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So after waving a tearful goodbye (her not me obviously!) to Sarah, I was back to travelling solo. Once Sarah's bus had gone I had 4 hours to kill in Central Station so I spent a little while online before McDonalds opened and then indulged myself with a big breakfast and peoplewatched for a couple of hours. Once aboard the train I was slightly disappointed with the first class carriage but it looked much better than the standard and bench seats in the other carriages I would have been in had I got the ticket I originally wanted. I settled in for the 7 hour trip and having had a late night the night before, I dozed off fairly quickly and woke up to find the conductor had left a bottle of water and a slice of chocolate cake for me. Nice touch I thought! I unwrapped the cake, took one bite and then suddenly the ride got decidedly bumpy very quickly. A guy behind me let out a big 'Whooooaaaaaa'and I could see the carriage in front rocking violently from side to side which made ours do the same so I grabbed the seat in front and braced myself for the worst. Thankfully, we hit the gravel by the side of the track before the train could topple over and we lurched to a grinding halt sending the Indian woman behind me somersaulting down the aisle like a gymnast! No-one really knew what to do so I helped the woman to her feet, checked she was ok, sat down and finished my cake! One by one the others drifted off the train and when I followed I was shocked to see the middle three carriages of the train on their sides with people being lifted from the windows and the engine of the train about 500m up the track. The only two carriages still upright were mine and the engine carriage behind us so getting that first class ticket turned out to be a blessing! I walked over and helped a few people from the end of one of the carriages before lots of locals and people in flourescent jackets descened on the scene and ushered us up along the track to where the rest of the train had stopped. We then stood on the platform of the tiny station for an hour watching the chaos further down the track as every man and his dog turned up for a look at the scene. We were finally told that buses would be sent to take us on to the border with Singapore and then ushered into a dis-used garage by the platform to ensure no locals jumped on the buses with us. Once the buses arrived I sat next to an old Malaysian guy who was most entertaining for the entire journey giving me a potted history of the relationship between Malaysia and Singapore. The border crossing was pretty smooth but we had to board another train to cross Singapore and get to the main station which I must confess I wasn't too keen on. Thankfully this one stayed on the tracks and we got to the station safely. I then wandered out of the station and found a taxi to take me to my hostel as I didn't have the will to wander around in the dark. I was 3 hours late for my check-in and I had a worry that they may have given my room away but at least I had a decent excuse I guess! The hostel reception was very friendly and they understood the situation so I checked in, had a quick walk around the block to catch my bearings and went to bed feeling very tired and more than a little reflective about the day I'd had. I finally dozed off happy to have escaped the crash and more determined than ever to enjoy the rest of my trip.
I woke up still feeling decidedly unsure about the whole hostel experience as I'd been woken several times by the French guy beneath me (who must have been fighting vampires in his sleep!) and a sniffing German in the bed next to us! Through the power of Facebook I had been in touch with my friends Jo and Yas and had arranged to meet them for lunch so after a quick wander around town I headed off to meet them. I stopped at a newsagent to buy some chewing gum on the way but was told by the assistant that gum was outlawed in Singapore....no wonder the streets were so clean! After a sunny morning exploring, the skies had clouded over and by the time Jo and Yas had arrived it was raining hard. The bars were across the river so we decided to make a run for it but the rain was getting even heavier as we ran and we got soaked in about 30 seconds. Naturally we had to spend 5 hours in the bars of Clarke Quay to dry out! That evening, Jo had arranged to meet a friend in a place called Chijmes which is a converted monastery housing lots of cool restaurants and bars and kindly invited me along. We had a lovely evening (apart from the beer prices!) and Jo's friend Michelle, who had been working in Singapore for 2 years, did a good job of selling the place to me over the course of the evening. First impressions for me were certainly very positive as it is a lovely city with lots of things to see and do but the standout thing for me was the cleanliness of literally everything there. Even the beggars were well dressed!
