Being a Holiday Tourist in Singapore !!

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Day 200 ( Tues 26^th March)



We got up reasonably early, ate as much free toast as we could muster and headed for the bus station, some 20 minutes away by LRT. There was a bus leaving straight away but we went for one a little later as it was far cheaper and gave us time to purchase some snacks. The coach we got was immense. It turned out to be a first class massage chair coach. So for 5 or so hours I got massaged. We also had to 2 back seats above all the others so a great view of the road.

The border crossing was very simple and off into Singapore we go. Back on the bus and another 30 minutes or so until we got dropped off. Found the nearest MRT station and headed for our hostel. Found it with ease which isn’t always the case in huge cities.

We had a bit of a wander round in the evening and went to Chinatown for some good food, it also being pretty cheap. We checked out some of the eateries on the river front. A crab in some spots setting you back $200 SGD, bout £105. Not for us we decided although it did look awesome. We wandered around the river front which is packed with restaurants, bars, bridges with students drinking, the classics. It’s a lovely spot in the evening and lit up very impressively. It’s also cooled down just enough to enjoy it.



Day 201 (Wed 27^th March)



I had a slow start to today. Lee was meeting a work colleague trying to wangle himself a job there so I lingered in the hostel sorting out some future travel information. In the afternoon we checked out little India and decided we’d go there for tea. We ended up in a hawker centre, which are awesome. Hundreds of little kiosks serving maybe 5 or 6 meals each at very good prices and the beer half the price of anywhere else, even cheaper than the shops somehow.

Took a bit of a wander around the Arab district, found the well named ‘Baghdad Street’ which I loved. Wandered past many little restaurants and bars trying to sell us Shisha. We decided to head back instead as we want an early start the next day at Universal.



Day 202 (Thurs 28^th March)



Today gave me the chance to be a big kid once again. I love a good theme park and although quite expensive at £40 for the day, well over my budget we went anyways. As always there was a nice massive queue direct in the sunlight on arrival, so we fried until we got to the front and got some shelter before heading in.

We stayed from opening until closing and went on everything we wanted to, most rides twice and some three times, albeit I’ve forgotten the name of that ride. There was a couple shows we watched, a water show which was like a scene from a movie, very well acted out and full of action, explosions, guns, water going everywhere and the like. We managed to stay dry even though sat in the ‘soak’ zone.’ We also took in a monster sing a long show which was alright but not the best for 2 mid 20’s blokes. Maybe more a kiddies thing. Shrek 4d was one of my favourite bits of it along with the duelling rollercoaster and the transformers ride which doesn’t half hurt your back and neck.

We also ate lunch in an American Style diner which had a few dancing girls singing songs outside, was a bit like being in Grease.

The afternoon was somewhat disrupted by a lightning storm, closing a couple of the outside rides. It also closed the log flume which was beyond me, supposed to get wet on it. The lightning was pretty non-existent also but better to be safe than sorry I guess. We did finally get on it after the ride re-opened however we weren’t massively impressed and decided we’d slightly wasted our time. The only highlight being a little Japanese girl loving it, then being terrified once the water soaked her. Her face and reaction was hilarious. I spent the night in my pod in our hostel while lee schmoozed with a colleague, I even turned down free drink, think I must have been ill.



Day 203 (Fri 29^th March)



I think today would probably go down as my favourite day in Singapore. We took in the Zoo during the day and the Night Safari later on.

I can be like a big kid at times and definitely so when there’s lots of animals about. Singapore zoo has pretty much every animal you can think off. My favourites however are the smaller animals, that seem friendlier like the otter and sloth (I will be reincarnated as a sloth, great lifestyle) as well as all types on monkey, baboon, ape and orang-utan, they are always guaranteed to give you a life, especially the frisky baboons, they just don’t care who’s watching.

There were various shows here to take in also, being a save the rainforest show, showing animals that are struggling in the wild due to deforestation. We also took in a water show and the elephant show which was superb. For such big useless looking animals they must be up there with being the smartest and most useful. They did various tasks the Mahout tells them, with very little persuasion needed. I very nearly took a course in Laos on how to train an elephant but it lasted 5 days and was quite expensive so gave it a miss, sort of regretting it now because the show was so good.

