Singapore: The Journey Begins

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So when we set-up our TravelBlog, Chris and I envisioned having the odd free hour here and there to leisurely sit and write up everything we had done, probably with a beer in one hand and a newspaper in another. Little did we realise we would be doing so much, and the queues would be so long for the Internet, that we would be cutting communication altogether for a few weeks! So for those of you who were wondering if we ever actually left the country, here is a brief summary of Singapore. More on Australia to follow.

First stop was Singapore. Being British, the first thing we noticed was the lovely hot weather! We only had two days to see the sights so we did a lot of walking but managed to get round lots of stuff. We began by looking round Little India, the Indian area of the city and went to see a mosque and Hindu temple. Foolishly I didn't bring my journal with me so I don't have the names to hand, but it was the first time I've seen a Hindu temple and was impressed by the bright colours and intricacy of the art work just around the walls. As it was evening we stopped at dinner in a nearby foodcourt. The food courts in Singapore are brilliant. There are loads of different stalls selling different kinds of food - soups, noodles, sea food - and selling different drinks - tea, lovely fresh fruit juice and beer sometimes too. The food is fantastic, different to what we get at home and also very cheap - great if you're on a budget. On this particular occasision the owner of the stall we ate at gave us a bowl of his special lamb dish to try - it was really good. he said that after we'd eaten that we wouldn't forget him! We then walked past Our Lady of Lourdes church, originally an Indian catholic church, to the Sultan mosque. The streets around were lit up with purple and green lights and tinsel because of a festival, and the streets were filled with people eating and chatting. We could hear children reciting prayers in the mosque nearby. We stopped for a drink called a Rainbow something (i've since bought a notebook to jot things like that down) which contained something like condensed or coconut milk and something syruppy and red. It was delicious. We finished off the evening by going over to the concert hall, watching a choir sing, hearing a band playing Greensleeves on traditional Chinese instruments and having a beer by the river. On the way back to the hotel we spent 30 minutes chatting to an old guy who stopped us and started asking us lots of difficult philosophical questions about the meaning of happiness and stuff. Needless to say Chris and I failed to answer any of them and went away feeling like we've got a lot to learn about wisdom!

Our second day in Singapore was brilliant and exhausting as Chris and I tried to cram as many sights in as possible. We began by spending three hours walking around Chinatown. (Yes, we managed to get up and out hours before lunch and have continued to do so all the time we've been away. I don't know what's come over us!) We visted two Chinese temples, another Hindu temple, gardens celebrating the Malayz, saw the old colonial houses and visited anothe foodcourt. I had a tasty noodle dish, which I singularly embarrassed myself trying to eat with chopsticks. I kept one eye on the locals to see how they were doing it, but didn't quite seem to master the art myself. I am pretty sure you're not meant to elevate your arm to full length to try and disentangle the noodles you want to get on your spoon and into your mouth from the others on your plate!

Once we had finished looking around Chinatown we took ourselves off to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. Imagine our horror at having to pay $47 for two drinks when we'd just paid $7 dollars for a meal and two fruit juices! I had to ask the bar tender to repeat the price three times before I could actually digest the price! However, the drink was very nice and Raffles hotel pretty cool. The old white colonial architecture and bar were impressive and quite a contrast to what we'd seen elsewhere in Singapore. We then took a taxi to the Botanic gardens and, becaue we were running out of time and exhausted, decided just to go and see the National Orchid Gardens. The flowers were amazing and I learnt that pineapples are not just one fruit but are made up of hundreds of smaller fruits! There is an area of the garden devoted to VIPs such as Nelson Mandela, the Queen and many other heads of state. Each has a hybrid orchid named after them. The most beautiful was named after Margaret Thatcher. It was funny to see such a delicate flower named after the Iron Lady. We paused by a lake for a rest and then caught a cab to Singapore Zoo for the Night Safari....

I'm running out of time so I'll add more soon!

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Comments

[Trevor]

Keep 'em coming
Its cold and wet here in good old blighty, so keep it coming. Sounds fantastic! Littl' bro'.