Singapore

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Hey all,

Friday 20th August - Kuala Lumpur to Singapore continued...
There was a bit of a queue over the causeway into Singapore, it was mainly lorries. I guess they take longer to go through customs; we had to get off the bus at immigration with all our belongings and get them scanned. I'm not sure what they were looking for; I've not had to do that at a border before (although I guess they do it in Australia, just seems different when you fly in). I tried to give them my chewing gum (as it's apparently illegal in Singapore) and they weren't interested. Maff and Em had left their on the bus, I thought that was smuggling, at least I declared mine! We were allowed in and drove on into central Singapore. The city really does look tidy and sterile like everyone says. We were dropped off at a hotel where we changed money with the bellboys, am sure we must have got a rubbish rate but it was only a little bit of Malaysian Ringgit, then got a taxi to our hostel. There is no stress with the taxis in Singapore, they're all metered and the drivers don't argue about that. The driver was nice and chatty, and we were very impressed with the little thing he had on his dashboard that recorded the toll charges he'd received. There's no chance you'd get a nasty letter surprise, like you do in London if you don't realise or forget to pay the Congestion Charge. We arrived at our hostel, G4 Station. It was very nice although our 4 bed dorm room was really small, especially for the price (Singapore is easily the most expensive of the South East Asian counties, 5 hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur prices had trebled). We went out to get something to eat and stumbled across a lovely little Vegan restaurant called the Lovin Hut which I was excited about as I could get healthy vegetarian food. I also thought the no dairy would be good for Maff as he still wasn't feeling very well. We then wandered back and found a bottle shop selling Hobgoblin and other Wychwood Brewery beers; I've never seen them outside of the UK, if not Oxfordshire. Maff and Em went for a rest and I went for a pedicure, which was nice, and then we went out for dinner at an Italian just down the road from the hostel which was lovely. Em and I had a glass of wine each (we'd been craving it!) and I had Bruschetta and Salad. It was lovely. We headed back early as Maff was really poorly; I was up late trying to catch up on my photos and blog.

Saturday 21st August - Singapore
We got up quite early and chatted with our new roommate, Hazel, who had just arrived and was madly planning a trip to Indonesia. We then headed out to the post office on Orchard Road as Em and I wanted to send some things home. We went on the MRT (Singapore underground/transport system) from Little India. We were very impressed with it. It was so easy to understand and use and the stations and trains were so so clean. There literally is no rubbish, Em and I looked around for some at one point and couldn't even see one little bit of rubbish. You pay a deposit for your ticket which you get back if you take your ticket to the machine. The stations themselves are like mini malls. Orchard Road is really big, smart and modern. There are so many shops; a mix of local, high street and really big designer shops like Gucci and Chanel (much bigger than the ones in the malls in Kuala Lumpur). There is also a Ben & Jerry's, which I resisted. I'm not sure how. We then headed by the MRT to the 'colonial' area; we came out near to Raffles Hotel so had a good look at that. I really wanted go in there for tea and cake but I don't think we were dressed appropriately! We walked around all the older buildings, nice big light stone clean ones. It was so hot. The Singapore Skyline is pretty cool. We walked past the War Memorial and St Andrew's Cathedral and the City Hall and the Cricket Pavilion. We could see an interesting building in the distance, with 3 really tall skyscrapers and what looked like a ship on the top; we later found out it's a casino and that the ship is a sky garden. We walked over the river and to the Esplanade which is lovely, and there was some sort of festival going on which made it even nicer. There were bands playing and children dressed up dancing. We had a drink and something to eat at Harry's, which must be famous or something as it was expensive and very gimmicky. We wandered further along the Esplanade to where we could sit by the river with a good view of the Singapore Skyline and the Singapore Flyer (the London Eye, but bigger). There was a good band playing on one of the stages; there were lots of people there but as Em noticed nobody seemed really drunk. It'd probably be a different story if we'd been in the UK! We were sat next to one of the Olympic Stadiums (maybe rowing); the Youth Olympics was on in Singapore whilst we were there, it was very exciting! There was a flame next to the Stadium which could have even been the Olympic flame. The only bad thing about that was that there was a big spotlight right in front of the Singapore Flyer which made taking nice photos impossible! We sat there to watch the sunset and the city light up, then headed back to bed as Maff was deteriorating bless him and Em and I were really tired.

