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We had another bus ride down to Singapore which took generally most of the day. However this bus was pretty awesome compared to the others we had been on. We each had our own TV screen (I watched Up and cried!). The seats reclined nicely, although when Louise put hers back she went too far and potentially nearly knocked the girl out who was sat behind. We also got a nice meal included. We then just spent the rest of the day at the hostel we would be staying in for 5 nights. We meet our new roomie Bridget who was from Austria and was living in Singapore doing a law internship. We were also sharing with the snorer!! Never really meet him he was hardly there but you knew when he was there as he would wake you up. I tried to put my ipod in to block it out but the music had to be so loud you then couldn't sleep because of that! There were also 4 people from the Phillapines living there who we got to know abit more over the days as well as other people who came and went. It was a nice hostel with a good kitchen. We were going to cook in for ourselves but couldn't really find any decent supermarkets to buy anything so this had to wait til Sydney.
As we had quite a while in Singapore we decided not to do it all in one day but to spread it out. One of the main things that we wanted to do was go on the flyer (like the eye in London). This lasted about 30min and gave a good lookout over Marina Bay. There is a lot of development going on down there and the place was full of cranes, it will be nice to see it when everything is completed in a few years. It was nice that the F1 grand prix was to be held there that weekend and it would have been great to watch it it but sadly we would leave on the Thursday before. From the flyer we could see the pit stop and the starting line and all the stands that were being put up. We went for a walk around Marina Bay after and it started to remind me of Sydney a little bit as they seemed to be developing the area to attract tourists. Round at one end of the Marina there was a fountain in the form of a Merlion (top half lion, bottom half mermaid). Watching people posing for this was entertaining as they would move so that it looked like they were catching the water in their mouths (no we didn't do this before you begin to wonder). It was particularly entertaining when a couple came along who looked like they had just gotten married started to pose. I think it was basically suppossed to llok like she was spitting the water out and he was meant to be catching it?!! Weird. Once again we were asked if we could have our photo taken..NO! We then walked down to Clarke Quay where there was a Chinese lantern festival on. Lots of laterns were on the river and as it went dark they all lit up. There were also lots of bars and restaurants (oout of our price range) here and it was a nice environment, although a little too bust with all the people looking at the lanterns.
The next day we went and looked around Raffles hotel and to have a little shop on Orchard Road. During our shopping trip I became the days entertainment as I tried to run the wrong way down an escalator. I had stepped on it when we changed our minds about which way to go so I tried my hardest to get nack down but I couldn't even make 2 steps, I just kept staying in the same place. Im sure I could manage a full flight when I was a kid so I was quite dissapointed at my lack of ability. That evening we went to Little India and had my worst curry experience ever! The food was soo hot we couldn't taste anything. My mouth was on fire. The chicken was also on the bone so you had to pick at it which was far too much effort. There were also 3 side dishes but none of them were particularly edible. We also got a pancake type thing with dips but it would have tasted far better with lemon and sugar. The only good thing is that it didn't give us the runs! To cheer ourselves up we stopped at Bugis on the way back and found a lovely ice cream counter to cool our mouths down. Now that was good.
Another part of Singapore we were looking forward to was the Zoo and I was particularly excited about seeing polar bears. We arrived full of excitement like liitle kids full of sugar and sweets and then Louise spotted the sign..polar bear enclosure closed! Gutted. The zoo was set out to be like a rainforest with the animals 'in the open'. None of them were in cages although they were still a safe distance away. We saw the white tigers early on and became quite mesmorised by them as one started to stroll up and down. The Lion was also quite active later on which was exciting as usually all they ever do is sit there and look bored. We went to watch a show about how animals survive and make their homes but whilst we were waiting for it to strat it started to rain. The rain was so bad that the show got cancelled and we couldn't go anywhere without getting soaked. When it looked like it was slowing (after about an hour) we went to get the bus which travels around the zoo thinking we would be dry on it. Even with the sides down we were getting soacked so we jumped off at the next stop and sat under a shelter watching the rain for another hour. Finally it stopped and off we went and it was fine for the rest of the day. We did mangae to see an elephant show which was good as you got to see how strong they are I liked it when one did a full turn on a log without falling off. At the end of the day we rushed round so that we could see the water show, we needn't have rushed it wasn't that great.
On our final day we went to the Botanical gardens. To get there we had to first get the Metro and then catch a bus, simple. We got off the metro at the right stop then sat outside waiting for the bus. I then started to play 'is this our bus?' and called out every number bus that went past and Louise basically sat for about 15min saying 'no'. Finally when our bus arrived we ghopped on swiped our cards and sat down. About 5min down the road we both noticed a metro station that we shouldn't be going past...we were going the wrong way. It never even occurred to us that the bus would run in two directions. So we got off, crossed the road then got back on the same number bus (but with a different driver) and arrived at the gardens. It was lovely there and a picnic would have been great.
In the evening we had planned to go to China Town. Being the kind person that I am I invited MarieAnn from Istonia along and it was arranged to meet at the hostel between 5 and 6. At 6.45 she hadn't shown and then it all got very confusing. Turns out she had then invited other people alongbut then some of them started dropping out too but we were suppossed to still go and met one person in China Town. How the hell were we suppossed to find him?! As it turned out my phone wouldn't register his number so I couldn't send him at text to met so it was just the 2 of us in the end. And we had a great night with great food! When we did get back to the hostel they were all there outside about to take a photo, so we jumped in and it was all kinda brushed under the carpet! And that was the end of Singapore (apart from the flight)....
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Jackie Loved it very entertaining. I am so glad that someone else cried at UP I cried as well lol. Just thi k there excalators are faster than ours thats why you couldn't get back off it. Glad to hear all is going well will be waiting anxiously for the next instalment. Take care love jackie xxx