Singapore

11/12/16
Target: to spend as little as possible…we therefore spent most of the day wondering around the city, avoiding museums and therefore hefty entrance fees. Started off in Chinatown and wound up in the Central Business District. The contrast between Singapore and Vietnam is unbelievable: where as in Vietnam people wander the narrow streets in traditional dress, selling goods on the streets and just generally hanging around, Singapore is just like any Western city; everyone is rushing around in smart, business attire with a Starbucks coffee at hand. There are numerous expensive restaurants and bars (which we also had to avoid), but Singapore is unusually clean (due to strict police rule). We were both really impressed with the city and surprised by how green and spacious it is. If I was to live/work in any of the places we’ve visited so far, Singapore would be my first choice: it has everything (including good weather!)

We visited Fort Canning Park and ate our picnic lunch (common occurrence these days – saves us a few dollars) and then found Raffles Hotel, where the minimum price for a room is 250GBP/night. Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside (surprise, surprise: no shorts or sandals/flip-flops allowed). Walked along the waterfront and went inside Singapore’s’ 200 million GBP flagship development: Esplande (Theatres on the Bay). We then splashed out on 2 Christmas stockings (1 GBP each) so that we could celebrate Christmas in style: we will ‘fill’ our stockings with the small gifts we have bought for each other: one from each of the countries we have visited.

12/12/06
Headed to Sentosa Island (dubbed by the locals as Concrete Island because it has been developed purely for tourism – you have to pay an admission fee for stepping foot on the island). Visited Underwater World, which featured a huge underwater tunnel: as you walked around, sharks, rays and divers etc. surrounded you. The admission price also entitled us to see the pink dolphins at a lagoon towards the south of the island. However, the most interesting attraction we visited was Fort Siloso, built in the 1880’s as part of a ring of British Fortresses guarding Singapore Harbour (Siloso is the only remaining coastal fort). It was really well put together: as you walked around you got a feel (and smell) for colonial army life as it was re-enacted by life-size models and audio commentary. It featured the surrender chambers, where wax-works recreated the British surrender to the Japanese in 1942, and then another room showing the Japanese surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945. You could also explore the tunnels (which reminded me of the air-raid shelter in our garden at Bloomfield Road). Only drawback of the day was the temperature: it was sweltering (event the locals have been saying it is unusually hot for December).

13/12/06
Visited the new outdoor swimming pool (30p each!) in Little India. Fantastic pool – it is an Olympic sized pool and, to Wayne’s delight, had bookshelves scattered around the perimeter: full of car magazines. After writing up a bit of the blog we ventured to the National Indoor Stadium to watch the Singapore Slingers play the New Zealand Breakers. It was actually a really enjoyable evening – I would definitely go to a basketball game again, if not for the sport then for the music – I didn’t realise they play such wicked tunes all the way through a game (Claire, Beth – you would have loved it!) The actual game was quite amusing; they only played for 8-minute intervals then took a break – lame! Before we arrived I was a little concerned that the Slingers would get thrashed: have you ever seen a tall Asian man?? Surely Basketball is not a suitable sport for Asian’s to be competing in: even the taxi driver seemed a little confused! However, it transpired that the ‘Singapore’ Slingers comprise of second-generation expats: I only saw one Asian player. The crowd also consisted of mainly white expats (I think most of them worked for the sponsor companies and had been given free seats). Anyway, regardless of the player’s race, they won; beating the Kiwi’s 111-94…well done the Slingers!!!

14/12/06
Our last day in Singapore and Asia We have had an excellent 3 months and have so many memories to take away with us…we’ll defiantly come back one day to explore more of the continent, but for now we can’t wait to reach Australia…

Hi all, hope everyone’s ok? I’m going to start a new update now, but will finish it off tomorrow as we are a bit pushed for time…Wayne’s making me go to a basketball game (Singapore v’s New Zealand)…I’ll let you know whether it was worth it tomorrow.

6/12/06 – 8/12/06
Melaka wasn’t anything to write home about: stayed in a travelers guesthouse that had military-like house rules, but the room was a great size so we just kept ourselves to ourselves so as not to get into any trouble! Visited a few museums (including Baba Nanya Heritage Museum: a traditional 19th century Pernakan house, and the Maritime Museum: located on a recreation of the ‘Flora de la Mar’ – a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast of Melaka whilst trying to transport treasures back to Europe) and hung out in coffee shops playing cards most of the time. We were just really stalling so that we didn’t have to pay for too many nights in Singapore.

9/12/06
After a 5-hour bus journey we arrived in Singapore…We hadn’t booked any accommodation, so were delighted when a random man on a bicycle greeted us at the bus station in Little India. He offered us a room for S$25/night – far cheaper than any of the ‘budget accommodation’ listed in the guidebook – so we jumped at the offer, no questions asked. When we arrived at ‘Al’s Nest’ as he like’s to refer to it, we realised that we had agreed to a ‘home stay’ arrangement, rather than a room in a guesthouse…we are therefore currently residing in a family home. It is very bizarre – the sign over the door declares that it is an export trading company (??), they leave dirty washing all over the floor and never ever clean the shared bathroom (gross), but they give us breakfast and then let us get on with it…all we have to do is put up with the grandmother, who gawks at us, whilst shouting in Chinese (we have now established that she’s deaf). After ‘settling in’ we caught the underground to Orchard Road, the infamous shopping district. It is so Christmassy: lights, music and decorations everywhere, and incredibly busy – worse than Oxford Street at this time of year!

10/12/06
Breakfast eaten quickly and in silence, whilst grandmother viciously decapitated smelly fish with a humungous knife. Escaped and caught the underground then bus to Singapore Zoo, which is just outside the city in the centre of the island and set in beautiful jungle. Saw a Bengal White Tiger and a Polar Bear for the first time. The zoo is excellent and internationally acclaimed, primarily because they try to recreate an entire ecosystem appropriate for individual species. There are virtually no cages and animals are only separated from visitors by a moat system (many species, including the Orangutans are free-ranging ).

We spent the evening wondering around Little India: it was a memorable experience; despite the fact we did very little. Apparently every Sunday night all the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants (in Singapore on 2 year work visa’s) swarm the streets and simply hang around…there were literally thousands of men (no women), you could hardly move, even the alleyways were crowded. Sunday is their only day off, so they ‘socialise’ according to ‘Al’ (the man of the house we are staying in). They don’t drink, eat or party - they just stand. Some of them must have intended on spending a bit of money though, as we went to the only ATM in Little India and queued for about 20 minutes behind a massive line of Indian men. Spoke to Al for the rest of the evening and learnt that hangings are still carried out here and that men who commit crimes receive a beating from the police force!

Run out of time, I’ll continue tomorrow – our last day in Asia! Emma xx