Ahhhhh.....

We've finally made it to the end of our Asia journey 9with regards to travelling!) We're so proud of ourselves....if anyone is bored do you fancy calculating our milage...we knows its definately been a lot of hours!!! But its been amazing!!!! Would recommend it to anyone!

Train trip was smooth apart from waiting at immigration with 500 other people at 7am in the morning in my PJ's! Arrived into Singapore and headed to a hostel in Little India which was recommend to us by Louise (who we travelled with in Vietnam/Cambodia) We tried to get there quickly as she was staying there till about 11am before she had a flight to NZ for Xmas. We made it and had a good hours catch up with her which was really lovely!!!! You could tell she was so excited to be going back to her native land for Xmas...bless!!! And she gave us some good tips for Singapore!

Singapore.......great city! Expensive compared to anywhere else but we had 48hours to spend our money so wasnt too bad!!!!! After a good shower at a pretty good hostel we headed straight to Raffles Hotel!!! (Bought day pass for metro S$8 = 5quid ish). Walked around the Espande, riverfront and CBD before reaching the hotel and its beautiful....ultra clean and vibrant! Lots of ex pats in their suits on lunch/coffee breaks, almost feels like you're in a western city...although that sun was pretty high up in the sky and the humidity sometimes can be almost painful! Raffles is a beautiful stone building set around lots of new spaceart design high rises, but it kind of fits! We had our Singapore Sling coctails in the courtyard (the credit card took a hammering for 2 coctails...13quid each!) but they were yummy and I could of easily had a snooze afterwards!!! haha. Lots of designer shops surround the hotel and the Long Bar upstairs was cool as you can drink your coctails and eat monkey nuts and throw the shells on the floor....(Mum, Dad may like that!)

We walked around a bit more, just absorbing the sights as we knew we couldnt spend a massive amount here as it is hard on the wallet. We past many British colonial buildings, City Hall, St andrew's Cathedral and War memorials for WWII and just walking around there was not a drop of litter on the floor. Even our metro tickets were plastic and had to pay a S$10 deposit for...this obviously prevents litter as we wanted our money back! Much better than Londons card tickets which you see floating around every underground station stone floor.

We chilled at the hostel for an hour or two before heading out to the Night Safari (at this point I was on a sugar boost as I was so tired!) We took the tube and bus somewhere north of the central city and had an absolute blast! Its so much better to see animals out at night as they are awake! Saw a bunch of stuff...the usual and caught a tram ride around the sight, hyeina's fighting, wolves singing and elephants playing. It was really fun. The only downside is that you cant take any photos with a flash on so we having very few pics. We went to the animal show and had front seats so we have a few photos from there! Was really funny and definately an enjoyable evening out for the family! Darren was in his element!

We just made the last metro home before midnight and went straight to bed. Stayed in a 12 bed dorm and had a few Indian dudes who snored for their country the whole night! My ear plugs came very in handy that night!!!!!!!

Our only full day in Singapore (18th Dec) we headed out to the cable car which connects Singapore with Sentosa Island....its mainly a theme park attraction island where by 2010 there will be a few big casinos and a Universal Studios theme park...but already theres lots of family activities and restaurants, bars and man made beaches! The cable car wasnt cheap but was worth it...the views of the city were amazing, especially looking towards the CBD and even the dockland area with the big ships was a sight. We couldnt believe the colour of the sea around the docs could be so blue and look so clean..really inviting!!! We got off the car and paid to go on the island (S$2 each) and headed down to the beach for a walk. It was a really hot day and we hadnt planned to do any sunbathing so we were in day clothes and it got pretty sticky!!! The manmade beachs are so sureal.....there clear blue waters, white puffy sand and then a horizon filled with big cargo ships, ferries and boats....but it worked!! If you're in Singapore for 4-5 days, a day at the beach is a good idea, gets you away from the craziness of the city and gives you some relaxation time. The island relies soley of tourism and entertainment attractions but we couldnt afford to do anything so we strolled around before catching the cable car back to reality!

We did quite a lot of walking today.....went to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, although we arrived only half hour before the sunset so we didnt see an awful lot. We walked from Orchard Road, their version of Oxford St in London and it took a bit longer than we thought...very pretty though...Mum, Dad catch a bus there and u'd definately enjoy a relaxing walk a stones throw away from the bustle of crowds!

We stayed out late this night to catch Orchard St Xmas lights display...we heard mixed review....but when we turned the corner after coming from the gardens we were impressed with the colours and amount of decorations! and because we'd hardly seen Xmas we enjoyed the moment! Took lots of photos and walked around. shopping here is just like home at Xmas...we could hardly walk in a straight line! It was nice to eventually get on the metro back to the hostel!

Had a cheap beer in the hostel with some 2 minute noodles for tea (yum-not!) and got ready for our big trip in the morning to Perth!! We could of seen lots more in singapore but time and money was against us. We loved this ultra modern city, especially its cleaniness....just makes visting so appealing.

We can't believe we hacve reached an end of a chapter in our travels. Asia is done and dusted!!!!! There has been more ups than downs and we have conquered many hurdles and with no doubt about it we have both enjoyed every single moment of it! Im afraid we have definately caught the travel bug and would love to come back to see so much more of Asia...its a world away from our world and what we know and you just dont know what to expect each day! Every day has been an adventure and we are so thankful we've been able to do these 7 weeks!

Bring on Down Under!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH Yey!!!!!!