Jo and Yas were in town for two more days so we decided to visit Sentosa the next day. Sentosa is a big man made island resort with hotels,theme parks and attractions on it and it's also where the new Universal Studios is being built. Once we'd worked out how to get across the bay (signposts in Singapore aren't brilliant) we took a monorail from the mainland over to the island although the first half of the journey was over the industrial half of the docks and the building site which wasn't particularly scenic. The rest of the journey was through a couple of the parks and bays which were very nicely landscaped and we hopped off the monorail directly beneath a replica of the Merlion which is a cross between a lion and a mermaid and is a symbolic Singapore icon. We spent the day exploring the parks in beautiful sunshine and tried out the Luge, a 4D cinema and Underwater World which was a great aqquarium where you could get hands on with some of the animals there. The highlight for me was hand feeding stingrays in a big pool which was a very weird sensation! After Sentosa I took advantage of the cheaper electronics prices in Singapore and indulged myself by buying a new notebook PC. Having been a little slow in updating my blog in recent weeks, the idea was to use it to back up my photos and hopefully get online a little more often but only time will tell I guess! We had a lovely meal in the Chijmes area that night and then went to the Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling. Raffles was certainly a very cool place and very impressive with all the old period features maintained in the building. Although Jo and Yas had been before they indulged me and kept me company and we had a good laugh messing about with the peanuts and bar mats in the bar (you had to be there I guess!). After that we headed to the New Asia bar which is on the 75th floor of a hotel and has spectacular views across the whole of Singapore. It had spectacular prices too as three drinks came to $54! I also found out afterwards that they've built it with the floor at a 20 degree slant to disorient the customers but I didn't notice while I was in there. I put that down to the Singapore Sling though! Sadly Jo and Yas were leaving for Malaysia the next day so after a couple of excellent days we said farewell and I was back to flying solo once again.
The next day I headed off to Singapore Zoo which is rated as one of the best in the world. I'd spent one of my lost days in Cambodia watching documentaries about Singapore Zoo and it looked fabulous so I was very happy to find that it lived up to all expectations and I spent the whole day taking in the exhibits and shows. There's also a Night Safari part of the zoo which opens after the main zoo closes so I decided to do that too. It was also an excellent zoo as lots of the nocturnal animals come to life after dark which provides many more things to see. The whole experience was very well done with the shows and music around the park all geared up to give you the feeling of being in the middle of the wild. Certain parts were a little eerie as the pathways take you through open plan areas where the animals are free to roam but the experience of a flying fox jumping over my head is certainly one that will live long in the memory.
I had an early evening flight to Australia the next day so I filled my last day in Asia by taking in the rest of the main sights. I took a ride on the Singapore Flyer which is the Asian equivalent to the London Eye, and got some great views around the whole of Singapore and the surrounding areas. I then took my now obligatory bus tour around the city and saw all the different areas of Singapore like Little India and Chinatown which unsurprisingly were no different to all the other Little Indias and Chinatowns that I'd seen in the other cities I'd visited! I ended the tour with a visit to the famous Merlion which is a statue of a cross between a mermaid and a lion! It was created to give Singapore a unique identity and a world famous tourist attraction and it certainly hit the spot with the unique part. After a little miscalculation I arrived at the airport a little later than planned so I missed the opportunity to explore the very nice Singapore Airport and more importantly the chance to use my new netbook in anger. My late arrival did mean that my check in was very smooth though as it was deserted by the time I arrived and I just had time to claim my tax rebate for my netbook (which made it even cheaper) and grab a cheeky takeaway before boarding the plane.
So after 84 days of hot sticky weather, lots of rice, gut wrenching smells, beautiful scenery, very friendly people, lush green countryside, rice, more motorbikes and scooters than you can shake a stick at, more rice, women in pyjamas 24/7, flea bitten dogs, even more rice, countless beautiful children, some bizarrely placed and hugely unhygienic toilets and yet more rice it was time to bid a fond farewell to Asia. I'd learnt a huge amount about the people,geography and culture and met some great people in every place I'd visited which made for a truly fabulous experience. Next stop Australia and more adventures.......
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