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Published: March 15th 2011
After a smooth few hours flight from the Philippines we arrived in Singapore and right away we could tell that we were now in a rich mans playground! As you approach Singapore from the air at night, you see an endless stream of ferries docked in the harbour with the city skyscrapers lit-up behind – it is an impressive sight! At the airport we were even offered one free sweet on arrival – Tina expertly took full advantage of this by grabbing a handful in true backpacker style, no shame at all!!
We jumped on their handy MRT subway to check into our hostel, and waited for Kate who was joining us for the weekend. When she arrived we took a quick trip to Chinatown for some cheap grub and a beer! We were saving ourselves for the next night . . .
Singapore is renowned for its shopping, there are about 200 shopping malls dotted around the city. So on Saturday we hit the endless shops on the famous Orchard Road, it was pretty overwhelming in the malls - they are so huge with hundreds of shops only selling shoes or bags or even diamonds! We eventually escaped
the madness after a full day of shopping, Paul deserving a medal for staying power!
Once we’d re-charged our batteries the three of us headed to Clarke Quay to meet up with Claire and James who were also ‘in town’! For us and Claire and James it was the end of our time in South East Asia so we were determined to leave in style. It wasn’t long before the tequilas were being slammed which always seems like a good idea at the time and skipping a massive queue to get into a club! (having to pay for the privilege of coarse and pissing off 200 Singaporeans on the way!!).
This meant that Sunday was sadly taken care of with a raging hangover! To top matters, we’d both been turfed out our decent hostel because it was fully booked so the new digs that we managed to find ended up being a 22 shared bed-dorm. As soon as we both walked in we were greeted by 20 sleeping Indian MEN! So much for a mixed sex dorm, Tina felt a tad uncomfortable to say the least. After surviving the ordeal we had to laugh the next morning at
the situation as it was quite fitting for our last night in Asia!
Singapore was such a change to everywhere we’d been so far, it is incredibly modern and advanced. Getting around the city is so easy on their really cheap MRT and although it is famous for being expensive as a city we managed to find brilliant deals in food courts – 2 quid for a chicken curry. Bargain!
We both had a really cool weekend here, it was a great country to end on and one we’d both like to come back to with more money, even if only for the shops! The amount of shopping malls are crazy, you cannot escape them no matter what street you’re on.
Farewell to South East Asia It was time to leave South East Asia, which we were both reaaaaally sad about to say the least. The last 3 and a half months have been brilliant! We’re so glad that we started our trip here, it has been such an eye-opener to how all we Westerners live! It was definitely a good thing to start our trip in the cheapness of Asia because it’s taught us so
many ways in how to stretch money which can only be handy for the rest of our year away.
From the madness of Bangkok and the unbelievably beautiful Thai islands, the temples of Angkor Wat, having a night on Halong Bay, trekking through Laos and swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines we have had such amazing experiences that we’ll never forget!
We’re both going to really miss the stares we got when walking down the street, the blank expressions we got when many of the language barriers crept in and most of all just the day-to-day craziness of how this side of the world lives!!
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Dave Barnes
non-member comment
Asia no more!!
Well guys, that's been some experience for the 2 of you in Asia and I'm sure there were a few tears spilled when you departed or maybe that was still the effects of the tequila's!!! Your 3+ months have been filled with such amazing adventures, spending some quality time with friends and sights that as you say, will be with you forever. If the rest of your world trip is half as good as Asia your going to be in for a great time. Take care Dad.