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Published: March 13th 2006
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The attic at BetelBox
We had the whole of this to ourselves! Had a good time in Singapore even though there wasn't a great deal to do there. We stayed in this really good hostel called BetelBox. On the first night we stayed in the attic by ourselves, it was actually a dorm room but for some reason we were the only ones there - we booked a room but I think they made a mistake so let us stay there by ourselves which was really nice of them. On the first day we were so exhausted after travelling pretty much non-stop since we got to Malaysia so we walked around and got something to eat then just pretty much did nothing! They also had free internet at the hostel which was handy.
The next day we went to discover Singapore - strange though as there's not really any actual landmarks to see. We went to The Botanical Gardens - a really lovely garden (bit like Regents Park) with lakes and water features etc. Unlike Regents Park though there were loads of different things living in the lakes such as swans, turtles, massive fishes and ducks. The night before we'd gone to 7/11 and bought some raisin bread with which we got
some free hot dog rolls. We did wonder what we'd do with the free rolls but thought if we got hungry we'd eat them. Unfortunately we left them on the floor in the hostel and the hostel cat, Lucky, nibbled the pack so we decided to take them to the lake instead and feed them to the ducks, so it worked out well in the end! Then we went to the centre and looked around the big expensive shopping centres on Orchard Road but we were a bit rubbish and got exhausted by about 2ish so got the bus back. On the second day we had to move down to a dorm (our first dorm since travelling!) as someone had booked the attic and slept on our first bunk beds! It was ok though and luckily it wasn't full, it was a room for 8 and there were only 4 of us. That night we got all dressed up and hit the town. On reccommendation of Tony from the hostel (they we're all really helpful there) we planned our night - first a drink at Asia Bar (the 71st floor of the Swiss Hotel - The Stamford), then a drink
at Raffles (the poshest hotel in Singapore), then dinner at The Forbiden City, then on to Ministry of Sound. We got a cab to the Asia Bar - luckily we just about made it before 9 which was in time for free entry and happy hour! We ordered a Stamford Tower and a Merlion which came in the weirdest glasses - well they looked more like china ornaments (I'll upload the photo's soon!) but they were really nice. The bar was so nice - as it was on the 71st floor it had to most amazing view of the city. We had our drink there (well shared them) then headed off to Raffles Long Bar. The bar was nice but not as posh as we had expected - reminded us of an old english pub. Got a Singapore Sling in there, as everyone told us this was a must, and a Strawberry Dachery (which again we shared) - mixing four different cocktails was probably not the best idea before dinner - by this point the alcohol had gone to our head a bit so we decided to go and eat. Also, with all the running around we were so tired!
We ate dinner at the Forbiden City which was lovely then went to Ministry but it was shut so we just went back to the hostel.
The next day we had a lie in (well we got up at 9 which is pretty good for us as we always seem to be up at about 7 / 8 ish. We packed our backpacks as we were checking out that day - although we've got rid of loads of stuff from our backpacks it still seems to take us forever to pack them. We went down and ate breakfast and chilled out a bit (also got free breakfast there of toast, fresh fruit, tea and coffee) then headed off to the centre again. Didn't really do much, just tried to waste the day away really. Went to The Singapore Art Museum (which we later realised we didn't intend on going to - we were suppose to go to The Singapore Gallery but got a bit confused with the map!) It was ok in there but the art was slightly strange, still nice to be cultured and see the arts of a different country. Then we went to Chinatown which was
Botanic Gardens, Singapore
Patrice feeding the wildlife a bit boring as there seems to be a Chinatown everywhere we go and after a while they all start looking the same! As the sun started setting we went to The Esplanade theatre and concert hall - a really cool looking building, kind of look like 2 pinapples. We went up to the roof terrace and waited for the sun to set and again saw some amazing views with the city lit up. Then we took about an hour trying to find the bus stop to get back - but we found it in the end! Got back at about 10ish, had showers then headed to the airport for our plane that was 10.10am the next morning! We thought for some reason it would be a good idea to spend the night at the airport - firstly, we would save on some money and secondly loads of people told us how nice the airport was with free internet, free movie theater, free swimming pool... Well we got there and looked for the Cathay Pacific counter but couldn't see it anywhere - we asked a lady who told us it was closed until the next day and we couldn't check
in until 2 hours before our flight!!! We saw that there was an earlier flight at 8am and found a British Airways counter and asked the lady if we could move our flight to the earlier one but she said it was full. So we were stuck on the wrong side of the airport with no free internet, no free movie theater and no free swimming pool! There wasn't even a McDonalds on that side! We walked around for ages and all we could find was Popeyes Chicken - so I ordered a burger and we set up camp on the suide stools and leather chairs! Actually managed to get some sleep and woke up at 6am and went down to the Cathay Pacific counter where we did manage to change our flight to the earlier one - clearly the other lady didn't like the look of us much! After looking forward to the airport so much we only had about half an hour in there!
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