Singapore part 2

2 meals for £2. Can't fault it.

Singapore was even better the second time round. We stayed in a nicer hostel and we knew where all the best food places were: we picked our hostel based on its vicinity to the nicest hawker market (Albert street, near Bugis). We basically gorged on food for the 3 days we were there. In addition to eating, we also went on a jungle walk called the tree top walk, where you walk for 4 hours through the jungle, including over a bridge that stretches over the top of the rainforest. We did this walk during a storm, despite the signs warning of lightening strikes (the bridge was metal). We saw lots of monkeys, including one that stole a girls unopened subway sandwich from her hands and ran away with it. We also went to Sentosa Island (a man-made island of fun),the Botanic gardens, Chinese and Japanese gardens. Other than that, we just relaxed and enjoyed being in the vibrant, clean, modern city that is Singapore. I bought a bargain pair of Havaiana flip flops after having lost the ones I bought in Brazil in Auckland. Our hostel owner was lovely and gave us lots of tips on what to do in Malaysia, including giving us a map of where to eat, so it looks like we are about to pile on more pounds as we move north.  

Singapore to Japan

At the Hindu temple

Konichiwa from Japan! We are now in Japan and it is without a doubt the most culturally unique place I have ever been in my life. Before I discuss this any further, let me first finish off what we got up to on our last days in Singapore.

On our second day in Singapore, exhausted from all the walking the day before, we slept in really late and then spent the morning planning Japan. Before we knew it it was 3pm and we hadn't done anything so we went out to explore the local neighbourhood. We visited the Arab quarter and wanted to go up Baghdad street but it was closed. We stumbled upon a large mosque and went inside where we were shown around by a Dutch woman who had converted to Islam and had lived in Singapore for the last 20 years.

After the mosque, we headed home through a monsoon to our hostel. We got there soaking and immediately went on a walking tour with Jonathan, the entertainment manager of the hostel. He took a group of us around the places of worship in the area. We visited a Taoism temple where we lit some sticks, made a prayer and then got our fortunes on a bit of paper. Then we went to a Hindu temple which was just next door and had a look around. After this, we went to a fruit stall where we all tried Durian fruit (the stinkiest fruit in the world, that is actually banned on the subway because it smells so bad). It didn't taste or look how I expected. It tasted and looked more like chicken than fruit. After we had eaten it we all had to rinse our hands in a bucket of water to get the smell off.

Durian fruit

The tour concluded in the hawker centre at Bugis which is the nicest/cheapest food centre we have seen yet. We all sat down and ate and then Jonathan left us to our own devices. We went for a wander around the night markets and had an ice cream.

The next day (our last day in Singapore) we had a full day to kill (our flight wasn't until 6am the next morning but we had to check out of the hostel at 11). So we spent a large part of the day hanging around the hostel, surfing the internet and playing games. In the afternoon we went to the biggest electronics mall I have ever seen (its a skyscraper full of electronic stuff). We bought some USBs and headphones. In the evening we went on a wild goose chase to find a hawker centre Jemma had seen on the first day on Orchard road and were disappointed when we finally found it because it was more expensive than the one near our hostel. By the time we had eaten it was 10pm and we had just enough time to nip back to the hostel and pick up our bags, ready to go to the airport where we would spend the night before checking in for our flight at 4am. I have slept in airports a few times and I have never had a good experience. Usually they go out of their way to make the bit before you check in as un-sleeper -friendly as possible. It is always freezing and the seats usually have handles between the rows so you cant lie down. However, I had googled Changi airport and found out it was meant to be the best airport in the world for sleeping, with free massage chairs and nap areas. It turned out this is the case, but only once you've checked in. And as we weren't allowed to check in until 2 hours before the flight (i.e. 4am) we ended up spending a very uncomfortable 4 hours on a cold (freezing cold) floor. I tried to make a little bed out of my dirty washing and wrapped myself in my fleece and hat but I was still freezing. I ended up having about 2 hours sleep and Jemma opted not to sleep at all and just sat and read the Japan guide book we had bought. When we finally got on our flight we were so tired. I slept for a bit but then they woke us up with breakfast (noodles, ergh) and so I stayed awake for the rest of the journey and watched the Help.  

