Sweltering Singapore...

The flight from Melbourne to Singapore was uneventful and having passed through immigration and collected my bag I was soon in a shuttle bus heading to my hostel.

The hostel I was staying in was on the edge of Little India and one driving there we had to pass through China Town and Little India and you could see a few worried faces on the shuttle bus as to which one of them would be staying in the chaos however I was fully aware I would probably be being dropped off first - the advantage of being a lone female traveller is that you often get dropped off or picked up first. On arrival at the hostel I was surrounded by really friendly and overly helpful staff as t was information overload with everything they tried telling me but my brain couldn't process it all due to the lack of sleep. Needless to say I literally jumped in the shower and then headed to bed.

Friday morning I got up and after breakfast I set out walking. I wandered around Little India and visited a couple of Temples and I then decided to jump on the MRT (Singapore equivalent to the London Underground). I headed down to the harbour front and was wandering around when the heavens opened and the rain came down in large fat drops so I found shelter in a local shopping mall. I then headed to Orchard Road where I wandered around and stopped at a food market and had my first dim sums of the trip. After this I wandered along Orchard Road a bit further and decided that I would hunt out Raffles Hotel. I soon found the Hotel and duly had a wander around the outside. Unfortunately I didn't venture in for a Singapore sling as I didn't think I was appropriately dressed in my shorts, vest top and trainers.

After admiring Raffles I wandered around the old colonial part of the town and watched them setting up the street barriers in preparation for the F1 Grand Prix. I also ventured into the Asian Civilisation Museum that receives rave reviews however I will confess to being underwhelmed. Thereafter I headed back to the hostel and got chatting to a German guy and two Belgian guys. We ended up going out for dinner together and having a general laugh.

Saturday morning I ventured out and found an internet cafe to do some generic chores and I then set out for Singapore Zoo. The zoo deserves the rave reviews it receives and I will openly admit that neither London or Chester Zoo compare to Singapore Zoo. At the zoo I also tasted my first true Malayan dish and had Laksa (a type of noodle soup with wontons, chicken, boiled egg and prawns). I happily spent the whole afternoon at the zoo and even got excited when I found the pygmy hippos and even realised that there was a baby one (thankfully no-one was around when I squealed and got excited about the baby hippo!). The only downside t the zoo was the number of mosquito bites that I received on my legs and I hadn't come prepared with repellent so I ended up foregoing the Night Safari so Mum and Dad have won themselves a free ticket!!

Sunday morning I once again headed out and this time ventured into Chinatown. The markets in Chinatown were chaotic but fascinating and I bought myself a new watch since the strap on my watch was broken and a pair of trousers all for the bargain price of £8! Its so nice to be back into the land of everything being cheap..... That afternoon I headed to the botanical gardens and will confess that the gardens were beautiful and definitely the best I have seen so far and the national orchid garden was amazing and mind blowing!

Later that afternoon I headed to the airport and made myself look like a homeless person within the terminal as the only plug socket I could find was hidden behind a pillar so I ended up sat on the making the various catch up phone calls home to friends and family.

Singapore lived up to its ultra clean status and I have to say that it is the only place where I have seen cleaners scrubbing the sides of a cctv camera until it was gleaming and park attendants scrubbing the outside of a bin clean. It also lived up to being very hot and humid but it was such a nice relief to be back in the land of sun and warmth... Next stop Kota Kinabalu, Borneo!

---

---