Singapore

---

So after saying goodbye to Howard and Malacca - of which the entry I cannot find!! :/ we got a bus down to Johor Baharu, a major transport hub connecting Malaysia and Singapore, before going through immigration - which took so long!! We eventually arrived in Singapore and had been in contact with Cedric, a couchsurfer who lives in one of the biggest residential areas on the outskirts, called the Woodlands. He even let us have our own room and bunk bed which was very generous 😊 They have a LRT transport system here, but as it is such a big place, it takes about three times longer to get from one point on the map to the next point as it does in KL, so it took a while to get anywhere! We went to see the famous mariner, and although it was a very cloudy day (not so good for pictures), we saw lots of interesting buildings surrounding it, including the art/science musem which is shaped a bit like half a flower, the esplanade theatre which looks like a massive durian (I don't know if I've mentioned these fruits but they are a delicacy here in south east Asia - they absolutely stink, so much so that they are banned in enclosed areas, but apparently taste amazing..I've still to pluck up the courage to try one!!) we also saw the helix bridge which was designed to look like the DNA structure and mariner bay sands which is a big mall and hotel, with a swimming pool the size of three football pitches on top of it!! So we enjoyed walking around the mariner with all these interesting, creative looking buildings everywhere! Then we went to the Botanical Gardens and park which was set up in 1859 in order to experiment with rubber cultivation. It now has a rainforest, an evolution garden, a scent garden, a ginger garden and an orchid garden, and also one especially for children which I thought was nice, as well as lots of lakes and open space - it really didn't feel like we were in a big city! The next day we headed to Haw Par Villa, a mansion/gardens turned theme park with over 1,000 very colourful statues and 150 giant dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology and folklore - the 10 courts of hell in particular was a bit creepy - 10 different scenes of what dead souls would have to go through if they had committed certain sins in life..gruesome! After wandering through these for a while we headed to turtle and tortoise museum in the Chinese Gardens - a museum that boasts the largest collection of live rare turtle and tortoises...cute! How couldn't we?! After getting our cuteness fix, we left and spent the early evening in one of the many public swimming pools - Singapore has the highest density of swimming pools compared to any other city in the world! And although in general here it is very expensive in relation to the rest of south east Asia, it is also one of the cheapest facilities to use. We left Singapore on the 13th of Feb and flew to Indonesia - we managed to bag a bargain return flight from Singapore to Jakarta for 60 pounds! We'll stay in Indonesia for a month - more on that coming up....! 😊

---