mon day 31 - a month already!

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I heard there were quite a few buses to singapore from Melaka so no need to pre book. Made my way to the bus station with a girl from Canada and a man from Germany - both going by bus to Kuala Lumpur - so we shared a taxi to the station. The next bus to Singapore was leaving in half an hr, so I grabbed some munchies and exchanged some ringgit into Singapore dollars. I shared the 5hr journey with only about 10 other people, so loads of room to stretch out - And we were off! As we approached johor bahru - the most southerly point of Malaysia, we pilled off the bus to passport control and 10 minutes later we were off again - passing over a short causeway into Singapore - and another passport control! So, off the bus - with bags this time - passports stamped and we were off again. No idea of what part of Singapore we were dropped off at - but it was at the side of a busy road with the train station being a 20 minute walk away. I found a very helpful travel agents who pointed me in the direction of the number 2 bus to china town - 2 Singapore dollars and 45 minutes later and I was in the middle of china town! A lot of road names in singapore are English - so the hostel was relatively easy to find - being on the main pedestrianized street through china town. The hostel seems great - really helpful staff and clean and modern. Sharing a 6 bed dorm room - 5 minutes in and met phoebe - a girl from china also in the room - who after asking if I was hungry pilled lots of food on my bed - and was getting me to eat! Was a nice introduction to Singapore - and great to try some Chinese biscuits. Phoebe is trying to learn English and so I feel as a trade off I should try and learn some Chinese - I think I've got the short straw! Headed out for a walk down to the river about 10 minutes away and wandered around a very busy china town - after having some dinner it was back to the room to meet Alicia - another room mate from Kuala Lumpur - but temporarily working in singapore - fluent in English - I can only do with learning one language at a time! Then time for zzzzzzz's.

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