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I arrived in Singapore on the evening of the 17th June and as expected was overwhelmed by the humidity as I left the airport to board the shuttlebus which would take me to my hostel. I was greeted by a member of staff called Shy who checked me in. Having lost 7 hours and spent the best of 14 hours on a plane I was fairly tired but managed to squeeze a few cans of tiger beer down as I sat outside and chatted with Shy and a few other travellers. As is normally the case with hostels it wasn't long before a guitar appeared and we all passed it round playing average covers of classics. I went with a bit of James Taylor which went down well (still got it). The lack of sleep soon caught up with me so I went to bed.
On my first full day in Singapore I explored the streets of Little India and Chinatown. My hostel was conveniently situated in Little India so in walking through it to get to the local MRT station which would take me to Chinatown I was able to see it in all it's glory. Having
been to India it did evoke memories of walking down Indian streets,however, there were no lunatic vans honking their loud horns, there was no visible poverty and the stench of effluence was absent. I got the very clean and easy to use MRT to Chinatown and wandered down the market streets trying to avoid being sold a tailored suit (much more of this to come methinks). I found a lovely indoor market with a food hall on the top floor with about 50+ places selling all sorts of Chinese food. I eventually picked one and spent a while consuming it with chopsticks (I'm still learning). The heat in Singapore is like nothing I've ever experienced, so after lunch I escaped the heat in a shopping mall which was air conditioned to perfection. I then got the MRT to the Marina Bay where amazing pieces of modern architecture tower the sky. There was a nice looking walk which I took where I eventually got lost ending up on a footpath alongside a highway taking me to the airport so I turned around and followed a path which took me closer to the skyscrapers of Singapore and managed to make my way
back to the hostel. Having walked longer than intended in the day I spent the evening at the hostel drinking beers with fellow travellers from Austria,India and Switzerland.
The hostel I was staying at offered a free scooter tour round the city. This was a push scooter not one with an engine. I chose the hostel based on a number of encouraging reviews about this tour so I signed up for it as soon as I arrived and it commenced on my second day (19th). It started at 5:30pm and ended at 10:30pm and was possibly one of the most draining and intense workouts I've ever experienced but it was a great way to see the city. We saw some light shows amongst other interesting sights that Singapore has to offer. After what felt like the best shower I've ever had I had a few drinks with a fellow Brit called Josh who had been to a lot of the places I will be visiting and he gave me some good advice about where to go and things to do but if I'm being honest after a while he fulfilled a particular backpacker stereotype as being the
most travelled and knowledgable about where he had been and I soon went off him. A few beers later I decided to stay up for the England v Uruguay game which was being shown at 3:00am my time and I don't think I need to say anymore.
Having stayed up to watch another disappointing England performance I woke up late on my third day (20th) and had a gentle day about the hostel. In the evening I went to a night safari at the zoo and it was very touristic and frankly disappointing given the hype surrounding it. Arriving back at the hostel at around midnight meant there weren't many places to eat and I'd only had lunch at 3pm albeit a large mutton biriyani. Josh and I found a place still serving food and had a dish called chicken 65. We couldn't work out why it was called that but decided that the 65 stood for the number of attempts to get the dish perfect and based on that logic we should have really tried the dish when it was called chicken 100!
On my last full day in Singapore I checked out
of my hostel and into the hotel where my 2 week organised tour began. I was given a key card for the room and went to the room. On entering the room there was a half naked man who had clearly just come out of the shower and was very angry. I apologised and said that reception had told me the room was ready for me. He shouted something at me and I went down to reception to sort out this embarrassing mess. Needless to say they were very apologetic and sorted it all out. At 6pm I met the other people on the tour including our tour guide. There are seven of us all together. Claudia (Australia), Michelle (USA),Katrine (Wales), Sina (Switzerland) and Tommy&Brenda (Eire). Our tour guide is called Lek and she is from Thailand. She gave us the lowdown with how the trip worked and then took us our for food and a walk round the marina bay in Singapore.
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