So we had arrived from Kuala Lumpur into Singapore courtesy of a very posh Aeroline bus (that cost a bargain 18 quid!) and dropped off at the Harbour Front Centre around lunchtime. Got a taxi to take us to the place we were staying at for the next couple of nights and really didn’t know what to expect with this one – advertised as a penthouse B&B on the 25th floor! We were dropped off in a council estate-esque park and finally found our block (and a lift thank god!) Walked into what appeared to be someone’s house, complete with antique furniture, dining room table, rocking chairs!! Very strange... but actually felt nice and homely after hostel after crap hotel after hostel. Our room was cool with an amazing view over the city. Settled in and then ventured into the city – our B&B was quite far out in the south of Singapore, close by to Harbour Front but a good 15 minute walk to Chinatown and half an hour to the river. The MRT is brilliant though, really cheap and easy to get about so used that quite a lot for the air conditioned break!

Ended up walking all the way to Clarke Quay and found a really nice Mexican cafe for lunch, despite the fact we spent more there than on dinners and lunches and breakfasts for 3 days in KL! We were expecting Singapore to be fairly expensive though and in actual fact it wasn’t too bad, about the same as home but obviously after 6 weeks of SE Asia, it is comparatively bankrupting! Had a look round some more shopping centres and the like around Clarke Quay before coming back to the B & B for a nap! Went out to Chinatown for dinner and a mooch around the markets, in all fairness the markets were much of a muchness though and once you have seen one you have seen them all, especially if you don’t want a “Rolex” or “Ralph Lauren” polo shirt! Found the street vendor I had been to four years ago though, City Satay, which was awesome – 20 mixed satay for 6 quid and tins of 7up, classy!

Didn’t really have much idea as to what we wanted to do in Singapore, had done most of the sights in other cities so spent the whole of the next day (4th) on Orchard Road, bought a few bits and bobs including jeans for Oz/NZ that were only 6 quid a pair! Just shocked to have found some to fit us.... especially with the length of my legs and the size of Dan’s thighs! (although mine were disturbingly an XXL!!) We hit Breadtalk for lunch (the most amazing bakery ever) and then over to Bugis for more shopping. Ended up getting quite sick of shops (who would’ve thought it?!) so headed to Raffles for Singapore Slings and lots of free monkey nuts before going on the Singapore Flyer for sunset. It is the biggest observation wheel in the world, and we had amazing views of the city including Sentosa and the Formula 1 race track! Headed back over to Clarke Quay for dinner, found another satay establishment and ate for cheap, wandered around the quay and ended up back at the B&B knackered after 12 hours of sightseeing (if you can count shops as sights...?!)

We didn’t fly out of Singapore until half 7 in the evening of the 5th hence didn’t need to be at the airport until 5ish earliest. Checked out of the B&B before midday and headed to the Harbour Front Centre on the MRT to get a cable car over to Sentosa, the island south of Singapore. We didn’t really have much money by this stage and didn’t want to have to take more out for one afternoon so couldn’t afford to do the majority of the attractions there; instead we just walked around, got the free buses and trams around and wandered along Siloso beach. Went to the Butterfly and Insect Park in an attempt to banish mine and Dan’s demons – mine as a result of previously coming here and accidently killing a rare and beautiful butterfly (in all fairness it was the size of a bird and flapped around/into my ear, I don’t know what it was expecting) and Dan’s due to his serious phobia of spiders! Ate our final noodles at a food court on the beach and then headed back to pick up our bags, check the internet and get the MRT all the way from our stop, Outram Park to Changi Airport for a bargain $1.80.

Needless to say we were early again but this did mean that with some posh phone voice, eyelash batting and smiles we got really good seats with tons of extra legroom :o) We had time for dinner at Burger King before boarding our flight with Qantas. The journey was about 5 hours and there’s no time difference between Singapore and Western Australia so we landed around half midnight, although by the time we had battled through immigration and customs it was more like 2am. Finally made it through and really grateful to be greeted by a very tired looking Stacey and Lee who escorted us back to Stacey’s place in Applecross, south of the city.