Singapore

Singapore



After culturally deficient Australia arriving in Singapore was a bit of an assault on the senses, with Malay, Chinese, Indian and many more different cultures all living on the island. We stayed in a lovely hostel near the Arab District, which had some brilliant resteraunts and shops packed with goodies from accross Asia. One of the highlights has been the food which has been good quality, plentiful and generally cheap. A couple of times the language barrier resulted in us being charged alot of money for food and drink but most places are incredibly cheap. The city has three distinct districts, the Indian district, the Arab district and the Chinese district. We spent a fair bit of time in the bussling Indian district and alot of curry was consumed.




I didnt think I would go to a zoo as good as Australia zoo but Singapore zoo was incredible. It is set in an area of rainforest in heart of the city and the zoo uses a series of canals to separate the animals rather than cages. There is a huge lake next to the zoo and it feels more like your walking around a jungle than a zoo, with monkeys, birds and reptiles roaming around freely. After the zoo we explored most of the city and saw the main business district with its huge tower blocks, the old colonial district and the quay where Raffles first landed in 1819. I couldnt leave Singapore without having a Singapore Sling, the price of the cocktail turned out to cost more that two nights accomodation but at the time I thought it was worth it. There are alot of gorgeous wild flowers all over the city and a suprising amount of rainforest dotted around in places you wouldnt expect, which provides a stark contrast against the modern buildings.






Singapore is aparently one of the safest cities in the World and I can belive that. Everything is very orderly and there are alot of rules- chewing gum is illegal (for hygeine and litter reasons), if you get caught littering you get a whoping $500 dolar fine and are made to sweep the streets as punishment, if you get caught not flushing the toilet you get a $500 fine and you get a mug shot in the city paper telling everyone your a dirty person, no drinking or eating on public transport or another $500...the list continues. It does not feel like a clinical place but I think we will get a bit of a shock when we venture out into 'proper Asia'.



Tomorrow we are heading up North into Malaysia........yay!

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