Singapore - A Place to Remember

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Another (11th to be precise) flight later from Kota Bharu (the nearest airport to the Perhentian Islands) and we were back in the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur.

I'd found a reasonably priced place online a few days before we arrived called Serai Inn which was a stones throw away from China Town and Little India.

The room was comfy and basic with shared bathroom/toilet and we made the most of the air con room and hot shower - oh AND we had a sink....a big improvement on washing our teeth with a hose and spitting in to the hole in the floor in Suhaila's 'Palace' (it's funny how words just get thrown around) and a proper shower not just freezing water coming out of a hose on the wall. I bet you lot at home are extremely jealous of all these little creature comforts we are getting whilst travelling arent you?

Bitterness aside, we were in Kuala Lumpur for 1 week just mooching about and visiting the many many shopping malls and markets. I couldnt resist and bought a beautiful leather tan coloured Mulberry bag (fake of course) for £18 in the market in China Town. I now look a bit funny in my scraggly clothes huge back pack and beautiful hand bag on my arm but who really gives a damn?!

We couldnt decide when to travel down to Singapore as we had become quite lazy again, getting up late and going to bed at 3am each night. We dragged ourselves out of our comfy air con room at around 10am on one morning and half heartedly made our way to KL Sentral Station to book the ticket for our trip South to the Island of Singapore.

The train journey took us 7.5 hours and we had to get off the train at the border and be stamped out of Malaysia, our bags checked for any nasties and off we went again. The train enters Singapore from the north but slowly makes its way through the small country to the south and stops at the Malaysia owned train station.

As we were looking for a taxi we started talking to another English guy (Leo) who didnt have anywhere to stay so we said come with us to Little India and the place we had booked in to (Ali's Nest) and see if Ali had a spare room.

He did, so Leo ended up there for one night in the dorm whilst we stayed in luxury with our mattress on the floor in the roof extension. Too be honest though, Ali's was great. It's run by Ali a Singaporean man (with Chinese heritage) who lives there with his sister, mum and daughter. Its more like a home stay than anything else, it was clean and there was a kitchen we could use and free tea/coffee/toast all day which is always a bonus when you are staying somewhere as expensive as Singapore turned out to be.

That night a couple of hours after arriving we jumped in a taxi with Leo to the Singapore Night Zoo, which we had heard really good things about and we wernt disappointed! The Night Zoo was brilliant with all the usual suspects you'd expect to see at a zoo but all in really nice enclosures with most of them only being separated from the visitors by deep gulleys - good for stopping the tigers pouncing on you!

We spent a few hours at the zoo looking out for flying fox's and seeing fire dancers from Borneo.

In total we spent 2 and a bit weeks in Singapore so I wont bore you with a day to day account, plus for the fact we are now in Australia and have been for the last 2 weeks so the details are a bit blurry 😊

Singapore is a beautiful country and we definitely didnt spend too long there, people tend to just pass through on their way to Australia and dont really get to see alot. We did.

We mooched around the river and the business district when it was dead on Sundays and when it came alive during the week. We went to see the amazing Marina Bay Sands which makes you feel dizzy when you stand underneath and look up. We experienced Little India on a Sunday night when all the workers have the day off and fill every available space sitting, chatting and drinking. We saw the World War II Memorial dedicated to soldiers who died in Singapore at the hands of the Japanese. We wandered around China Town at night spotting the brothels in the poshest red light district we've ever seen. We experienced the best Indian food we'd ever tasted in Little India. We visited amazing Hindu temples and learnt alot about a religion we didnt really know anything about. We walked the length of 3 tube stops just through underground shopping malls. We went down a river inside a shopping mall on a small boat. We realised an addiction the Singaporean youths have with Iphones and other gadgets. We got engaged........

One night sitting by the largest fountain in the world, Phil did something completely unexpected and proposed! I was so shocked I nearly fell off the bench, but he did it. He got down on one knee and of course, what was I to say apart from YES! With a few tears in my eyes of course I accepted. This is why Singapore will always be remembered as a special place to us. We had a great time, got engaged, met some amazing people and ate some damn tasty food 😊

We will be back Singapore, we had a blast!

As I write this now we are in Brisbane, Australia. Im all blogged out so am afraid the next part of our story will have to wait for another day.

Mrs Barnard to be - over and out!!

Our Journey So Far


Kuala Lumpur - Ipoh - Tanah Rata (Cameron Highlands) - Perhentian Kecil - Kota Bharu - Kuala Lumpur - Kuching (Malaysian Borneo) - Kota Kinabalu (Malaysian Borneo) - Kuching (Malaysian Borneo) - Kuala Lumpur - Melaka - Bangkok - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Dalat - Danang - Hoi An - Hue - Danang - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - Bangkok - Phnom Penh - Pursat - Battambang - Siem Reap - Phnom Penh - Bangkok - Krabi - Ao Nang - Kota Bharu - Perhentian Islands - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore - Kuala Lumpur - Brisbane

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Comments

[Helen Barnard]

STYLE
Again a wonderful insight into the journey....I felt I was there. I new my Teddy Bear would do it in style. Hugs.