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Published: November 23rd 2006
Another short and sweet entry today. If we don't write regularly we tend to forget to tell you about large chunks of our travels. We are off to The Philippines early tomorrow and will be far too busy soaking up a new country to write for a few days.
We initially planned on only spending a quick overnight in Singapore due to the expense and as this is to be our first (well Ed's second) of three stays (Four for Ed). However we messed up the days a little and were ready to move on from Malaysia so we instead got to see a little of the city.
The border crossing between Johor Bahru and Singapore was surprisingly arduous given the supreme efficiency I had come to expect from Singapore. We queued for a good 30 minutes at Singapore immigation with backpacks on in a crowded hall waiting for the 5 seconds it took to stamp our passports. In comparison we had walked straight up to the desk in Johor Bahru and were back on the bus less than 5 minutes from when we left. This was the final overland border crossing of our trip and we will not
be sorry to see the back of them for a while.
Singapore is everything you expect of it, spotlessly clean, orderly, efficient but it also have a certain charm and extremely friendly people which I was not expecting. If I am honest we feel like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders since leaving Malaysia...it was probably the country we have liked least so far and the pressure to try and enjoy it was playing on us.
So we checked into a cheap and cheerful hostel right in the centre of town and to finally get to the title after my initial ramblings, yes the breakfast is served (probably not the right word as it is help yourself) in the bathroom. Certainly a first! After grabbing some lunch and forty winks we set off in search of the Night Safari. Now I said above Ed has been here before but lucky for him all he seems to remember is an all you can drink bar on Boat Quay (before you ask no it is not still there...we did check). I soon discovered while he had been professing to know it all, he in fact hadn't a clue.
So blind together we figured out the easy peasy public transport and made it to the Night Safari. It was a great experience, you can go on a tram ride around the park to see rhinos, lions, tigers, leopards and my favourite jumbos along with countless other animals. It is a zoo but it thankfully is not like other renowned Asian zoos and the animals have a bit more space and the park is used as an educational tool for the public.
In the animal show a python was brought on stage and terror overtook me. I remembered something I had completely forgotten from my J1 trip to Boston in 1999. I was sitting, reading on the T (train) on my way home from work when the lady sitting next to me jumped up and ran to the end of the carriage. I took no notice as I presumed she had missed her stop. Moments later I looked down the carriage and two seats from me was a man with a giant python wrapped around his neck! I swear its true!
Ok more ramblings. Today has been a very chilled out day, we got up late. Ate breakfast
in the bathroom, stocked up on books (so cheap....hooray!), picked up some airline tickets for January, happened upon a great food court where we feasted for Euro 2.5 each and wandered around Chinatown before sitting now on the afore mentioned Boat Quay for a jug of Tiger.
Life is good!
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kenn
non-member comment
Your Breakfast
Hi, Glad you had a good time in Singapore and your entry is really fun to read! I would like to suggest you try some local breakfast at a coffeeshop. My guess is you are staying around Bencoolen Street. There are quite a number of Indian coffee shops around. Try the Roti Prata for a start. Hope to see you guys in Singapore again :) Kenn http://www.platimumbooks.com