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Published: January 24th 2009
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5 hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur we arrived at the border of Singapore. By far the biggest and most impressive border crossing you are likely to ever see. After a quick check through and the handing over of our very nice meat that we had bought in KL and were not allowed to take into Singapore we were on our way.
5am we were in Singapore. Usual stuff of being dumped on the side of the road but after a couple of minutes we were in a taxi looking for a cheap hostel. Now hotels in Singapore are anything but cheap so after quite a few searches we eventually managed to find a hostel about 500metres up the road from the famous Raffles for around S$40 (£20). So we checked in and set off for the day to do a bit of sight seeing.
Headed on down to Raffles just down the road, well impressive and very very grand to say the least. However after a quick look at the place we soon agreed that eating or drinking here would be way out of our price range. So took a few snaps and headed of towards the cricket house,
town hall and business district down the bay we noticed the whole place was so clean. Everything had its place and everything was kept in perfect order. Very similar to America. A nice change to the rest of SE Asia.
So after taking a few shots of Singapore central we headed over to the Singapore Flyer (Singapore’s version of the London Eye but slightly larger.) It’s situated just over the bay opposite Singapore business district so as you can imagine the views would be spectacular day or night at the top of the wheel…. But in true typical fashion it was not working and would not be for a while. So we headed off back to the hostel for a nap of after the journey the night before.
Later that day after a few hours of kip we set of to check out the local grub and a bit of Singapore.
First stop was Liane’s old house in the East of the city. 10minutes on the metro link, arriving in Bedok (this is where Liane’s house was!) we checked out the local grub first at the close by food centre. Food was FANTASTIC. On a par with
Malaysia if not better and everything and anything is available here. These are generally corrugated iron roofs very large sheds dotted all over the place all serving every possible Asian food you can think of. Whether you looking for Peking duck, spare ribs, clay pot soups, fried rice or fruit smoothies you will find here at rock bottom prices. Simply lush.
So then tried to look for Liane’s place but after asking many people the where abouts and not even one taxi driver knowing we headed back in to the city centre with one unhappy Liane! Maybe another day!
Singapore city centre (where the Malls are) is very much alike any large city. Huge malls, loads big screen displays and tons of people. Down side though it is bloody expensive. Most items are on par with London and some a lot more. Not really the place for travellers but good to see and well worth a visit. We only went to a small area of this part of town but if you want you could spend a couple of days here just going to all the shops. Best bet for shopping head to the independent malls which have
none of the big retailers. Great bargains to be had!!
So after this we headed back for some more food and some decent sleep ready for the next day of fun.
Following morning we headed off on the metro to the South side of the City for a day at Sentosa. Singapore’s version of a type of amusement park. So first stop was the 5Km cable car ride over to the Island. Great views of the city and the huge shipping port which you tend not to notice on the ground. At the island we bought a multiday package which involved bird and butterfly sanctuary, toboggan ride, sky ride, the Tiger tower, 4D cinema to name a few. Great day out, great pics. Little to pricey at times but good laugh. Good place to stay if you have a family… however much better value if you went to Disney instead!!!
Following day we headed back out for a second attempt to find Liane’s old house…. Yet again we failed even though we had directions in hand and a local taxi driver, things didn’t seem to work out. So with more disappointment we headed back to grab our
gear to head off to the airport.
At the airport… well it was a long wait. Cheaper than staying in the city. Airport was pretty big but as we were flying to India we were departing from the all impressive… ‘BUDGET TERMINAL’... ta da! How must people feel when they get there boarding pass and it says budget terminal. Joke. We stayed in T2 for the night and then headed over the following day ready to depart for the long awaited flight to India.
Keep watching!
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