Singapore

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04/03/12



Singapore



The next day we caught the bus to Singapore for RM19pp - £4. We wanted a bus to take us all the way into the centre of Singapore but they were all full. Melaka is a big destination for people from Singapore especially on a weekend, unfortunately we were making our trip on a Sunday. Therefore we caught a bus to the Malaysian/ Singapore border where we then had a buy our ticket through to Singapore. Was only around £2 each so very cheap as it was a board the public buses. The first bus we jumped on took us to the Malaysian border which was only a short 10 minute drive away. Here we jumped off, walked through immigration, got our passport stamped out and then found the bus again to take us to the Singapore immigration. It was a very quick trip through immigration but Terry and I had our bags searched, total waste of time but they were very polite in doing so. I kept seeing the sign that says “drugs = death penalty” which was behind them whilst they were searching us. Terry and I do not take drugs so of course we had none on us but still was nervous as you never know if people plant them on you – we have heard stories... however we were finally let out after another flurry of apologies and sorry for any inconveniences caused etc, how polite for customs!!??



We went outside to the bus terminal with our bus ticket to jump on the next bus to Queen Street, central Singapore but we must of missed the bus as we had to wait 45min for the next one, which was very frustrating as the same numbered bus kept arriving at the bus terminal every 2 minutes and filling up, which was going to the train station just a few minutes away. In hindsight we should of caught the train, but we were not to know and jumped on the bus bound to downtown Singapore.

The bus stopped everywhere and took over an hour to get to central Singapore but we finally made it.

We were couchsurfing again with a young Indian couple and their two young children. They had only just joined the website and we were their first surfers. We caught a taxi to their apartment which was in the East side of Singapore, right opposite the beach. They were both very nice. They were from Delhi but moved to Singapore with the husbands business 7 years ago. Their apartment was very plush on the 11^th floor which overlooked the complex grounds, swimming pool and gym... oh and beach views too. We were given our own room and also met their maid Lynne. Wow what a place. They were so hospitable and insisted we joined them for breakfast and evening meal during our stay.

They made Singapore affordable for us. We enjoyed looking around Singapore. Very modern place, clean with numerous high rise buildings. Very humid though which we could only escape by entering the numerous shopping centres around the central district.

We only stayed two nights in Singapore and was a shame that we could not check out of the nightlife but it would of killed our budget, so we only saw the shopping side of Singapore, we will just have to go back on holiday another time!

We left in the morning to the airport to catch our flight which was at noon. We got a lift to the train station where Terry realised he had left his suit behind at the house. He left me with the bags, jumped into a taxi, where he called ahead to say he had left his suit. Met the maid running out of the apartments with his suit, and the taxi dropped him back to meet me at the train station. We managed to get to the airport but only one hour before the play was to take off – panic over!



Next stop Bali for two weeks...

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