Singapore

The Merlion (Symbol of Singapore) at night

During our last few days in Cairns we stayed in an amazing hostel called Tropic Days which was such a nice Oasis in the desert of horrid Australian hostels. It was half the price of hostels in Sydney and it was a 'Labour of Love' as Jemma calls it. In other words, it had a lot of personal touches and a lot of character. Because it was slightly out of the town centre, they provided a free shuttle bus to run you into town and they also had an all you can eat pizza night where they ordered takeaway for everybody. The people it attracted were a little bit older than the travellers we have come across in the rest of Oz and it was nice to actually meet people we had something in common with. So we spent a few days chilling there and then we did a day trip to the Great Barrier Reef, which I am still a little bit traumatised by so I will leave that review for another time.
Anyway, we left Cairns on Sunday morning for Singapore, and after a 3 hour stop over in Darwin, we arrived at Changi airport, Singapore at 9pm local time. I was SO HAPPY to get to Asia!
We took the MRT (metro) to our hostel (Little red dot), which I was a little bit disappointed by (I was expecting more of Singapore hostels, but South America continues to trump every other continent when it comes to hostels). Nonetheless, it was nice enough and has air con so we just went straight to bed.
The next day (Monday) we really had a full day. We got up and had the free breakfast (so nice to have free breakfasts again! And it was the first hostel I have ever had free cocopops in!) and then we set off to explore the city.

I last came to Singapore when I was 8 (so, a very long time ago) but I still have fond (but vague) memories of it and I wanted to go and see the hotel where I stayed as a child and see if the memories came back. We decided to go on foot rather than take the metro and about 2 hours later we got to Orchard road which is the designer shopping area. We saw lots of designer shops (the most designer shops I have ever seen in my life). We also saw two catwalk models doing a photo shoot outside them. We kept ducking into shopping malls and hawker centres (Singapore food markets) to keep cool and we were overwhelmed. Especially Jemma, who has never been to Asia before, couldn't take in the sheer quantity and variety of cheap, delicious food. We were in heaven. Especially after coming from Australia, where the prices were astronomical, we couldn't believe our luck when we could have any flavour and combination of freshly squeezed fruit juice for a pound! In spite of this, the first restaurant we ended up in was McDonalds (can't visit a country without sampling the Maccas and comparing the price to the last country). The prices brought tears of joy to our eyes and we hurriedly placed our order (Jemma had sea weed shaker chips and we had chilli sauce and curry sauce for free for the first time in months!). After McDonalds, we continued on to find the hotel where I stayed 18 years ago and as I walked into the reception, the smell brought a wave of memories back (strange how smells can stay the same all that time!). A lot of the interior had changed but I could still recognise most of it. After a bit of snooping around, we walked back to Orchard road and then got the MRT to the Esplanade which is where that skyscraper is with a swimming pool on top of it (Marina Bay Sands Hotel). We looked into staying there but it was slightly out of our price range.

We walked around this area for a bit (The central business district) and saw the Merlion that is the symbol of Singapore. Near to the hotel that has a swimming pool on top of it, there is also a massive shopping mall which has an ice rink and a river(!) inside where you can take a gondola ride through the mall! We continued on through the CBD, took lots of photos and saw an English chippy (the first proper English chippy I have seen on the trip. And yes, I am ashamed to say, I had some chips in paper with salt and vinegar). At this point it started to get dark and we stumbled upon a free waterfront open air concert with a Thai rock band playing that really reminded Jemma of Pink Floyd. The music fitted the atmosphere very well. After this we walked and looked around an arts display that was lit up at night and admired the Singapore skyline. By this time, our feet were really starting to ache and it was gone 9pm. We headed back to our hostel via China town (which, unlike China towns in other countries, is actually like a mini China). We ended up eating at a Hawker stall near to our hostel before collapsing into bed absolutely exhausted.

See the Singapore photos here: Singapore