A humid sunless but clean and friendly city. The skyline at night time reminds me of Hong Kong in as much as all the sky scrapers as lit up. The 6 quid or so i paid for an after dusk river cruise was well worth the view - albeit that the ride lasted only 30mins. Singapore itself is very mulitcultural populated with mostly Malay, Chinese and Indians living peacefully with each other on the whole. The city is dotted with old british colonial buildings which are still well preserved but now mostly empty, the officials having moved to more modern nearby buildings . 2/3 days is plenty. Unfortunately I had a bad tum so whilst i passed Raffles Hotel I wasnt able to go in and have a Singapore Sling which i was gutted about as i wanted to toast a friend of mine who passed away 2 years ago to the day on the 12th. I am sure he would have forgiven me in the circumstances and a had a few in his memory a few days later. Another friend of mine has recently passed away in England, again very young, aged 30 - such a waste but it hits home that you have to take the opportunities as they come along and thus i thank my lucky stars, once again, that i was fortunate enough to have been able to go travelling.
Accomodation is very expensive in Singapore. I had reserved a bed in a 4 bed female dorm. When I arrived the receptionist said she had to upgrade me (music to my ears) as her dorms were full. I of course was quite happy at the prospect of a free upgrade (anthing free suits me!) until I opened the door to my room ...which was no bigger than a box room, had a bunk bed in it and was damp. The "upgrade" I assume was the "downgrade" in the number of other bunks in my room. Generally it wasnt a pleasant room but I was out for most of the day so didnt mind too much - at least there were no bed bugs or cockroaches.
