Singapore

Singapore is an amazingly odd, eclectic place! We arrived late on into the night and took a taxi to our guest house in Chinatown. The driver was trying to convince us that we were staying in the 'red-light' district... We think he was trying to put us off so he could recommend somewhere else to us that he would get commission for - scams we'd been warned about before we arrived, so we told him we'd booked and it was fine.

When we woke the next day we headed out of our guest house, which was actually nowhere near any kind of red-light district, and straight into Chinatown for a wee exploration. It was amazing. Whilst not having been to China yet so not being completely sure, it looked pretty authentic and we really got a nice feeling from the decor, stalls, people and place in general. It was so different to anywhere we had seen so far. We bought lots of really nice bits and bobs for next to nothing from some of the market stalls and also managed to take a look in a couple of temples. The highlight was a 5-storey Buddhist one that has only recently opened. Crazy! They had a floor with 10,000 encased Buddhas! And they each get cleaned everyday before being put back into their place...

We also caught the MRT to Little India, which is like Chinatown only Indian (durr!). And once we left the station and got into the main throng of it, it was mental too! Again, completely as we would picture India. We couldn't believe how different both places were yet only a couple of km's apart! To top it off we took the MRT into the main CBD/ shoppping area, Orchard Road, and were completely overwhelmed by just how mega cosmopolitan, clean and busy it was!

In one day alone we saw 3 different worlds all in one city! So, at night we headed down to Clarke Quay for a nice chill out and a slowboat ride down the river. We caught the boat at night and it was very pretty as it was lit by little Chinese Lanterns. Seeing Singapore itself lit-up by night was also an ace experience.

Originally, we had planned about 3-4 nights in Singapore, but we ended up staying 5 as it was so much fun and there was more than enough to keep us occupied. Other highlights included Singapore Zoo and Night Safari where we saw all sorts of crazy animals! But the White Tigers and Polar Bear were the best... so gorgeous! And we also took the cable cars over to Sentosa Island... which was VERY scary. A lot scarier than both of us actually thought it was going to be oddly enough.... Sentosa was nice, if not a little bit plastic-fantastic.

We also found time (in-between Matt's stinking cold!) to pop into Raffles Hotel and check out what that was all about. A really nice colonial building with lots of history. However, the shopping plaza across the street was more fun and had a cool foodcourt full of Asian delicacies.

After the first couple of nights we moved from Chinatown and stayed in Little India, which was a really good experience. We went out at night and looked in the shops, night markets and found some ace places to eat. We found an all vegi-Indian fast food place (really like McDonalds!) called Komalas where we got loads of help in what to order and had the best meal so far! As usual we ordered far too much, but it was well worth it :) and, we even ate with our fingers (right hand only), like you are meant too... what a mess! It may take some getting used to :)

Its a really nice experience to be not traveling in the van for a change after having done it for so long, and to have the luxury of guest houses/ hotels... we even managed to watch a bit of TV!

Anyways, I think that just about covers Singapore. Next stop is Kuala Lumpur via first class coach.... should be interesting :)