Arriving in Singapore

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Today was a little dull really, we were up early (07.00am is early for us now!) to catch a train to Singapore arriving at 4.00pm - as you can well imagine it was boring and not much to report.

You will be pleased to know however that for a very small extra fee we upgraded ourselves to 1st class, so that was something (read it and weep Charlotte and Dyce!). The guard on the train however (who was wearing a pink Thunderbirds uniform had the gayest voice you've ever heard.

On arriving in Singapore, there was no great modern glass and steel construction for a train station, in-fact it was a very old post war concrete construction that looks like it has been forgotton about since it was built, bit of an anti climax really. The route into Singapore from Malaysia is the only train route that uses the station however, so I guess it's understandable!

Found our way to our hostel (yes another hostel!) after a couple of cabs and some chasing around the City Centre. Once again we found ourselves in an Asian City with Cab Drivers who don't know where they are, where they are going, or how to read maps. If only they had to do the Knowledge, then they'd really come unstuck!

Our first couple of nights at the hostel are in a shared dorm (Yes Charlotte a hostel and a shared Dorm - we really are slumming it). However the hostel is brilliant, consistently being voted amongst the top 5 hostels in the world.

The street we are in is a beautiful little Arabic/Colonnial area of Singapore, not a million miles from the action and the City Hall. There is a lovely Mosque at the end of the Street - the quality of which puts the more revered sites in Malaysia to shame! The street kinda resembles a row of Notting Hill Boutiques - one art gallery we have found was brilliant - we nearly ordered a sea container to ship half of the stock home.

We had Dinner in a traditional Singapore Satay Restaurant and then just wandered round the block. We continued eating nearly all night - we eventually got home feeling fat and got our heads down! Once again - the food here is absolutely brilliant and although dearer than Malaysia, still relatively much cheaper than the UK.

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Comments

[Bex]

Thunderbirds are go
It's not fair, when I stayed in a hostel Barcelona stylee there were 8 of us in a room on bunkbeds. how come you get the luxury? And how dare Buzz call Clare a monkey, I thought the one to the left of her typically taking food out of her hand was Dan. I wish British Rail guards wore pink uniforms, it would brighten up any train journey in this country.

[Nicole]

My few months of travelling is becoming pale in comparison to your adventures! I can relate to shared dorms. Not too bad if with nice people but can be horrible if not!! x

[Steve, Master of the Universe]

Train Guard
Couldnt read any further than the first few lines - that train guard sounds like the single greatest public servant of our times, and how i wish the guards on the underground were as flamboyant!

[Buzz]

First thoughts on Singapore.
So the train station is a dump with gay conductors who look like the Traceys from Tracey island, the cabbies have about as much brain power as my left testicle and you are sharing a dorm with many other smelly arsed hikers such as yourselves! Great mosque and art gallery. Hmmmm compared to sunny Scunny then things are looking up over here!