Singapore

After the Perhentian Islands, we caught a sleeper train to Singapore which meant a 2 hour wait on Wakaf Baru station with literally no Malaysian Ringits to our name (there are no ATMs on the Perhentians), we were hoping that Singapore dollars were accepted on the train, as otherwise we would be going hungry without dinner or breakfast (this didn't seem promising as the man at the ticket office said that only Ringits were accepted!) When it arrived the train was great - we had a little bunk each with fresh white sheets, curtains, and a little window to outside. It was not only far more luxurious than any other mode of transport we'd been on, but also nicer than some of our accommodation! Phil walked all the way to the other end of the train to the buffet car. He returned having successfully managed to buy some snacks using Singapore dollars but looked shattered by the experience!

After a very comfy nights sleep, we woke early to the sound of the Malay children in the next bunks playing and singing, and watched the jungle outside in the early morning light pass by the window. When we arrived at our "hotel", we had to walk through a Chinese street restaurant and climb its back stairs where we found an old man cleaning the floor who told us there was a room. It was a tiny bunk bed room with no window, but it was cheap and central so we took it (and we were staying on he same street as Raffles, don't you know!). We walked down to the river and along Boat Quay where we found that the "River Festival" was on, with lots of festivities planned for the evening. We carried on around to the Marina where we saw the ultra-modern "Theatre on the Bay" building and from there we saw some kind of nav al parade, with various navy vessels whizzing across the Marina and a huge procession of marching military on stage across the bay. We headed towards Chinatown, stopping at the URA Gallery (the Urban Regeneration Agency), which shows all of the urban masterplanning of Singapore for the next 10 years. We wandered through Chinatown down little streets lined with shophouses - it seemed a world away from the skyscrapers of the CBD 500 metres down the road, more like a sleepy town. We visited a Chinese Temple which was a beautiful network of little courtyards with people burning incense in shrines, and buildings colourfully adorned by statues of dragons and golden shutters. The fact that Singapore is such a melting pot of cultures is pretty well shown by the mosque sitting literally next door to the Chinese Temple. We walked down to Boat Quay and shared a jug of Angkor beer down by the river, before walking back to the hotel through the Colonial District, past the Padang (like a massve village green) where a cricket match was just oming to an end and past the Former Supreme Court which looks like St Pauls Cathedral!

Back at the hotel, we did a quick change into something elegant (or as elegant as it gets when on a 5 month trip!), which looked ridiculously out of place in such grotty surroundings, and headed out for sundowners at Raffles! It's such a classical European building that you forget that you're in Asia. We went to the Bar and Billiards Room for a Singapore Sling which was pretty yummy (it tasted like a pink refresher sweet). We walked down the river where fireworks were going off and 'Bumboats' were all lit up and finishing their parade on the river. The riverside was bustling with life, though the actual spectacles of a contortionist act and someone demonstrating how to make Bacardi Mojitos were not very entertaining, the atmosphere was buzzing. After strolling the length of the quayside, we went to eat some good Thai for dinner one street back from the river where the food was half the price, before walking back through the festival to bed in our little shoebox!

The streets first thing in the morning were really quiet as nothing opens til 10am, even the coffee shops, so we struggled to find somewhere for breakfast until we found J.Co Donuts - these have to be the best donuts in th world! You could see the pastry chefs making them there and then. They came in all sorts of amazing flavours eg. Phil's 'Copabanana' was a banana cream filled one with melted dark chocolate on top. They weren't at all stodgy, and we were each given a free glazed one with our coffee!

Anyway, enough about doughnuts... we walked to Little India which was made up of busy streets lined with shops selling gold jewellery, exotic vegetables, colourful saris, and Indian food. On the main street there was a big colourful Hindu temple with crowds of people pouring in to worship and the sound of drumming coming from inside. We caught the MRT metro (which is so much cleaner and lighter than the London Underground) and then a bus, to get to Singapore Zoo. It's such a good zoo where the animals have lots of open space and highlights inculded the pygmy hippos, jaguars, white tigers and baboons. We were also able to see a couple of species that eluded us on the trip so far, namely the Proboscis Monkey of Bronea and the Tree Kangaroo in Aus.

We found Singapore to be a really relaxing city - it was refreshing to be somewhere easy, organised and punctual! It felt like a Western city with pockets of Asia woven into the urban fabric.

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