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Published: March 2nd 2009
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Singapore
Restaurants are famous for Singapore Chilli Crab; a victim waiting to be eaten! After 6 months of travel we were exausted. Travelling does that to you; living out of a backpack wasn't an issue as we each had about 3 shirts and 2 pair of shorts to contend with; the problem was the constant moving, lugging bags, and finding buses or trains and places to stay all with in a budget.
In retrospect, you remember all the amazing parts and certainly forget the hardships; writing the blog well after we finished the trip, I find myself drifting back to memorable places, retasting food by memory or visualising the bustling local markets teaming with goods costing next to nothing compared to Australia. Slightly diverging, Australia is expensive! I'm talking London prices expensive, and with salaries not matching is quite disconcerting. Anyway, writing the blog is a great way of taking my mind off the grim job market; maybe we should just stuff the backpacks and head off to South America for a few months? Mmmmm......
Singapore is very expensive as well. Now I know I keep going on about money, but , with all the news of the real world collapsing around our heads, and with the cost of our trip adding up,
Singapore Zoo
Orangutan means "people of the forest". Its amazing how humanlike they are. I balked at every cent spent! Booze was the biggest culprit as it was very costly in both Malaysia and Singapore.
Orchard Road is the main shopping street in Singapore and has every brand name imaginable located in one of the many malls. Thanks to Ray's air miles flying between Edinbrugh and London we stayed at the Hilton; free cocktails every evening from 6pm and a large breakfast to start the day, not exactly what our waistlines needed but fitted in well with the tight budget!
Other than visiting the Singapore Zoo, most our time was spent with Ray catching up with his old friends, eating out at excellent restaurants and frequenting bars and night clubs. The most memorable meal was Black Pepper Crab; not as famous as Singapore Sweet Chilli Crab but much more to our liking. Most of Ray's friends were Chinese and are very gracious hosts. I remember watching a funny HSBC advert about an English businessman in China politely eating all his food at dinner only for another plate to appear afterwards. Not realising that cultural differences he should have infact left a small amount of food on his plate to show that he
Singapore Zoo
The maneater responsable for noshing a zookeeper was full. Not sure that makes sense but, anyhow, we had more than enough food that night and it kept coming the more we ate.
The Zoo was a full day and night afair. Split in two the day Zoo had all the usual patrons: Tigers, Orangutans, Chimps and monkeys from Asia, all the usual suspects from Africa and Australia; oh, and a Polar Bear! They are big beasts and I felt very sorry for it locked in its cage. Some animals seem happy in a zoo; the cat family sleep 20 hours a day and eat during the other 4 hours; the apes have trees to swing around in annoying each other; Zebras are happy as long as they are not in a lions mouth; Austalian critters should all be locked up anyway to stop them killing the entire worlds population with one venomous bite! Polar Bears just look miserable! Conservation in Zoos is probably the only way these creatures will eventually survive, but it is still sad to see. Orangutans are amazing; I hate Chimps, possibly because they look like Bob Mugabe, but loved the Orangutans. They are chilled out, intelligent creatures happy to eat bananas and
Singapore Night Zoo
Ray with a Boa Constrictor drapped around his shoulders! hang upside down from a branch. Their biggest complaint was having their photos taken with dumb tourists, ours included.
Not quite knowing what to expect with the night zoo, we were pleasantly surprised. The evening started with a show in an arena where some of the numerous nocturnal animals performed tricks. Sitting in the front row, Ray being a large specimen, was brought up on stage and had a 10 foot Python drapped around his shoulders. I was very jealous! Afterwards we travelled around the large zoo by train - we were grateful for this as we had been over ambitious buying tickets to both zoo's in one day and had been on our feet for 7 straight hours. The train stopped at the various large enclosures to view the nocturnal creatures going about their business. Half the animals I had never heard of and simply can't remember the names. Stopping half way around we got off the train and walked around through the bat cage and flying fox cage. I love bats and enjoyed seeing the furry creatures up close as we walked along the raised walkway through the trees. The flying squirrel put on a show for
Raffles Hotel
Raffles is famous for Singapore Slings and peanut shells on the floor. all by walking up to the top of its enclosure before gliding over our heads to the trees below; it was absolutely fantastic to see.
The last night of our journey was spent at Changi Village Hotel a short drive away from the airport - a final splurge as it was our 3 year anniversary. The night was spent reflecting on an amazing trip and with thoughts of our new life in Australia.
Sun, beaches, rugby and cricket; it can't be all that bad!!
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