Sunday 22nd August - Singapore
We had breakfast in the hostel, that was nice, I had peanut butter and jam on toast, and booked onto the Night Safari (night time zoo) which I was really excited about. I'm not a huge fan of zoos, but heard this was a good one because the animals are kept in as natural environment as possible. We then got on the Open Bus tour in Little India and sat on the top having a lovely ride in the sun around Singapore. We didn't get off once, Maff wasn't well enough, and none of us really fancied it. It was just nice watching the world go by us. There was a nice breeze up there and some of the information they were giving us was interesting. We went through Little India, down Arab Street (where everything was called Mustafa (my friends Bestoon and Heather have the surname Mustafa) and round Chinatown. We couldn't go everywhere the bus usually goes as a lot of roads were closed due to the Olympics. I was very excited when we headed into Suntec City to change buses as we got caught up with an Olympic bus being escorted by policemen on motorbikes. They have the largest fountain in the world at the Suntec City, it was impressive but didn't actually seem that big. We had lunch at Food Republic, which has so many different types of Asian food. The food was nice, once we'd decided what to have, even though there was so much choice we struggled. We then got on the City Bus loop (we'd been on the Heritage Bus loop before) and had a nice trip through a different part of town. We went past the docks which are big, and the cranes are very tall, I'd guess you'd expect that as it must be a busy port. We went past Fort Canning, which was a headquarters of the Malayan Command during World War II until the British Commander had to surrender to the Japanese. We also learned a little about car ownership in Singapore; I found it interesting. The government make it expensive to own cars to keep the roads quieter through: 1) an excess of 100% on imported cars (I think that's right?), residents having to bid for a car ownership certificate (only x number are released every month, they can go for as much as $10000USD, the certificate lasts for 10 years) and the road tolls. They do however invest in public transport, which is actually good. I'd agree with that based on what I've seen. I think Singapore has the right idea, at least they're not trying to force people onto public transport when it's rubbish. We went back down Orchard Road, spotting Marks & Spencer and Borders (which seems to have survived everywhere else except for the UK) and New Look. We went back and Skyped Drew for a bit which was nice; although Maff was concerned when Drew said he'd lost weight. I was concerned too, hoped it wasn't Maff's illness. Then we headed out to the Night Safari.
We were picked up at 6pm by our air conditioned mini bus; it was luxurious! It had smooth leather style black seats and a big plasma TV. We were the only ones in there and I felt like a celebrity! It took about 20 minutes to get there and by the time we arrived it was starting to get dark. We had to queue up to get in, although it opened at 6.30pm they didn't open the gates until 6.45pm. Em and I had our pictures taken with a very happy friendly serval cat whilst we were waiting. As soon as we were let in we queued up to get on the tram that would take us around some of the park. We had a seat to ourselves and whilst we were waiting (we had to wait till 7.15pm for the tram to get going, I guess they were waiting for it to be dark enough) we had our pictures taken by the very friendly staff. I thought that was nice, as they were taking their own photos and could have just made us pay for them if we wanted a nice picture of the three of us. Whilst we were waiting we could see a deer type animal highlighted by light on a hill, that got us exited. As we got going we found out that it was a Himalayan Tahr. We had to stop several times at the start of the tram ride as people didn't seem to understand that they had to turn their flashes off. The girl commentator was getting a bit irritated with them, very understandable I think. The whole experience was so amazing; I'm not going to be able to explain it very well. It was dark and warm and we just moved slowly and quietly through the animals, who we could always make out in the dark but could see clearly and attempt to take a photo if they were in the light. We saw Pink Flamingos that glowed in the moonlight, Hyenas (which was great, but they are quite scary looking animals! I wouldn't want to come across one on my own down a dark alley), Lions (being very lazy), Giraffe and Zebra, Sloth Bears (that looked bigger and rounder than the one I saw up a tree in Peru, that one was long and thin), big Buffalos (they smelled bad!) and Hippos! I've never seen a Hippo before so that was exciting. They're big and seem chubby, although I think they must be rock solid. The Tigers were pretty cool, they were being lazy. My favourite on the tram ride was the Malaysian Tapir, which is what I saw in Taman Negara Rainforest from the hide. They were loose in the enclosure that the tram went through and one walked past so close I could have touched it; I could certainly smell it. The Asian Elephants were awesome; one was pregnant (gestation period for an Elephant is 18-22 months) as were the Asian Rhinos. They are BIG powerful animals. After the tram ride we went to watch the Creatures of the Night show, which is very like the show they do at Australia Zoo. The 'compare' (not sure if I've spelled that right) was very good with the crowd. It was so put on but you had to smile. My favourite bit of that was when a white wolf ran onto the makeship cliff edge and put his head up as if to howl, he glowed in the moonlight, Em got a great photo. We also saw Binturongs, which are at Australia Zoo but I didn't see them and wondered what they were, and more Hyenas and Serval Cats (the jumping demonstration, where it jumped to catch food, was good) and Raccoons that toddled onto the stage and off again very quickly. They're really cute. There was a whole pretence of the zoo keepers losing something, turns out it was a HUGE Python. They asked for volunteers to come out of the audience to hold it, I tried to encourage Maff but he wasn't up to it, bless him. After the show we set off on a quick walk around the different trails; it was almost like walking through Taman Negara, had it not been for the odd light. We were heading for the Leopard Trail; halfway around I used the toilet which has to be the smallest toilet in the world, maybe it was a children's one actually. We saw more Hyenas which seemed more scary as it was just the three of us looking at them, and then went into the Flying Squirrel cage. We were about to leave it because we couldn't see anything when we spotted something moving up the cage at the back. We were watching it and then before we knew it this huge (they are very wide with the wings out!) Giant Flying Squirrel is coming towards us. I hit the deck so quick!!!!! Maff had stayed standing, Em had dropped down as well (she said she really thought it was going to hit me) and the Squirrel landed in the tree next to us. We were stunned. It was amazing to see it, it must have flown about 20 metres, think it must be it's little party trick! I guess it has the sense to know where objects are so that it can avoid them, but what if someone moves, once it's committed can it change direction?! It was so impressive but my heart was pounding so hard, it took ages for it to return to normal. We headed on along the trails where we saw Porcupine's, big Pelican's, Em & Maff saw a Leopard, lots of Otters and a Tiger up close. It was sitting in the light, then wandered off into the dark, as we were watching it we realised it was doing its business. We also saw an interesting animal called a Pangolin; I'd never heard of them before. It's like a mammal in shape but its skin is all scaly like a snake. And lastly we saw a Fishing Cat, which looks like a big cat but it likes swimming! It was poised on the edge of a pond ready to pounce. We heard a Barking Deer, but didn't see it. We then headed back to the shops, where I bought a Lion Teddy Bear. I'd had a bit of a panic at the zoo about Maff and Em leaving me and realised that as I'd lost Hisky the Husky in Hanoi (which Maff had given me) I didn't have anything to make me feel better when they left. So I bought the Lion and Maff gave it to me, we called it Singha (he's doing a grand job). They had Ben & Jerry's there but I had no time to get it (good job really!) before getting the minibus back to the city. We were buzzing on the way back, the zoo was amazing. I think it's better than Australia Zoo. It seemed like the animals were happy and living as normal a life as they can in the zoo; we saw lots of them actually hunting which I suppose has got to be a good sign. Back at the hostel Maff and Em packed ready to leave for Perth (and to leave me!) in the early morning. I was going to be sad to see them go.

