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Published: January 9th 2011
6th january
So we finally arrived in singapore, and went to the MRT station to catch a train and try and find our hotel at Bugis village, first we had to work out the train line connections. after staring motionless at the complicated map we where approached by a helpful local lady who ushered us onto the correct train
our packs are so heavy it feels like our legs would buckle as we walked the hot bustling streets looking for the Hotel.
We checked in at around 10pm then through down our packs and immidately set off exploring the area. (without a map) and ate some food at the local outdoor market, fried fish and rice, Ilona had chicken and rice at a grand sum of 5 euros, things were looking good so off we popped for a beer which cost a staggering 9 euros a bottle (7 pounds)
7th january
we are begging to feel more and more relaxed now, down in the hotel for breakfast which consisted of rice, rice and more rice, oh and a greasey potato type thing. messing around with Ilonas new camera which has more functions on it than the NASA space shuttle, except
the function that takes good photographs!
By 3pm we had visited little india, china town, the fort, boat quay and Clarke Quay.
Little india is seen as a must do attraction to some people but we are not convinced, by day or night it is just a few streeets and not as bustling as you would expect, the temple however is very beautiful and finely decorated. We went inside and had to remove our shoes, Ilona was a little afraid as everybody was praying except us, i was more worried that someone would steal our shoes and we would be left with a pair of worn out size 12 beetle crushers.
We returned on the night in order to try the indian food on offer, i forgot that it is not quite the same standard as "western" indian food and the chicken curry was a little strange, i get the feeling they just drove over the bird (possibly a crow) and then threw it in the pan.
Chinatown is superb, crowded colourful and the temple is out of this world, massive budda sculptures and the smell of burning insense floating through the air. We stood and watched as people came
can you fill it up please
the server just kept filling the cup up, he must of been blind and was under the impression he was filling up a barreland went, removing there shoes and praying to the large gold statues, fasinating to watch. buddha tooth relic temple is a must see!!
by the time we reached our hotel our feet were completly broken, and we bumped into a rat the size of a horse running for cover, close by was a pair of cockroaches the size of a bean tin.
8th January
Cloudy again, we have been lucky with the weather as it has not been to hot!! i have seen more of Singapore in 3 days than the 2 years that i used to work in this region!
we decided to go to Sentosa island, which is basically a theme park, now to do this you have to go in a cable car, a very high cable car. We purchased our very expensive tickets and jumped into the lift to the 16th floor. we handed over our ticket and the lady pushed us into the cable car complete with its very own cup holders, wow.
Now we both dont mind heights, we rock climb and we used to work at heights, but as this thing lurched out and you are 16 floors up and rising,
it is not very funny, needless to say we got off at the next stop, 2 stops before we should have, panic induced trauma, we probably need to see a shrink now! I had images of a broken down cable car and a helicopter rescue flashing through my head, Well that was that, 30 euros down the drain.
(ilona - it might not sound to bad, but when you are trapped in a little cage, and you know there is no way to get out, its hard to keep the panic away! it was horrible, i started to talk about how it would feel to fall from this height. which triggerd a panic attack for richard, scratching all his chest hair off, i was nervously giggeling/crying, f..k the money we are getting off this hell ride!!..middle finger up for sentosa island!)
So we decided to take some lunch and off we went to Clarke Quay, to sit by the river
calm our nerves with a beer and sample the world famous singapore chilli crab. This takes some explaining and the photos should be clear enough. its messy, very very messy. You know your in trouble when, once seated,
chinease temple
absolutley stunning temple, inspires us to visit china the waiter comes over with a plastic apron for you to wear. Then out came the monster, a smashed up crab covered in bright orange chilli, and after a breif induction to the tools we had been supplied and after agreeing on the price we delved into the beast. After about 2 hours of hard battling, with me ending up splattered from head to toe and Ilonas hands coated completly in chilli slime we thought we had the devil conqoured, then came the price 85 euros!!!!!!bummer, but the crab had the last laugh. they done the usual singapore trick, which is to leave out the tax, service charge, and secret tax that nobody understands!!!!
We walked back to the hotel through Bugis street market which is bustling and we think is better to witness than little india. On the way back we decided that maybe tomorrow we would go to Batam, Indonesia on the ferry, just for a day as it is only a 45 minute crossing.
we where still in shock, that for the price for one crab would have fed us 30 meals in the food market!!! crab=budget blaster!
We popped into an internet cafe, there are millions
buddha buddha buddha
one of the thousands of buddhas inside the temple in sigapore,and very cheap, but we chose one with the slowest servers in southeast asia, i think it had less power than a sega megadrive. after trying to upload and update our blog we finally gave up before we destroyed our whole holiday! First i knocked the cable out the back of the computer then Ilona turned off the page and lost all our photos...arrrgghhh!!!!
We have to slow down a little, we are still at 200kph.
That night we decided not to go to indonesia in the morning and have a little singapore leaving party.
Off we went to Orchard road, a up market area of the island, with shops selling prada, Gucci etc, everything the western world consumes. At the far end we went into the legendary Orchard Towers, complete with hookers and lady boys. Strange to see ,all the old men chasing the young girls around the bars and streets.
After too many tequilas, and too many singapore slings we jumped in a cab to the Clarke Quay. We could not live with the fact that we bailed out of the cable car the previous day, panic stricken, so we decided that we would go on the
inside the temple
one of the most beautiful buildings we have ever been in Slingshot. A contraption in which after you have completly emptied your pockets (which where empty due to the crab) you both sit strapped in, and the bungee cords are pulled in tension and we where fired into hyper space. Before launch Ilona was crying with fear, and i was begining to think that this was not a good idea. It was not to bad, it just made our pea sized brains rattle around a little.
9th january
the busy days, alcohol, and jet lag finally caught up with us and we slept all day, singapore is definately a done deal. On our way back from australia we will try to miss this out and go through Jakata Indonesia, or my old stomping ground Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
(ilona- to sum it all up. we have seen, orchard road - orchard towers - clark quay - boat quay - sentosa island from a distance in the air - china town - little india - marina bay building -and other side streets and various famous bars.
5 days in singapore is overkill, we wont be eating chinese or indian food for a while. we are ready for new zealand!)
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mam
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see you got your first job !!!!