I think I can safely say that I have spent most of my time in Singapore walking in the wrong direction. I am not kidding - every time I walked out of a building or off a metro it could pretty much be guaranteed that I was going in completely the opposite direction to the one I should be going in. I have lost all faith in my sense of direction and will be relying solely on Emily to point me the way up the west coast, in case I should start leading us down.

On Wednesday night, however, my Uncle David set me up with Kara from Rolls Royce, who met me at my hostel and took me effortlessly to Little India, with only a casual look at the map now and then. Little India was full of hustle and bustle, and it was really interesting to look around. We ate in an Indian restaurant where you have to leave your shoes at the front door and sit on cushions, and I met some other Rolls Royce graduates who were all talking about their various placements around the world. They were from all over - Holland, UK, Perth and Texas and it was all really interesting

On Thursday I set off in a southerly direction for China Town and ended up instead at the Singapore Flyer, which was east, but on my list of things to do. In desperate need of air conditioning, I walked into a tube stop and found myself face to face with Marks and Spencer, River Island and Starbucks. Having resisted the appeal of the Accessorize sale, I found my way to the Flyer, a big wheel like the London Eye. The views were amazing, and I could see from the map (that I spent the first half of the trip turning around until I could put it in the right direction) that they were building the pitstop for the Singapore F1 Grand Prix right next to it. There were hundreds of ships in the strait and behind them I could see Indonesia on the horizon. In the complex around the Flyer there were several shops (Build-a-Bear Workshop, anyone?!) and a spa where Turkish fish bigger than goldfish nibble your feet - I saw a woman having it done who was half-laughing-half-crying, and a little boy who was giggling - but he only had tiny slug-like fish nibbling his feet so I suppose that is OK!

I eventually made it to China Town - after walking away from it at first, and walking past St. Andrew's cathedral twice - and went in the Sri Mariammann Hindu temple which was beautiful and covered in statues of the various gods. I also found a Buddist temple and could see the monks chanting. The temple was red and gold inside and looked beautiful. The streets were full of stalls selling food and souvenirs, and I walked down to Maxwell Street to look at all the food stalls I could see bowls of fish head soup and pig organ soup - tasty!

I got the tube back to the hostel and walked in the wrong direction for fifteen minutes down Orchard Street - where all the shops are - and then eventually got back to the hostel in time for the night safari at the zoo. The safari was really interesting - we were put in a tram and the driver took us around the zoo to see the animals lazing about - elephants, rhinos, hippos and lions in particular. I never managed to see the tiger because as soon as the driver had seen it he drove off - leaving the people in the back looking at a rocky blur! The bat enclosure was really good - although I didn't see much as I spent most of the time hiding behind a Chinese couple, who also ducked every time they heard a leaf rustle. The bats were enourmous and allowed to fly around the enclosure freely - but I am glad I saw them as I have only ever seen the little ones in Normandy when we go on holiday.

All in all I found Singapore really interesting and am really glad I went, but unless I have two weeks there when I can walk about slowly and not rush around seeing what I missed this time around, then I wouldn't want to go back again. I understand why the residents of Singapore walk so annoyingly slowly - it's too hot to do anything else!