probably pass out from heat stroke since it's been awhile since we've been in weather like that. Singapore is a former British crown colony but has been independent since the mid 1950s. Therefor there is a lot of British influence and why English is spoken there.

It's a very westernized society in Asia, so we've been told it's a great place to go for a first experience in Asia. The locals are made up of people from China, Malaysia and India. But lots of expats have also moved there for good job opportunities. So English is spoken quite easily there, as well as Mandarin Chinese and Malay.

We've also heard the food is fantastic - Chinese, Thai and India abounds - which we love all of it.

To explain why we are going there:

Brian's funding from the Royal Society has ended as it was a two-year contract only. As the research Brian has been doing at Oxford is going well and he'd like to continue with it (so he can write more papers to publish) he's taken up funding provided by the National University of Singapore. There is a reciprocal agreement between the NUS and Oxford to have a researcher do the work at Oxford, but also so Singapore can have their name on the publications. Brian will need to visit Singapore probably 2-3 times in the year for collaboration work, but we will continue to be based in Oxford. Next week I'm going along for a number of reasons: both of our plane tickets will be paid for, we receive more money initially if Brian's dependent (his wife) travels with and, hey, it's Singapore!! How cool!

We are leaving together next Saturday 21st, and I'm returning on March 31st. Brian is staying on until about April 4th. The University is putting us up, so we're not quite sure what our level of accommodations will be, so I'm not expecting much. But it will be extremely clean I know, as that is a huge thing in Singapore also. We've all heard the stories, you can be jailed or caned for spitting gum on the ground! They have extremely harsh laws for cleanliness so we just have to be careful to follow the rules. (We read that it's illegal if you don't flush the toilet! Yikes!)

I'll definitely blog and post photos post trip and possibly during if I have access. Cheers!