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hi folks,
i'm already in australia, but i owe you some infos from Melacca (Malysia) and Singapore ... ok, here we go
I left KL on Tuesday morning (did nothing real special on the weekend, just went to Genting Highlands, is like Las Vegas, but left there after two hours, because i was the only european guy there, ;)) ) .. met on the bus station a nice spanish guy named Victor ... as we had the same plans for the next days we decided to go together ...
after 2 hours by bus we arrived in Melacca, the oldest city in Malaysia ... there were many countries ruling Melacca like the dutch, the portuguese, the british and in the second world war the japanese ... there is a nice historical center, we went there about 2 hours, it was so hot, that we escaped to a shopping mall to cool down ;)) without aircondition you cannot survive during the day ;) .. we also found a nice backpacker hotel, for only 27 ringgit together (thats in euro only about 3 euros for each) ... but we had only fan no a/c ... unfortunately you cannot go swimming there because the water is very polluted and moreover there is no nice beach ... after resting in our room for an hour or so we decided to watch a movie in the shopping mall ... we saw "300" ... a film about Sparta and the war against the persian ... was quite brutal, but it is so cheap for us .. only 2 euros for the cinema ;)) and in english of course, with subtitles in Malayan and i think chinese language ... as we were very tired of walking all the day we only had a little dinner after the film and went back to our hotel and to have a last beer and went to bed about midnight ... the next day we had to wake up early because we wanted to go to Singapore ...
so, arriving in Singapore it was about 4 p.m ... the bus took about 4 hours and something, it's cheap again, was only 17 ringgit (4 euros) in a bus, with aircondition and much space for my legs ;)) as it was wednesday the bus was nearly empty, so everyone had two seats for sleeping ;)) ... in singapore we wanted to change some money, but we couldn't find a bank or an ATM (automatic teller machine) ... so we walked around we all our things and after 20 minutes we find finally an ATM, took some cash and Victor left to go to his friend's place and i walked alone to a backpacker hostel name Inn Crowed ... was in little india (a district in Singapore, there is also China town) ... was a great hostel, i shared the room (or dorm as it is called) with 11 people, but had only to pay 18 ringgit (again about 4 euros) and had a clean room, clean shower and toilet, free internet for 30 minutes a day, free breakfast ... so it was really worth to go and sleep there ... in the first evening we went to the night safari, they say it's the only one in the world ... Singapore is quite big, i realized that sitting in the van to the nightsafari and it took about half an hour ... moreover Singapore is very clean (at least in some districts, not in little india or china town) and you have to watch carefully what you do ... spitting is not allowed, eating and drinking in the MRT (mass rapid train) is not allowed (fine is about 500 Singapore Dollars, about 250 euros) ... but crossing the streets when the light is red is sometimes usual (even i thaught it is forbidden) ... so back to the night safari, entry was 28 SGD (14 euros), and it is really huge there .. we saw many animals, like tiger, lion, elephant, bats, and much much more ... spent there about 2 hours, but only because there is a tram there which takes you to the best places in the park so we didn't have to walk a lot ;)) unfortunately i have no picture of the park because you are only allowed taking photos without flash and so you can't see something on my camera :((
after the night safari we went to a hawker stall (like many small restaurants on one big place and sitting open air) ... we had a real good and big supper (the meal after dinner ;) ) and it was again cheap (not so cheap as in Thailand or Malaysia, but for us european guys it's still cheap) and more than enough ... in Asia you normally share your food with your friends, and so we did there ... we had chicken, fried rice, fish (i try to avoid to eat any seafood since my diving cours, because i saw everything living there and it was very amazing ... yeah, you're right, i shouldn't also eat chicken, cows etc. ... but seeing the fish under water was very special) and much more for only about 60 ringgit (incl. drinking) for all of us (so for each about 10 euros) ... after the big supper i went home by foot, Victor and his friend Peter (he is dutch, living in Singapore for 6-7 years, married with a malaysian woman, but working since some month in germany, munich, .... ;) ) went home by taxi .. it took me about 30 minutes but it was very necessary after the big supper ;)
the next day, Victor picked me up at about 11 am from my hotel and we walked through the (for us) most interesting places in Singapore .. we walked through little india, the CBD (central business district), and china town ... CBD is very impressive ... there are much skyscrappers, but Singapore is also very green with lots of parks and palm trees, and even a river crosses the island to split it in a nothern and a southern part ... we went really a long distance, about 4-5 hours, but fortunately it was not as hot as in Melacca, it even rained quite a lot, but it was still warm ;) ... in the evening we went to an indian restaurant (only Victor and me) had again a very good and cheap dinner and afterwards we visited an irish pub to try australian beer ;) .. there was a real good singer, who played some good songs on his guitar ... at about 11 pm we left the pub as we were tired and Victor also had to catch the MRT (the service is only until midnight) ...
on friday we met at the MRT station to go by MRT (really impressive and very safe ... you cannot fall down to the track as there is a wall protecting you) to sentosa island (sounds crazy, you are already on an island, but the i had the feeling the Singaporian doesn't really realize that *g*) ... sentosa island is the no1 entertainment place for singpore ... luckily we were there on a friday, because saturdays and sundays are full of sinpore people ... you have there wonderful beaches, many entertainment possibilities (like a 4D cinema, a big tower, a underwater world aquarium where you can see sharks, etc) but it is quite expensive there, so we just walked around and didn't visit anything ... transport on the island is for free and going there you have to choose the monorail (3 SGD, which is also very cheap) or by car ... this island is worth to visit it, and on sunny days it must be beautiful to lie on the clean beaches ...
we left the island in the early afternoon as it seemed to starts raining, and when we were back in Singapore (of course, the monorail's terminal is in a shopping mall ... going shopping is the no1 'sport' in singapore .. and eating ;) ) it really rained heavily ... so we had late lunch in the mall and walked a little around ... entered an electronic store, saw some real huge flat TV screen for 30.000 SGD and more ... but the pictures were impressive, even if you stand direct in front of the screen the picture is real good and you cannot see the pixels ...) ... we also saw the PS3 for about 1000 SGD (with two games) and many kids were there to play in the shopping malls video games ...
after the mall (it stopped raining) we went to orchard road, an long road, where one shopping mall stands next to the other ... i was looking for a used lonely planet book for australia, but couldn't find one .. so we just walked along the street for an hour or so ... after that, we had to say Good bye to each other as i was going to australia and Victor is going back to Germany (he lives and works and studied there, but he is from teneriffa) ... back in the hotel i met Joy again (a German girl living in the north east of germany ... she is a teacher in english and philosophie) who spent 3 months in new zealand and was very fond of staying there ... i got some hints where to go and what to do there, so i'm really looking forward to new zealand now ... as she also left singapore in the evening we shared a taxi to the airport (only 17 SGD for both, so thats about 4 euros for each) and at 10:45 pm i left singapore to fly to australia (first stop is in cairns, north east of australia)
so, i'm already in cairns, but didn't do anything (except of going out yesterday *g*) ... i write about cairns the next time
cu soon, yours christoph (keep slowly smiling ... that's the motto of the thai people *g*)
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