Monday 23rd August - Singapore
We were up at 4am, Maff and Em to get ready to leave at 5am and me to say bye to them. I was sad but OK. I wasn't worried about being on my own, just knew I'd miss them so much as I wouldn't see them until Christmas Eve. I've had so much fun with Emma, she's so great and a very cool sister-in-law! (I've needed her a few times to help me out over the last few weeks, thank you Em!), and know she's going to love Australia and New Zealand. And it's been so nice spending such a lot of time with Maff. He said some really nice things to me about how I'd doing really well and how he's proud of me. I'm really proud of him too; he's such a lovely little brother and very good to me. He's also a really good lad. I'm lucky to have him as my brother. I miss him so much. I wasn't very happy sending him off not being very well. I love you Maffy, hope you are feeling better 😊 I was also very jealous of them going to Perth, which I really loved. Once I'd said bye to them (I tried not to get too upset, did OK really) I went back to bed as I had a bit of a migraine. I woke up late, went for something to eat at the Lovin Hut, then tried to shake off my migraine. It was really annoying. I spent a lot of time catching up on the internet (I guess that wouldn't have helped the migraine). I got completely organised to leave early the next morning for the airport and chatted with the girl I was now sharing a room with; an Irish girl who was pumping me for information on Australia. I was waiting to meet up with my friend Sarah from Australia but it didn't really go as I'd hoped. I'd been looking forward to seeing her but in the end we just met up in Hard Rock Cafe at 10pm for about an hour. It was a mission to get there; there were NO taxis available. It's not like in the other Asian cities where they're hassling you to travel with them! I eventually found one, had a cocktail and some potato skins then headed back to the hostel. My taxi driver was really nice; he was interesting. He told me he was pleased with what the British had done for Singapore. I then had bit more of a chat with my roommate, eventually going to sleep at 1am!

