Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hi again folks, me again! Sorry for the delay with the photo's but fingers crossed they should all be on now....there's two, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, enjoy!
So, I just need to jog my memory and remember back to Singapore....mmm well, we arrived on the bus from Kuala Lumpur and headed to the hotel we thought we had booked. When we arrived, they had no record of our booking and that every hotel was full as it was some holiday or something.....groovy!
I won't bore you all with the long and drawn out story, but just to set the scene, there's us with our bloody heavy backpacks, no where to stay and to top it all off we were in the middle of the red light district. They were signs outside all the hotels with rates by the hour, day and all night. There were women parading around the streets looking for business - classy area or what - not! (No sarcastic comments please Steve!)
After some serious searching on the net (I was really having visions of us sleeping on a park bench), the hotel we were in miraculously found a room for us - don't ask...I was like well I thought you were full but then shut up as beggars could not be choosers! We ordered pizza and spent the rest of the evening in room, I say this 'cos it was quite an experience and not great hearing beds creaking most of the night - ewwwww!
The next morning, we made a swift exit, we managed to find a hotel for our last three nights....the only thing being, it was the 4* Holiday Inn which completely blew our budget! Hey hoo, we made damn sure we made full use of all the facilities of the spa, suana and room service! Besides you know by now that we aren't your stereotypical backpackers are we!??
After settling into our luxury room, we headed into the city to do the touristy bit. We hopped on an open top city sightseeing trip which took us round all the main sights of the city. After this we went to Bugis Street which is one of the world's largest indoor street markets. It's a really cool place with lots of tiny stalls selling clothes, shoes and handicrafts. That evening we had built up quite an appitiete so we headed into "little india" for a good old curry.
Singapore it very similar to Kuala Lumpur and is split into different areas depending on culture and religion. Little India is a collection of streets specialising in indian cuisine and clothes. We found a great little restaurant and had enough food to feed a small army!!! (We did you proud Grant!)
The next day, we went to Chinatown and browsed around the many street stalls and shops selling chinese handicrafts. We then enjoyed an authentic lunch of genuine "Singapore Noodles". That afternoon we made full use of the hotel facilities and pampered ourselves in the spa and sauna.
Feeling all refreshed, we headed out that evening to check out Singapore's nightlife. We went to an area called Clarke Quay which is a collection of bars and restaurants along the riverside. As you would expect, el vino was flowing (we are our mothers daughters afterall!). We met some random Amercian navy guys and girls whose ship had docked that day and they hadn't seen dry land for 3 months....we also met some guys from Scotland living in Singapore. I did a spot of networking and by the end of the evening, I was coming to work there, living with this guy's wife, children and dog!!! Still it was good to make some contacts I thought...we crawled home to bed about 3.30am, feet sore from dancing so much and heads feeling a little dizzy!!
The next day we didn't rise from our pits until 1.30pm, however we were really excited as we were off to Raffles for International High tea. We got our glad rags on and dressed in all our finery (well as fine as it can be after four months stuffed in our backpacks), we caught a cab to the hotel. Upon arrival, the door man opened our door and in we went feeling very posh!! Raffles Hotel is the most exclusive hotel in the city. They don't have rooms only suites with each one costing from 2000 quid a night! Recent celebs staying there have been David Beckham and Bill Clinton...We sat down at our table and were served traditional english tea...from a pot and everything! The high tea is a buffet laid out with gorgeous tasty treats from around the world. Our favourites being samosas, tuna sarnies and scones with fresh cream and jam...mmm. We were both determined not to eat too much but it was sooo nice and we could resist. We finished off the afternoon by having a Singapore Sling, which originated from Raffles. Well it would have been rude not to would it?!
That evening, we literally rolled back to the hotel and after another cocktail in the bar, we retired to our room and curled up to watch a movie.
Well folks, that's about it from Singapore and from Asia. We have now been away nearly four months and the time has flown by. I can't beleive the first part of our trip is over already. We are off to the land of Oz now and first stop Perth to stay with some good friends of Carly's.
Take care and we'll be back soon....
Love
Claire and Carly xxxxxxxx
- comments