Like a bat out of hell!

---

So after a week of stuffing ourselves with Balinese food and toasting in the sun we decided it was time to burn off some calories and what better place to do it than Singapore where you sweat out a pound a minute before you even move!

Our first day we went on a walking tour of the city, as expected Singapore was incredibly clean and safe. We wandered down from our hostel in Little India to the main city around the memorial park where the "chopsticks" memorial statue is, down to the theatres on the bay where we had lunch a la Haagen Daz - give us a break it was boiling!! Then we headed along the river to the Asian Civilizations museum and the Raffles Statue. While taking a quick breather aka fag break by the river we bumped into Amy Pud, a friend from home, quite strange to see someone after so long without any familiar faces. After an hour sweating on the river front exchanging stories we wandered through China Town and back to the hostel. The girls we met in Oz, Caroline and Sarah, were staying in our hostel in Singapore so we met up with them for a few drinks on the river in China Town which was nice and chilled after a hard days sightseeing.

The following day we headed out to Sentosa an island just outside the city, which you can get a scenic cable car ride across to. The island is like a holiday resort away from Singapores hustle and bustle. We went to the Aquarium, up the revolving Carlsberg Skytower where you can see right out over the city and to some of the Indonesian islands and Malaysia, then onto a dolphin show. The pink dolphins did impressive jumping through hoops antics but the show also allowed a few members of the audience to participate. Since me and Gina had already swam with Dolphins in Mexico we decided Jemma had to get involved so when they asked for volunteers we sent her in. After an embarassing hula hoop attemt in front of about 500 people she got the chance to go in the water and get a kiss off of flipper.
After this we headed to the Musical Fountain where there is a $4m water and laser show. It was really smart and entertaining, they managed to have lasers projecting a series of animations on to the water such as a dancing robot like on the Citroen advert.

Our last day we headed to the zoo, probably the best zoo we've seen so far and as you know we've seen quite a few now - they had polar bears, lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, rhinos and the biggest primate collection in the world. The baboon enclosure was incredible with over a hundred of all ages. The zoo was much more open, with no animals caged as such but rather contained on little islands. After the zoo we headed to the Night Safari where we got to see lots of the same animals but at night. We went round most of it in a tram but me and Jem jumped off to do the leopard trail, I had put Gina off by mentioning i'd read that bats fly around your head. As it happen the bats were not free flying but rather in a separate aviary style section. As me and Jem wandered round looking at all the big cats we noticed the bat enclosure and egged each other on to go through. There was a family that went in a bit before us and we hadn't heard any screams so we went for it, treading extremely lightly and slowly we wandered through undisturbed. At first we didn't see all the bats hanging around us then as the people in front stopped we became acutely aware of the number and proximity of the flying rodents. The eejits in front of us had decided to try and provoke one bat into flying but he appeared undisturbed, that was until they left and we went to walk past at which point one wing streched out. We froze, hoping it was merely stretching. Then it went flapping past our ears, us screetching and holding onto each other for dear life before making a dash for the exit. A once in a lifetime experience, I hope!

---

Comments

[joan]

Batwoman
You girls do push your luck ... at least bats won't do too much harm....just don't go and try and play with the lions. Once again very entertaining travelblogs....you are really packing everything into your time in each country...love to you all xx

[Den and John Casey]

Big plate needed
Those chopsticks sure looked big just imagine the food on the large plate that would be needed. Hey girls come on haagen daz and macdonalds you are not in England you now you know but hey if it's hot a girl has to cool down.It sure sounds hot there and although great to see around the city I am sure it was lovely to get away from the main part and go off to a quieter place but with Fi and Jem shrieking with the bats it could have turned out to be the noisiest.Not very good at hoola hooping then jem never mind i am sure you kept Fiona and Gina entertained at least you got to go in with the dolphins so you can be a member of their club now.The laser and music show sounds good and we have always thought the car changing into a robot advert was good so that must have looked something.okay girls carry on sweating the haagen daz off. Au revoir for now. Take Care Love Mum and Dad Casey. xxx

[RayTaylor]

Rags to Raffles
Looking at the picture of you at the Raffles statue i wondered if you would chance your arm at the snooty world famous Raffles hotel. Today's paper had an article on Singapore and said you could get a meal at the roadside stalls for a £1 thus saving enough to get a tipple at Raffles for £6 but perhaps your backpackers attire might not have induced you to try. Very funny pic of you carrying the big cat off.