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Published: October 17th 2008
The gleaming streets of Singapore awaited us as we drove through the Malaysian mainland to reach the island at it's southernmost tip. After some lengthy queue at immigration and cursing the complex nature of the process compared to other less developed countries, we managed to find our way to our hostel before being informed it was fully booked. The Singapore Grand Prix and the end of the Muslim festival, Ramadam, meant that accommodation was hard to find so we agreed to check out some apartments that were, appearantly, in 'one of the most expensive places in Singapore.' We perhaps expected it to be a little more plush but the apartment was fairly nice in a good location and, for the first time in 4 months, we had a kitchen to fend for ourselves. Pesto pasta with chicken and tomatoes tasted good!!
Singapore was great, i really liked the city which felt almost like a cleaner Kuala Lumpur. However, while KL had more of an ethnic mix, Singapore is populated by a large ex-pat community. There are lots of people with a fair amount of cash which is evident through the cars on the road and the apartments lining the streets.
As we only had a few days, we stuck to doing the main touristic attractions which included drinking a Singapore sling in the legendary Raffles Hotel whilst chucking our peanut shells on the floor, visiting Ministry of Sound one evening and going on the big wheel which is rather like the Millenium wheel in London, only higher. The wheel in Singapore is the highest in the world and gave a great panoramic view of the city. We could even see the F1 race track which had taken place only a few days before and was gradually being dismantled. It literally overtook the whole city due to the track being a street race. We also went to the old colonial buildings the British built, and visited a statue of Sir Thomas Raffles who is credited with developing the city back in the UK's colonial past.
As we wandered around we stumbled into 'Little India'- the Indian district of Singapore. After getting off the clean metro and wandering down the street it was like a breath of not quite so fresh air. The smells, noises and sari-cladded women all served to remind us of the country we left only a few
months ago. We stopped for a dosa in the Hindu quarter and wandered around the bustling markets blaring out Bollywood hits and people celebrating the Hindu festival, Deepavali, before making our way to the Sultan mosque in the Muslim quarter which is the largest mosque in Singapore. In comparison to the bustling streets of the Hindu quarter, the Muslim quarter had literally shut up shop for Ramadam and it was like a ghost town. Noone was on the streets and all shops were closed as people had gone to spend time with their families for the annual celebration.
One of the other highlights of Singapore was the airport. No joke, it was pretty impressive with a swimming pool, mechanical foot massagers dotted around the gates along with botanical and cactus gardens. We didn't have much time to explore though as we had to catch our flight to Australia!
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