Skyscrapers and smelly fruit

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After 4 weeks in Vietnam (and a few days in Laos), we were back in the air and on our way to Singapore. We only spent 4 nights there before going into neighbouring Malaysia. The first thing that strikes you about Singapore is just how clean and modern it is - the airport is said to be the best in the world as Id already discovered when I stayed the night in the transit terminal when flying from Japan to Vietnam. However, I guess the cleanliness of the city comes at a cost because there seems to be several over-strict laws which are enforced, for instance, eating or drinking in a subway station or subway train will get you a $500 fine! Also, to avoid people dropping chewing gum on the floor, its illegal to sell chewing gum anywhere in the city and its illegal to import it in!

We spent one day walking around the quayside and central business district of Singapore and it has an extremely modern feel with lots of cool-shaped skyscrapers, it reminded me of certain parts of Tokyo except the buildings are all in a much more compact area. However, after spending a bit of time in Singapore you begin to realise that a lot of the city looks like a building site as theyre constantly developing new areas of land and trying to change things all the time. Theres more to Singapore than just the big skyscrapers though, one of the best places we visited was the Little India area of the city which is where most of the Indian community are based, it was Diwali festival when we were there so there was a party atmosphere which was made it quite fun - it didnt seem like we were in Singapore at all. Whilst there, we found a good place to eat and I had probably the biggest and best curry Ive ever eaten - and it only cost S$6 (about 2 and half pounds). Id heard before I arrived that Singapore was an expensive place to visit but it really isnt, you can live really well for hardly any money if you want to.

Everywhere we went in Singapore we kept coming across places selling durian fruits which are these big spiky things. The interesting thing about these fruits though is that they absolutely stink and the Singaporeans seem to be obsessed with them for some reason. They use these fruits for cooking lots of different dishes and so you see them being sold in a lot of places. I thought Id better try some of the fruit to see what all the fuss was about so when I came across a street vendor selling pancakes with durian in them, I bought one to give it a try. All Ill say is that it tasted better than it smelt, but only marginally - not sure why theyre so obsessed with them!

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