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Singapore, the land of super cleanness and strict laws. It's popular to dismiss Singapore as a kind of Asia Lite- blandly efficient and safe, a boringly tasteless, disciplinarian and unadventurous place where citizens are robbed of their cherished freedom to spit on the street and chew gum. Utter nonsense..
Our bus journey took us 5 hours from Melaka. Stopping only once at customs we arrived on time. I hate having to go through customs. Even know they have no reason to stop you, i always think they will. Just imagine if someone had planted drugs in your luggage? There would be no way of proving that it's not yours and the punishment would be life in prison or even worse, death penalty. Fortunately it has never happened and hopefully it will never. We hop back on to the bus after customs and set off in to the heart of Singapore. It took 30 minutes and then we was here. Just a short walk away we arrived at our hostel the Inn crowd in little india. Already you could tell this was an amazing city. It's at the southern tip of asia, well the furthest place south in asia to be precise. Only a stone throw away but Singapore is a different world from everywhere else i have been during my travels. Skyscrapers in the horizon, wealth on every door step, flash cars, over friendly people, all of this at an expensive cost. Singapore is extremely expensive but you always pay for quality i guess. (shame it doesn't come with a warranty as i would do an insurance claim and get some money back). We was staying in dorm rooms for 20 singapore dollars a night. Three dollars to the pound almost. Hot showers, clean washrooms, free breakfast and internet, not bad eh. After checking in we took a little wonder and we bumped in to an american girl we know called Teresa, think i have mentioned her in previous blogs such as Vietnam and Krabi. Any how, she is working here at a guest house we considered staying in. After a brief chat we went off for a quick look. After about 20 minutes we was looking in a huge electrical outlet. Every up to date gadget, phones, computers, i pods all a lot cheaper than back home. If i had a spare couple of grand i would of bought everything. We headed back and had a quick bite to eat got showered and then headed out. We drank in our hostel for a couple of hours as it was extremely cheap. Our next stop was Clarke Quays. After a short journey on the MRT, underground we was here. This is where it all happens. Bars after bars pack in this indoor arena. Every bar having it's own little quark. We started off in a bar called the clinic. You sit on wheelchairs for seats and can have drink through a drip.. Not in your vains, your mouth. A really cool place but expensive. $24 for two beers. Four pounds a pint, london prices. We only stayed for two there and then went to another bar called the Discovery. Live music and oyu would of thought we was paying for the band. $35 dollars for a round and it was discusting ale. In Clark Quay they host the biggest Ministry of Sound in the world. We tried to get in but they refused us entry as we was wearing trainers. So we headed back to the expensive discovery bar. After here we decided it was time to go but with a detore to Macdonalds in mind, Marks idea. We walked for twenty minutes and had no luck. We waved down a taxi and he took us to one. Actually he ripped us off. He said there was one opened under a shopping mall in Orchard Road. We paid him $10 and he shot off. There was no Macdonalds. We then got another taxi and he took us there. Breakfasts only though.
We got up after mid day and missed our breakfast. We then took to the streets in search of China town. Another trip on the MTR and here we are. Out of all the china towns i have been this is ther cleanest. We strolled around the little market stalls and then set off amoungst the sky scrappers. We visitesd some street which is identical to wall street, New York. From here we visited Orchard Street. This is the city's version of Oxford street. Every designer outlet possible and it's no cheaper than back home. They even have a topman and topshop in a mall. Everybody driving there posh cars around, bmw's , mercs, Porsche's. I even spotted a Ferrari. After a lot of walking around we headed back to get ready for another night on the town. Another de tour but not for Macdonalds. To lim sim electrical mall. Here i bought a i pod. Only 120 pounds for a 80 gig. Bargain. We once again sat at our hostel drinking cheap beer. We was joined by the girls and lad we met in Kl. After a couple of hours and a few more people joining us we headed out to a club called Zouk to met some Australian's we know. Zouk is a legendary club with in Asia and it use to be the only one in Singapore with international recognition having dj's from around the world playing here such as John Digweed and Paul Oakenfold. As we got there fairly late the door men let us in for free. Drinks here were only $10. Expensive but not compared to the Clark Quays.
