Day 12 - Singapore Contrasts

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Unusually for us, we didn't have to get up early, so we had a lie in, in the ridiculously huge bed and went for breakfast at about 9.30. The spread was extensive and we managed to quaff a ton of food and 3 little pots of tea (served in silver teapots - eek!) in the hour we were there. We headed back to the room to charge the netbook and change, as we were going to go for a quick swim in the hotel's outdoor pool, in an attempt to burn of the excess of calories from the night before's indulgence.

We splashed about (like children) for about an hour, doing a few lengths; throwing water at each other; Daniel doing handstands and dunking me; and giving each other piggybacks in the water. Mature stuff.

Back to the room for more 'self-pampering' in the form of a bath for me and a faffing session for Daniel, with classical music being streamed into the bathoom from the player in the bedroom. Delish! I even gave my woeful looking barnet a deep condition! Bliss!

Post-bath it was time to pack (ew) and we headed up to the lounge to use the WIFI and get our value for money in liquid form! Two more pots of tea, more champers for me and a couple more beers for Dan, not to menton the 'afternoon tea' nibbles (the pastrami sandwich bites were deadly) and cake.

After checking out at 3 (and staying in the lounge milking it for an hour after) we felt guilty and left. We strolled (in the heat), to the legendary Raffles hotel for a famous Singapore Sling. Very yummy one might add, even if a little expensive! The barman actually mixed them up for us instead of just using pre-mixed solution and we drank up, basking in the posh-ness of the bar and it's surroundings.

Follwing this, a browse around the hotel shop (we'd have bought a glass but there were S$30 - 30 Singapore Dollars = £15) and Tiffany's (Dan was humouring me; we didn't buy anything), before jumping on their delightfully air conditoned tube system. It's cheap, although the mock oyster system is strange, as part of the ticket fee is a deposit of 1 dollar for the card you use, which you can glean back later when you go back to a paypoint at your destination. Anyhoo, we got the tube to Clarke Quay, which was the nearest station to the hostel, Rucksack Inn 2.

This has a vibrantly painted interior and the stairwell graffitti-ed by former travellers and patons of the hostel. We managed to get some laundry done for only S$8, which was cheaper than the Conrad and we dumped the rest of the cases, before attempting to get onto the WIFI. A failed task I might add. We bummed around for a bit before deciding to go and check out one of the legendary malls - Vivocity.

So once again we jumped on the tube and got off at Harbour Front for the mall. I wanted a new watch, as my old Baby-G seems to have a mixture of sand, hair dye, gunk and mould in the casing. We wandered to the G Store. I was quite disappointed: Singapore isn't as cheap as it used to be for shopping. So I refrained from spending monies. We carried on nosying about and found the cinema, which we made a mental note about, before we noticed that everywhere was closing (by this point it was half 9 at night). So back on the tube and back to the hostel. Dan went to the local 7Eleven for some beer and noodles, and we chilled out in the main room on the computers before noticing it was midnight and we wanted bed.

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