The last show we watched was a water show and nothing truer. Within 30 seconds of it starting we had possibly the most intense thunderstorm I’ve ever seen. There was water everywhere and the lightning filled the sky every couple of seconds. The thunder also bellowing around the outdoor auditorium we were sat in. Luckily we had a roof, although it did not stop the water pouring in down the stairs.

All the shows were very good and I would advise anyone going to definitely check them out. There is plenty of time to see everything in the park and take in the shows. We left all the big animals until the end, sort of saving the best until last. We managed to see them without getting soaked then headed for the exit. The place shuts at 6pm which is a pain as the Night Safari, which is next door doesn’t open until 7pm I think it were. We sat and had some food then headed for the safari.

It’s a really cool concept. There are walking trails you can do by yourself, going through different parts of the world. The Aussie one becoming incredibly annoying as I just couldn’t stop talking with an Aussie accent.

We first took in a small trail near the entrance to wait for the evening show to begin. The show was pretty good and at one point a Korean spectator ended up on the stage alone with a huge snake around his neck while the crew fleed. The lights were flashing on and off and he was terrified, it was quite cruel but very very amusing.

After the show we did the rest of the walking trails, seeing mainly the same animals we saw at the zoo but you get a lot closer to them it seems in the night display, there are nicely lit enclosures which don’t distract the animals and they are easily visible which is good. The trails took us maybe 2 hours in total, the worst bit being the bat enclosure. I was very tetchy in there. I am not a huge fan of things flying around my head at all and bats get very close.

The final thing for us to do was the safari itself. You sit in an electric car/bus thing, bit like a golf cart but huge. This takes you around the park for around 45 minutes with guided English commentary explaining what everything is and telling you facts about each animal. It seemed wherever there was a gap in good animals some deer would be plonked there. Every animal had one enclosure except the deer which were everywhere.

We left the safari around 11pm and got the bus back to the MRT station where we’d missed the last train. Now why one of the main attractions in Singapore isn’t catered too for this I don’t know. The safari is open until 12, the bus takes 30 minutes to get to the station yet the last train is 11:30pm. It seems a bit flawed. We ended up hopping into a taxi into town, luckily it wasn’t too pricey as we were concerned it may be, especially being late at night, I think we just made it before night time prices which was handy. We will now have a couple pretty easy and relaxing days I think to finish off our time in Singapore



Day 204 (Sat 30^th March)



We decided on a bit of culture to start the day off today. I haven’t really had much recently since I left the temples of Angkor so figured it was time to do some reading and learning. We went to the Asian Civilisations museum which was a short walk from where we are staying. It has very good reviews on trip advisor so we went for a look.

The museum was very impressive with lots of exhibitions on every aspect of Asian life, from the middle east and Islamic ideas to Buddhism, Hinduism and a section just on Singapore itself and its rise to being a huge player these days.

We spent a good 3 hours in the museum which is good for me. I can generally get bored in museums, especially the very generic history ones each country/city has. This however was completely different and looked at things in a different aspect. There were various multimedia displays to keep me entertained throughout the museum. It is definitely worth a visit if you’re in Singapore and wasn’t expensive to go into. You could easily spend all day in there. I didn’t need so long as the Chinese exhibits and the like I have seen before so could skip through those. If this was your first stop in Asia you could learn a lot here.

We then wandered down the river towards the river football pitch. The pitch has been built out into the river and is surrounded on 3 sides by large nets to stop the balls floating off. This wouldn’t help me much as there is no way the nets were high enough to stop a clearance or shot of mine sailing into the water. I am not sure when or how often the pitch is used but on one side there is a huge stand next to it, although I think after deliberation with Lee we decided the stand is for the Singapore F1 and not the football pitch itself. I imagine you can hire it and looks good from the bridge next to it.

We then headed towards MBS (Marina Bay Sands) area. This being the most impressive looking hotel in town equipped with huge mall and everything else you could think off. We wandered through the mall and then tried to work out where the evening light show was to be held. When we figured that out we headed back to the hostel to hide before the daily 4pm downfall which happened as per usual. Around 7pm we headed back to MBS to watch the show, which was not what I expected. I was thinking a laser show like the one in Hong Kong but it is a full water show. It’s hard to follow and I wasn’t always sure what was going on but it’s about how light and water are necessary in life. It is very clever how they do it; they project a screen of sorts onto mist created by lots of water sprays. After this we took one last night time river walk, considered having a beer or 2, decided against it with the prices and headed back to the hostel instead.

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