Today once again missing breakfast we headed out to an island called Sentosa. The city favourite resort get away. Another journey on the MRT and then across on a cable car, we arrived. Here is a tourist haven. We started off with a visit to some huge lion statue. Then on to some man made beaches. In fact Sentosa is almost entirely a synthetic attraction, but who's complaining? We then did a spot of go karting which is always great fun. After here we went to the under water world. We touched sharks but they were tiny. We was meant to swim with dolphins but we was to late for that. After that it was a quick flying visit to the top of the Carlsberg sky tower. It's an revolving cabin which lifts you up a 110 meter pole for the panoramic views over the city and the southern islands. After here we watched some light show over the sea. It was some fairy tale exhibit but it was really well done. The lights and special effects were fantastic. The acting was quite amusing. At the start it reminded me of the Tweenies but it soon got better. After a long and expensive day here we headed back. WARNING (If anyone ever visits here, buy a package to sentosa park. Don't be foolish like us and pay for every exhibit separately trying to save money as it won't happen). Tonight we was feeling tired and in need of rest so we just chilled out and watched the Titanic. Mark was also thinking he has the flu and i have had a cold and a horrible cough for the past 2 weeks. In fact thinking i need antibiotics as it won't clear but that involves going to the doctors. Just going to wait it out and hopefully be able to buy some over the counter in Indonesia.
Today i got my first free breakfast. You had to cook it your self but being a wiz in the kitchen i boiled up some eggs which the yoke went rock hard and managed to burn my toast. At least my coffee was ok. After a quick was up i was off. I have been trying to register my i pod on line and wasn't having any luck, so i looked up the main apple store in Singapore and set off to do it. The route seemed fairly simple. One quick change over on the MRT and i should be there. I arrived at my chosen destination and asked around if anyone knew where the shop was. Yes Mr., take the 286 bus to district 7, sweet, thanks. So off i went on the old 286 and after about 20 minutes here i was. they had dropped me off in a middle of an industrial park and here it was, not. It was the factory outlet and what can they do. I saw a big Apple lorry and that was it. I checked out my map once again and realized it was back on Orchard road. After a twenty minute walk i arrived at another MRT station and caught train to Orchard Street. I found the correct mall being the imposing chocolate coloured marble edifice of Ngee Ann shopping. I also located which floor it was on, so far so god. Great there it is. I asked the man behind the counter if he can help and he sends me off to another mall. By this time my hope of achieving my simple goal was fading. I get to the shop in the mall and they tell me i can't register it until the 7th of February as that's when the expected sell by date is. I went back a defeated man. I hate electronics anyway so why bother. I got back and mark hadn't moved from his computer in the internet shop. We was meant to be meeting Nick and Neal up tonight. We figured we would all go to the Ministry of sound. However due to lack of communication we never met. We started off the evening at the hostel drinking cheap beers again. We met a couple of chicks from surrey so we spent a couple of hours with them and then off me and mark went. Dressed up in shirts, jeans and trainers there was know way they could refuse me entry. It cost $20 to get in but with that you got two free drinks. This club is amazing. Probabely the best club i have been to. There are four different rooms playing all types off music. Every thing was really posh and was how a good club should be. Some how i managed to slip in to the members only part. I walked straight past the security guard and he didn't ecen blink. Mark tried five minutes later and got refused. Anyway, drinking with my new friends who i failed to bond with wasn't quite as fun so i left and found Mark. After a few hours in here we decided to go home.
Today is to be our final day here as we fly out to Jakarta, Indonesia tomorrow morning. We both made breakfast and then wasted the day on the net. Mind you i did check out a local bazaar. With the day gone and now it's 12 46 pm this time, i find myself back on the net writing this blog. I had planned to watch the Man utd V Spurs match tonight but know where is showing it, so here i am.
With the end of asia over in a matter of hours and Indonesia beckoning i'm off to enjoy one of my last beers in this wonderful continent Asia and what a place to do it in.
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