Don't panic, don't panic!!

I’ve now experienced my first earthquake! I was working away (NB working!) when the building began to sway a little… then the blinds and loose objects in the office began to rattle… It was a very strange experience… and to quote my colleague Joseph, it left my head spinning for quite a while afterwards – like the swaying feeling you have once you’re back on dry land after a long boat journey. The earthquake epicentre was off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia – and so what we experienced in Singapore was pretty mild given we’re 580km away. Fortunately, because of where it was centred, the earthquake doesn’t appear to have caused any damage.

The funniest thing from my perspective was the response in our building... about 5 minutes after the tremor, by which time everyone was just getting on with their work – albeit with their heads still spinning - a tannoy announcement came on… “Please remain calm!” Up until that point it hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind not to remain calm - Lance-Corporal Jones from Dad’s Army’s calls of “Don’t panic, don’t panic!” crossed my mind... It was another hour before the tannoy confidently told us that the structural inspections had confirmed that the building was still sound and that we wouldn’t need to evacuate after all!



I did more exploring on my second day in KL – I followed one of the Lonely Planet walking tours which are a great way of finding fascinating places that you would otherwise just walk past. The tour took me through Chinatown – and I saw some amazing temples and markets – including the fish & meat market (not for the faint hearted!). Before heading to the airport I rested my extremely tired and aching feet at the hotel pool and enjoyed the late afternoon sun… it really is a hard life!