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Published: September 26th 2006
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Well......took a while getting here......8 hours on a plane....not the nicest way to spend an evening! However, the atmosphere, weather and city itself made up for that when we got here!! Its a lovely welcoming, organised-yet bustling city, that is a good few degrees cooler than Dubai (Thankfully!!) and seems to have very much up-and-come.
Came straight in from the Airport and found the Hostel no problems.....and although not quite as palatial as the last stopover it's not too bad....It will certainly do us for a few nights. Although we are expecting to be here a little bit longer as we have decided that waiting around in Bangkok, anytime in the near future, for any reason at ALL probably isn't the best plan. So we are going to get our Chinese Visas here instead. Should give us enough time to sample a good few of the delights that the city has to offer.
Man was the first day a long one! All on about 30 mins of sleep......these airlines just put too many choices on the In-flight entertainment! Had to cram in as much as possible! Aside from that, yomped to the Chinese Embassy today to find that they
stop doing Visa applications at 11.30....we got there at 11.45...so got to go again tomorrow...c'est la vie I suppose......giving us a good opportuntiy to see the city!
Went for dinner in Little India the first night...trying to break my tongue into the Spice before it becomes a necessity...but MAN was it scrummy...dunno what it was..have decided the new policy will be 'best not to ask'! What you don't know can't hurt you hey?! But it was lovely nonetheless and we saw a little more of the city!
One huge contrast here with Dubai is that you can actually walk around the streets during the day without collapsing from heat exhaustion! Singapore is very welcoming - thoroughly enjoyed the first day ...felt at home very quickly!
Ohhhh the bed bugs start! Oh yes.....I swear I have sweeter blood than most...once again I am being bitten...whilst Jen escapes!!! Seriously UNFAIR!!! Anyhow...got up nice and early to get to the embassy before the queues! Needn't have worried....efficiency is very much order for the day and we whizzed through....ready for breakfast..........or so we thought.....found a nice little cafe, that seemed popular with the locals, sat down and requested the usual breakfast!
WHOOPS! Have you ever, at all, in your entire life fancied noodles, prawns and fish balls for breakast...I thought not..just writing about it now is making me feel quite queasy! Well that's what we had....not the best way to start the day! Couldnt face lunch and have since avoided anything fishy!!!!
For the rest of the day we then hopped on and off a bus to see the sights of singapore(which I hasten to add mostly comprises shopping centres), but also includes Raffles, Suntec Centre (it is worth noting that most of our days here are punctuated with frequent, random wonders through any air conditoned building!!!) , China Town and a rather lovely botanical garden where we thought we'd go all out on the photos. Dinner (having skipped lunch) was very much a necessity for the day...and once again following the locals we stumbled onto an impressive food court where the main meal was good......the dessert however was a different story! Whilst stood in front of the counter contemplating, as you do, a helpful little guy recommended we try Iced Kachang....Don't EVER do it!!!!! This is NOT for the light hearted or weak stomached! It comprises shaved ice -
ok you would think...not when flavoured with weird and wonderful herbs and plants....as well as jelly...again not bad - WRONG - very weird, hard, strange flavoured cubes.....topped off with miniature beady things that taste like.......who knows what.....and at the bottom....chocolate sauce, maltesers, bubblegum....DREAM ON! Sweetened Jellied Beans and Fruits! (Kidney beans.....in a dessert - WHY?!!!!) So, began the day on a not so cracking meal and ended it in a similar style! You live and learn......and am fast learning that this whole melarchy is not for the light hearted !!!
Friday saw us off to Sentosa....a rather commercialised paradise to the South of Singapore. Where we got a bit of a bargain for a bus ticket which let us go anywhere on the island for free! Made the most of that one - they were air conditioned! I don't think I have ever been quite so keen to use public transport! Spent the morning lounging on the beach, had another bargain for lunch (3 GBP each! -- needless to day we were VERY careful in our selections!!!) then meandered for the afternoon, taking in all the (free) activities that we could find! These included animal shows - where Jen
got picked to participate (she was looking seductively at the presenter!) and ended up making a new friend! Rather her than me!!!! Also went over a rope bridge to the southern most point of asia in search of views of open seas and spectacular vistas only to be met with........a refinery! Made me feel very at home! The evening was spent at an impressive (if rather americanised!) light and fountain show - with a rather hilarious little chap come comedian come presenter making a bit of an idiot of himself all in the name of entertainment! Returned to our new hostel (and dorm rooms!) to be kept awake by people coming and going, rustling bags, flashing lights (not forgetting the loud music outside the shutters - no windows - but whose complaining!) for yet another step down in luxury stakes....can't decide whether the gradual decline into slumming it is better than being thrown in the deep end would have been! But oh well, we survived to see another day!!!
Saturday, believe it or not we felt the need for a lazy day, i know i know...life's one big holiday - you have to take a break from it once
in a while....... due largely to the fact that we had yet another night of comings and goings and plastic bag rustlings!! So lounged about for the morning then tootled off round Suntec City shopping Mall - and horror of all horrors....went to the Cinema - it was so cheap we felt we couldn't miss the opportunity (and we wanted to stay out of the hostel til as late as possible - bed bug and fellow (but noisier) traveller avoiding!!!
Sunday, we opted for a proper look around Chinatown - which is pretty amazing, did the recommended walk and saw the sites - actually sampled some pretty good food! Jen's analysis is that our palettes are different - I actually think that they just have weird tastes!!!!!! But finally found something we thought was more than edible (other than Peking Duck of course!) called Tu tu kwei, which were little rice flour steamed biscuit things (man I'm selling them well!) stuffed with coconut and palm syrup - take it from me they were the best things we have come across yet - also went to Clarke Quay for the evening to see the expensive end of town - needless
to say we bought very little!
Monday and our last day in Singapore, we tootled off around the area local to our Hostel to see a bit more of Little India, pretty temples and mosques etc and a brill Bargain store - Mostafa's to buy supplies for the next leg - Malysia, first stop - Palau Tioman! Also went to Kampung Glam - the Moslim quarter - for more good food - you're thinking 'hard to believe' i'm sure - but it was good!!!!!! The evening saw us going for Pizza....well it had to be done our last tase of westernisation...before we brave the big outdoors! And a small perscussion performance from Singapore's youth group - where we were amongst 5 other audience members! No complaints from us!!!!
Finally a horrendously early start (6.30am for those of you thinking that early for us would be 9am!!!) got us to the Chinese Embassy to get our visas without any problems and heading off on a rather (unexpectedly) plush coach! 4 hours later and here we are, about to embark on a weekend of hardship on a tropical Island, scuba diving, snorkelling, beach bathing and maybe a bit of exploring!
Photos will hopefully follow for this blog in the next big city - hopefully where they have heard of USB ports! Hope no-one's working too hard out there! Take care, J xxx
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Kimmo
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Peppered Crab
Hi Jess and Jen Sounds a great adventure. Try the peppered crab in Singapore The wealthy Chinese wash it down with a bottle of whiskey instead of wine, but I don't recommend you go to that extreme to follow local customs. Good luck Kimmo ,Deb and Bryony