Short Stay In Singapore

Singapore

G'day all. I've finally found time to sit down and write out a good few entries. So the first one: Singapore. Only spent two and a half days here, but I managed to get in almost all I wanted to.

Arrived at the airport at about 8pm after 14 hours on the plane (2 hour delay on Heathrow tarmac) and was picked up by my prepaid taxi transfer to the hotel. Two minutes before arriving at this booked hotel, my driver decided to tell me that it was in the middle of the red light district. Oops, I had no idea. Rather shocking to discover that prostitution is legal here, yet chewing gum isn't. I went strait to sleep to get over my flight fatigue.

The next morning I went straight for a cab out of hooker central. Met a Brit guy called Jay in the hotel lobby who had the same idea as me, so we soon arrived at the YMCA hostel on Orchard road; very good value for the standard of the dorm room, and a swimming pool on the roof, where I spent a good hour or two kickstarting my tan and cooling down in the water. The rest of the day was pretty much spent exploring the city by foot with Jay and Clint (an Aussie we met at the hostel).

The second day, I moved to the Hang Out Hostel; no more space at the YMCA. Then spent the day at the zoo and night safari. Both were very good, though I nearly fell asleep on the night safari: jet lag hadn't left me yet.

The next morning I went to Sentosa Island and explored all I could in the time before catching my coach to KL. This appeared to be the holiday place of Singapore, with beaches, resorts, golf courses, etc. I took a lift up the skytower. Carlsberg actually make skytowers (or sponsor them at least) and it is probably the best skytower in Singapore. Well, it had a very good view anyway. Enjoyed a cold beer before heading to my pickup point for the coach to Kuala Lumpur. This journey took about 5 hours.

When arriving in KL, I pretty much went straight to the YMCA hostel and slept. Next morning I woke up and headed to the train station followed by the airport. I honestly don't know why I took this route to Java; I saw so little of KL, it wasn't worth the effort.

Anyway, a summary of Singapore: I personally loved it. Everything was very clean, modern and efficient. Many people hate it for these very reasons, but this is the first place I've ever been to outside the UK that I could picture myself living in, at least for a 6 month job placement or something like that. I felt it is the way that all developed cities should be. It wasn't half as busy as I had expected it to be and it's very green for such a metropolitan place: trees line most of the streets. The people were all very kind and everyone speaks perfect English, so it's so easy to get by. Very hot (good) but too humid for my liking and I do agree with others I know have been here who say that there isn't much to do besides work and shop.

The only thing I regret not doing while I was there, was having that bloody Singapore Sling from Raffles bar. Everyone knows I love cocktails, and I can't believe I missed this world famous one. Maybe I'll stop by on my way home just for that one drink.

P.S. I will add some photos to this entry and future entries at some point, so recheck them from time to time.

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