Singapore

Flying in very early from Bali in Indonesia via the amazing view of the giant Mt.Bromo on route, we finally arrived at Singapore International Airport. Straight away it was like technology and time had advanced a hundred years because everything was cleaner, more technically advanced and even the terminal transfers looked futuristic compared to the prior swarms of mopeds and bikes climbing the pavements in order to run us down.

Taking the train from the airport to our desired resting point, the accommodation that Jo had booked turned out to be awesome. Not only did we have such luxuries as a TV, Sky, a fridge and free internet in the room but it also came with the most amazing breakfast (explain more later) and the "penthouse" apartment had some super views over the city. It really was a hotel at hostel prices!

Anyway, after checking in and cleaning up we soon set off into town to visit the Red Dot Design Museum to check out a travelling exhibition focused on new technologies and futuristic inventions. Some of the stuff we had seen before from previous London visits but never the less it had stimulated Jo and given her countless more ideas of ways to create a home. If we ever get one that is!

Walking through Chinatown towards Clarke Quay, thousands and thousands of stalls aligned the market place selling various crafts and gifts from all the other South East Asian countries we had visited. However, not only was there a lot less choice of what to buy but everything had at least tripled in price. Unable to fit any more stuff into our case, we soon found our way out and spent the next hour or so taking in the shops, bars and restaurants in the Clarke Quay area.

A trip to the Civil Defence Heritage Gallery (strange choice but free and worth it) and a stroll past the Old Fire Station followed before we finally arrived across town at another costless attraction, this time at the National Museum of Singapore. I mean isn't weird how you spend so much money to get a flight to these places and a room somewhere and when you actually get there all you do is to try and fill your day with the cheapest things possible? Oh well, another interesting experience was endured and to be honest, we can't really complain.

With time getting on and things starting to shut, we wondered aimlessly down Orchard rd, possibly the most famous street in Singapore, and tried to find something to eat. Cutting a long story short, it didn't happen, either Jo or I didn't fancy what was on offer or it was ridiculously out of our price range. So instead of a lavish meal on our first night here, we ended up settling for dumplings and noodles from a stall on the way home. Tis the life eh!

Waking up slightly later than planned we arrived to breakfast with the smell of bacon in the air. Its been ages since we had smelt that and there was really no surprise to me now wondering why Jo had woken me up...... anyway brought out before us was what can only be described as fantastic. The landlady had not only supplied fresh orange juice, proper tea/coffee and water to drink but had also just placed a plate in front of me with so many different yet exciting meals staring back at me. Never before had I seen Bacon, eggs, cranberry toast, hot cross buns, lettuce, tomatoes and a banana all in the same place before. Must not complain though, it did keep us going for nearly the whole day.

Now with a clear plan of what we wanted to see today, we set off in search of the nearest tube station, more wobbling than walking. Situated just outside the closest station was what looked to me as quite a cool sign. As I moved closer to take a picture (not every day you see a sign post with a policeman shooting at a civilian) the tug at my shoulder from a security guard (with a gun) kind of freaked the hell out of me. Apparently you are not allowed to take photos of within a certain distance of Government buildings, let alone of one? Hmmmm, must be Singapore law as I am sure all the photos of the White house aren't taken by one person? Anyway reassuring him I meant no harm and indeed that I wasn't a terrorist we soon had a mutual agreement that I wouldn't take any more photos. Except I did five minutes later when he wasn't looking, of that exact sign, but hey he will never know. He was indeed a nice chap though and greeted us again every morning on our way to the station.

Finally boarding our train and now a little behind schedule we packed in quite a lot in the morning session of our day. This was achieved even if we did spend more time aimlessly following Jo's directions around town trying to find a landmark not even in this district. Women, directions... no chance! We strolled through Little India basking at the beauty of the Deepvali parade that was currently on, we headed to the Church of Light (when we wanted to get the Church of a thousand lights), we wondered around another amazing Indian temple, visited Arab St and saw both the National and Sultan Mosques.

With lunchtime nowhere near and the smell of Indian food becoming more tempting by the second, we had finished seeing what we had wanted to here and decided that it be for the best that we went onto another part of town. One somewhat less appealing in the expanse of our stomachs. Passing some cool buildings and architecture of modern descends on the way we arrived at our next two destinations for the day, the Singapore Art Museums SAM and 8Q. Weird names I know. They weren't even that great, a lot less sophisticated and interesting than we had hoped, but again it was a free and where else would you get to see a hummer decorated by a Jesus loving church group?

A brief spell of rain began to fall and Jo's stomach was telling me that it was time to eat. You know, it kinda of just made those weird sounds that it does. Oh and she was moaning she was hungry which kind of amplified it. Not agreeing on exactly what we should have we decided to collect an array of food delights from the local bakery slash food shop. You would know what I mean if you had seen it. We chose a curry Naan, some weird potato bread cake, a variety of spiced hot dogs, a french stick and a kind of sausage with chip batter to share. Strange I know but eating it outside in the newly found sun, it was quite pleasurable.

All stocked up and ready to roll, literally, I finally pestered Jo enough for her to let me visit not only the biggest toy museum in Singapore, but the whole of South East Asia. We weren't to be let down and it was an amazing collection of old rare toys and new ones I had never even heard of. It also brought up the timeless topical debate about Golliwogs. Oh dear!

With the light wearing thin outside we wondered down to the river still full from lunch and managing to get some great snaps of the city. Here we took in and posed with some of Singapore's renowned national landmarks and enjoyed every minute checking out the big durian building and all of its surrounding excellence.

In need of a drink we headed over to the Raffles hotel where wondering if we would be allowed in wearing shorts and flip flops we managed to take a seat in world famous Long bar and promptly ordered ourselves a couple of Singapore Slings. They weren't much different from a sex on the beach, according to Jo but it tasted refreshing enough for me after a long day of hard walking. This was accompanied by the throwing and eating of monkey nuts that is a long standing tradition within the hotel.

A quick stop of at Hooters in Clarke Quay to down grade our evening and we soon arrived home for a much needed sleep.

Day 3, another champion breakfast inhaled and we spent the day with the much anticipated visit to the Singapore Zoo. One of the best in the world, my view and that shared by many. We saw the great array of wildlife on offer there and with the Zoo done out extremely well with a variety of shows, we proceeded to see Apes, Gorilla's, a wicked seal show, tigers, meercats and even a couple of polar beers. Awesome.

With time running out before our evening flight we managed to get back into the city, saw the ever expanding Sentosa Island from a distance, wondered around the VIVA shopping centre and even had time for some more great Singapore food at the Harbour front food court, even if we did have Japanese food.

With Singapore the last stop on our Asian adventure, we were a little disappointed with the country's lack of personality, rather fusing everything else we had seen into one big place. Although this was the case, the conclusion that it did provide still helped us experience some great times and attractions, even if they were at a greater cost than previous SE Asian countries.