Tuesday 24th August - Singapore to Koh Phangan (Thailand)
I was up at 4am (my roommate had to get up then for her flight, I could have slept in until 4.30am to be up for my flight) and out in a taxi at 5am. I was quite proud of myself for getting myself up so early and into a taxi (I'd been proud of myself the night before as well, traveling around a major city on my own in a taxi, it didn't even worry me, just crossed my mind that I wasn't actually worried, if that makes sense) to the airport. I had another nice driver. I was a bit emotional as everything I looked at reminded me of Maff, and the music the driver was playing was a bit emotional, and there were signs saying "Drive Carefully For Your Loved One" on the roads, but as the driver was chatting about interesting things I didn't burst into tears! Then Singapore Airport was playing emotional music, but apart from that check in went well. And then I had to wait for ages for my flight because it was delayed (I got a text telling me that?!) but thankfully there was an entertainment area that was showing American Idol, although there were a few emotional songs in there! I held it together though. I was pleased when the message came on telling us to go to the gate for boarding (I had a flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui to catch after this one so couldn't be too delayed) although I had my suntan lotion taken off me as I'd forgotten it was in my little rucksack. The flight with Jetstar was really good. I like Jetstar a lot, the seats are nice and comfy and spacious. I had the same flight crew that I'd had on an internal flight in Australia, I thought that was a coincidence (I told the main man as I was getting off, he was impressed I'd remembered!) and the receptionist from the Singapore hostel was on the row next to me, I didn't speak to him though, I don't think he liked me. I was really happy on that flight, not nervous at all. The flight felt very real though, you really knew you were flying. That must make no sense whatsoever but I know what I mean. I collected my luggage and checked back in for my flight to Koh Samui, I had a couple of hours in the airport which was nice (I knew my way around it now, it was my 3rd time through Bangkok Airport in 2 months) as I had something good to eat at Coffee Club and spent some time on the internet. Then it was time to get my short flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui............

Next up: Koh Phangan and the Full Moon PARTY!!!! Woohoo!

Lots of love Xx

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