The next continent - Asia - the final continent! I know - already! - we feel like we have barely been gone a couple of months. After an exceptionally boozey send off from Australia we limped passed the swine flu detectives at the airport (with their heat sensitive cameras)and eased our way to our hotel. As with most big city hotels - it was very average - clean enough, but shared bathroom facilities, a hairy cat roaming the place and only the kitchen sink to brush your teeth in!
The city got off to a much better start. Knowing of a strong British presence, both historically and through the on-going large ex-pat community, but not knowing how it came about and how it currently influences the city state - we decided to head straight for the national museum of Singapore and bone up. Now its rare for me to say this, but it was capitavating - lots of oral history, lots of artifacts, lots of historic connections to the modern city.
Our desire for knowledge sated - the desire for food kicked in and we headed for the Newton Hawker Centre (for those not au fait - hawker centers are collections of food stalls, serving all types of quick food). We looked at the map and assessed it was not far and headed off on foot. Then the pavement stopped, then humidity kicked in, then the sun came out, then the roads started to take us in a very circuitous route - in short - we nearly melted. Lesson learnt though - in this heat and humidity - walking is no longer an option. Lunch was decent - chinese style food (much of the malay diet is strongly influenced by the huge number of immigrant chinese).
The next day was another big one - first of all off to Sentosa Island - an island off the southern coast of Singapore (an island itself) which has been and is still being developped in to tourist park. We took the monorail across (after being distracted by a huge foodhall in an even larger shopping mall) and got involved. Activities were a priced closer to holiday makers budgets than our own back-packing one, but we chose a couple of the chepaer options - a ride in the Tiger Sky Ride - a 70m pole around which a viewing gallery rotates and some seguing (sic). The Sky Ride gave us some great views of the city and the seguing (sic) let us drive a round a track on motorised two wheels which move forward when you lean forward and stop when you stand up straight. We paid for our 10 minutes of teaching and then 1 lap around the test circuit - fortunately we were not very well supervised and managed to squeeze in a couple of extra circuits as well.
That evening we donned our closed toed shoes and long pants and collars and headed to Raffles Hotel (named after the founder of modern Singapore (Brit.) Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles). We headed straight for the Long Bar, where tradition dictates you do two things, drink Singapore Slings and throw the shells of your monkey nuts on to the floor. We were in the mood for Gin and Tonics, but we did manage to create a thick carpet of shells in no time at all. After our extravagence in Raffles - we just popped to Chinatown and another place for street food.
Day 3 was more relaxed - Holland Village - to check out one of the ex-pat enclaves and then back towards town for the Botanic Gardens (including the Orchid garden). Our photo section for Flora and Fauna from around the world is filling up nicely - when we return fell free to request and audience and Nicola will come round with the lap-top and run you through the 500 pictures! The afternoon was filled with more shopping malls than you can shake a stick at - nothing bought I can assure you, but it is apparently a further insight in to the mindset of the locals.
Our final evening was another high-light - the Night Safari. Whilst it was brilliant to see all the animals up close and to feel there was nothing between you and them - it is still a very touristy thing to do. We were at all times surrounded by large group of (very pushy, not demanding, just physically pushy)Indian tourists, straight off multiple buses, the food is much lower quality than the hawker centers and yet it costs 10 times as much! Maybe I am being a little unfair - maybe I just prefer to see the animals for real rather than in a Zoo.
And that was it. Singapore done in 3 days. Greatly aided by Dave (Vanessa's boyfriend) (a former Ex-pat Singaporean himself). Before we arrived we had heard mixed reviews of Singapore - too strict, too western, too sterile and alcohol too expensive. The final one I fully agree with - but Singapore is a gateway to Asia - it is the perfect place to ease you in to the heat, the food, the culture, the language, the humidity and the smells. The fact that everyone speaks English was an additional cherry.
