Today I got up early and explored Singapore City. I walked towards the skyscrapers and on the way I passed the Parliament, University and Raffles Hotel(I will need to order a Singapore Sling from the cocktail bar before I leave!). There is a Chinese dude sleeping in my dorm now called Mr Lee. That's all I know because he speaks practically no English. My hostel is a little quiet. However it is a great hostel with a nice bar, fragrant rooms, and free Internet access! Oh today I was just chilling out by the River when I was ambushed by a monk who tried to force a bracelet on my arm and then suddenly pushed a notepad with peoples names who have all been conned (The last was a Mr Gooding, Myanmar Hotel stung for $20) He didn't know a word of English so I just brought out a 10 cent and pushed that in his face! He wasn't impressed by my low donation and walked off. I was annoyed just as much; he'd spoiled my little sunbathing spot by the river as I felt vulnerable to other pretend monks with notepads. I would have pushed him in the River had I not been in Singapore where the likely punishment could have been 1000 rattans with a sugar cane stick! I walked down to the harbour and walked with the mainly tourist masses until I reached an MRT station and got on a train to the Jurong area. When I walked out of the station in Jurong it was so hot and humid! I took shelter in a market which was an eye-opener. There were vendors selling posture belts, pants, scorpion tails and also a huge number of restaurants (mainly Chinese). I was getting hungry due to the number of aromas coming from the restaurants, I opted for a sushi restaurant. It was quite nice, but nothing comapred to my favourite sushi restaurant in Glasgow. I still can't believe how obsessed the Singaporeans are with food. There is about a million restaurants all crammed together in different foodcourts. Apparently in Singapore you don't ask someone "how are you" instead you say "have you eaten yet?" Another observation I made yesterday was the Singaporeans are obsessed with fragrances, to the extent every room has a machine that intermittently crushes a fragrance pill to release a scent. I'm glad I'm a deep sleeper as I think if I wasn't I would be really irritated and tired! I got on another train which took me further out into the suburbs and I decided as I was near the zoo I would go. I was waiting for my connecting bus to the zoo when an elderly Singaporean man approached me and asked me if I was lost. I wasn't totally lost but I had no clue where my bus stop would be. He found out my stop for me and then asked me where I was from, "Scotland" I replied. "Aaa..Scotland I fought with Scottish man in British Army long time ago". He then proceeded to tell me about his days in the army and how much Singapore had changed. He was quite funny and really friendly so the time waiting on the bus went quickly. When my bus arrived, he thanked me for visiting his country and disappeared into the crowds. What a friendly old man. When I got on the bus a Brazilian woman called Stella (who has Singaporean parents) began chatting to me and introduced me to her 5 children, she was taking them to the zoo. She chatted away and asked how long I was staying etc and then asked if I want to join her family for a trip to Sentosa Island on Saturday! We arrived at the zoo and then we went our seperate ways into the zoo jungle. I saw some amazing animals such as: komodo dragons, Indian elephants, jackass penguins, orangutans and chimpanzees. I was leaving the zoo when suddenly torrential rain poured down and didn't stop! I tried to make my way to the bus stop but once I was there I was soaked through. Now I know what Forrest Gump was talking about when he said in the jungle "it isn't just normal rain it's big fat rain!" I got my connecting train back to the city centre and walked home completely soaken. At least the shower wasn't being used when I got in the hostel!