So ? still on Friday and our first very full day after arriving in Singapore ? we headed off to Arab Street ? originally the sector of the island reserved for the Arab population. There were lots of little shop houses selling fabric, carpets, food and wait for it ? there was a shop selling Turkish Lamps just like the one I have at home..

Isn?t it beautiful?

So amid the lovely smell of incense and the smoke from the men smoking their Turkish Shishas there was a shop selling these wonderful lamps?

And the shishas too!

But they were expensive and I knew that I would have to wait until nearer the end of the holiday before I could think about buying one!!

I think by then I had hit exhaustion because suddenly I knew I needed to stop ? the thought of a cold beer and a sit down was uppermost in my mind and as Mark had finished work we made our way back to the hotel calling in at a handy 7-11 store for a cold beer on the way ? I think I was suffering from information overload!

When we got back to the hotel Liz ran some water and bubbles into the bath and the three of just stood in it? giggling like kids. Keiron rang me just at that time and Mark has a video of the three of us standing in the bath with me trying to have a sensible conversation on my mobile!!

Then we got ready to go out to dinner ? I wanted to try the hawker stands ? little stalls selling a variety of food ? so Lisa put a call in to one of her friends and we headed off to ?Newtons? ? a large area with picnic tables in the middle, surrounded by lots of very small shop like kitchens each selling different (or not) food.

Mark and Lisa?s friend ?Liverpool? ? so named because he always wore a team shirt from that club ? found us a table and we sat down. Bottles of Tiger beer were brought to the table and set down in a plastic bucket of ice ? glasses, marked with coloured tape to denote which bar we were buying from, plastic picnic plates, disposable chopsticks and plastic chinese spoons? our table was set.

And then they brought out the most lovely food ?sate, chinese vegetables, stingray (for mark), sweet and sour chicken, spicy beef and an amazing fried rice..

We ate loads and drank far more than we should but every time we took the last bottle from the ice bucket another two appeared ? superb up selling.

Thank you Liverpool!

Much later ? it had become a social gathering with a group of guys on the next table- one was a Michael Jackson lookalike and by then Liz was getting quite vocal trying to get a photo: ?Come on boys? she shouted ?Yes Mark that is your Mum!!! Isn?t she wonderful!!!?

We had a really good night and it was so good to see my friend and her boy together, laughing and happy?. priceless!

The end of a perfect day ? a taxi ride home followed by much needed sleep?. The next day Mark was to be taking us to Little India!!!