Treetops

Changi airport is almost deserted when we arrive 30 minute early on 2nd March. We think the immigration process is going to take ages due to the fact we are migrants but the officer gives us a strange look and ushers us out with a little piece of paper and our promise to register with the local Authorities within 90 days. The bags are all there and the driver is waiting for us as expected. So far so good. We both crave silence to try to understand the magnitude of our life choice but the driver, on discovering we come from London, decides that his stay there for 2 weeks in 2009 earns him the right to blab on for the whole 40 minutes it takes us to reach our residence. Having been bundled in the taxi directly from the airport lounge we do not have the chance to appreciate the heat and the humidity until we are delivered to the Treetops residence (www.treetops.com.sg). Having been warned by all our well wishers that the heat would be unbearable we are relieved to see that though a bit sticky and hot it is not that bad after all. We are welcomed by the residence manager and taken to our flat after a series of lectures on everything there is to know about the area. Being jet lagged and very tired most of the talk is wasted on us but we nod dutifully and make all the right noises. After the manager we are attacked by the housekeeping manager and go through the whole inventory fork by fork and bowl by bowl, again totally wasted on us. However he brings us a delicious ginger and lemon grass tea and home made sweets though we now understand why Asian sweets are not famous outside Asia. Slightly dazed we unpack and move down to the pool where we finally can relax.