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A $HORT $TOP IN $INGAPORE!
Our bus journey to Singapore (complete with fully reclining seats, a sparkling new interior and a super-efficient border crossing) set the tone for a very clean and comfortable next few days. The city of Singapore is indeed as clean as we'd been told it would be; no gum, no trash, no graffiti! In fact it was so spotless that I found myself manically scanning the streets trying to 'catch Singapore being dirty' - it didn't happen!
After settling into our unique little hostel, the appropriately named Matchbox hotel (a large dorm-room sleeping 18 people each confined to their own little pod-capsule) we met up with Ivy, our Singaporean friend who we trekked with in Nepal. We had dinner together at a nearby Hawker Centre where Ivy introduced us to some Singaporean staple foods - noodles, chicken rice and of course, beer! It was great to catch up with her again and she gave us some fabulous tips about how to make the most of our short 2-day stint in this lively little nation!
Our first full day we set aside to see the sights of the central city - we took the very efficient MRT into the heart of the metropolis but soon realized it was just as easy to see this not-so-sprawling city by foot! We enjoyed a great aerial view on the Singapore Flyer then headed down to the Marina to get a few snaps with Singapore's quirky 'mascot', the Mer-Lion. We wandered the waterfront, strolled through the Colonial suburbs, checked out Chinatown, browsed the shopping malls and even managed to squeeze in an All Blacks vs. France test match at the Fern & Kiwi bar on Clarke Quay. Later in the evening we caught the famous Marina Bay Sands Water and Light Show before lugging our weary legs back to our little matchbox beds!
Apparently no trip to Singapore is complete without a visit to Universal Studios so early the next morning we caught the monorail to Sentosa Island to investigate the merits of this claim! Joel was like a big kid who'd eaten one-too-many bowls of fruit-loops for breakfast, tearing around trying to beat the queues for the 'best' rides! The first few rides, Transformers 3D, the Battlestar Galactica suspended rollercoaster and Revenge of the Mummy, were by far the most scary of all. I will willingly admit that my favourites were the rides made for people less than 4 feet tall; Madagascar's Crate Adventure and the Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase (I swear rollercoasters are scarier than they used to be)! It was a fun day all round although we couldn't help but wish we'd had our niece and nephews with us - Noah, Maia and Kayzarhn would've loved the place!
This morning we caught the MRT to Changi Airport - Joel thought we weren't going to make it when an officious security guard at the train station wanted to do a 'random' bag-check involving us having to undo all straps and open up all pockets of our packs all for the guy to merely glance at the top layer. I felt the need to point out to him that "only a really stupid terrorist is going to put a bomb in the top of their bag" at which point I was politely reminded that "you're not allowed to use those words, Madam"! I had a few other choice words I wanted to use but for once I bit my tongue!
High: Universal Studios (turns out the claim was correct)!
Low: They weren't lying when they said this place is expensive - a pint of beer here is 60 times the price of a pint in Vietnam!
Next Stop: Yogyakarta, Indonesia (our lucky-last country before home)!
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