Adventures in Singapore

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Despite a reasonably good nights sleep, we decided we'd spend our first day in Singapore taking it easy. As recommended, we went out to Sentosa island to find the beach. This turned out to be a theme-park of sorts, but lacking in roller coasters. The main highlight was the aquarium and seeing a Pink dolphin show. Since it was pretty hot, we figured we would brave a swim on the beach, which was pleasant enough until we started getting stung by apparently invisible fish and decided just to sunbathe instead. After a few hours, it seemed the jet lag was catching up on us, so we headed back to the hostel for a (pleasantly air-conditioned) sleep.

The next day, we figured we'd had enough of each other so the boys went one way, and Ross and I the other. Well actually, we went pretty much the same way, but the boys were allowed to sleep in and I wasn't so we were just two hours ahead of them all day. We started by heading towards the main shopping street, Orchard Road, where Ross got as close as he's likely to get to an Armani shop by posing outside it (wearing his classy shirt by Tesco). Orchard Road was pretty massive, with mall after mall down both sides, most with different shops in them, though we did spot three Marks and Spencers. After a few hours wandering along the road, we decided to head to Little India. By our luck, it was the Indian festival Deepvali, so there were a lot of banners and flags around, along with what seemed like the majority of Singapore's Indian population. Though bright and colourful, it was also hot, smelly and very busy, so we retired to the comfort of our air conditioned hostel to recover for a while. A couple of hours dozing soon sorted the jet lag out and it was time to get some dinner. Sinapore is well known for its food centres, where different stalls are set up with a variety of food stuffs, making what you want for dinner a tough decision. Selections made, we applied ourselves to the problen of eating noodles and rice with chopsticks. It's probably just as well we're leaving Asia after a few days, as otherwise I think we'd starve. What we managed to get from bowl to mouth was pretty tasty though.

Someone, possibly Euan, had spotted a leaflet for a water park, so to combat the heat the boys had decided that's where they'd go for their last day. Though Ross and I are too mature for that sort of thing, we thought we should go to keep an eye on them. We got the metro there and realised we'd forgotten the leaflet so had no idea which bus we were supposed to be getting. After wandering around the bus terminal for a while, a handy taxi was spotted so we all piled in, only for the driver to ask us for directions there. Giving that up as a lost cause, Scott developed some intiative and asked a handy bus person which was the right one. Problem solved, the bus arrived and we made it there without further hassle. Once there, the park turned out to be another interesting Singapore experience. Real money was not allowed. All money had to be put onto a "Funkey" which could then only be spent in the park, no refunds allowed. Seemed weird at the time but turned out to be a bonus later on....
We messed around in the park for a while, cycling overhead bikes around the top and riding the river rapids. One of the slides was a massive half-pipe that you slid down on an inflatable raft, balanced by another person sitting opposite. As we stood in the queue, it started raining, which was ok, we figured, as we were wet already. Then there was some thunder. Then there was some lightning. Then the rain got heavier and colder and we huddled under the nearest awning. Then they announced that the slides, rapids and everything else would be shut till the rain/lightning stopped. So we waited. And waited. Some bright spark just started cheering and ran towards the water, making everyone else follow, to the panic of the park staff. We managed a brief lull in the rain to get a shot on the half-pipe, which was quite freaky, and then the boys had to leave to get to the airport on time. Fortunately for us, they both had money left on their "funkeys", which could conveniently be spent at the food court opposite. Sadly the boys did not have time to avail themselves of this and had to leave their funkeys with us. A nice dinner and several bottles of beer soon followed, making the whole experience pretty worthwhile.
Our last day in Singapore was devoted to some more meandering around, amongst some crazy monsoon-like rain. Seeking a respite, we headed into the museum and even parted with enough money to have a guide explain things to us.

Singapore was an experience different to any other. It's incredibly clean, and the metro system is efficient and swish. Curiously the people seemed rather unfriendly, from shopkeepers to those on the street. This may have been because we were tourists, though there were a number of posters up in the subway stations, featuring a cheery pair of kids, urging people to be nice, so maybe it wasn't personal.

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