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Finally, we are in a country which sort of resembles the Western World. Singapore, a country, an island, and capital city all rolled into one.
After arriving from the Philippines, both of us were kind of relieved to be spending a couple of days in a country notorious for being clean and it's low crime rates before heading to India for 2 months. We headed to our hostel, Betel Box Backpackers which is in the Joo Chiat District. Our hostel is within a peranakan terrace house with cool window shutters! This is definitely a trendy area within Singapore.
Our first evening was spent stocking up on toiletries ready for India and wandering the streets of Joo Chiat. We had dinner at a hawker stall, our meal was $3 each (£1.50) which proves that Singapore CAN be done on a budget. Prior to arriving in Singapore we had been resentful for Singapore eating into our budget as our dorm bed was $20 a night (£10) but as food and transport were uber cheap we began to love Singapore.
Obviously, being in Singapore means that a visit to the Zoo is on the cards. We visited the Zoo and Nick estimated we would be half a day, we ended up staying all day. The highlight being that Helen got to feed the Manatees. Nicks nickname for Helen is "Manatee" as apparently she pouts like one - see photos! The Manatees were so cute and really soft in taking their food from Helens hands. Now Helens aim is to dive with a Manatee which is going to be difficult seeing as they are endangered. Roughly 300 photos were taken at the Zoo alone....A lot of deleting was done! Nick enjoyed the zoo and watching Helen taking thousands of photos and cursing at the animals for either moving too quickly or looking away from the camera!
To reward Nicks patience at the Zoo, we headed to Little India for some curry at Tekka Market and Food Centre and the butter chicken was delicious if not a bit too spicy! We had a wander around Little India where we saw seas of yellow gold and tacky neon lights marking Deepvali. Little India certainly is very colourful, produce, spices, and trinkets literally spill onto the streets. Helen could not stop admiring the colourful sari's and creative henna tattoos. We saw a temple, the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple which is dedicated to Kali, a bloodthirsty consort of Shiva. Hopefully this is an indication of what's to come in India.
On Wednesday we opted to walk Singapore and see the sights on foot starting at Orchard Road, where it was modernist and futuristic! Loads of shopping malls, you would need about 3 weeks to visit them all. Nick says that Orchard road is just how he remembers it but more modern!
We then headed to Chinatown where Helen went a bit crazy with purchases as it was so cheap and the stall owners were haggling with us rather than us haggling with them! We visited temples such as Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Sri Mariamman Temple which is the oldest hindu temple in Singapore. We had expected them to be awe inspiring but we were just 'vast' (for you hearing people, the sign means "that all"). Prior to travelling, Helen sort of respected the Chinese and their shark finning culture. As in disagreeing with it but as its an ancient culture theres not a lot that can be done but since visiting several China towns and seeing numerous restaurants serving shark fin soup, she no longer respects it. Damn you, Gordon Ramsay and his program!
We visited the Merlion, a Singaporean icon, a half fish half lion statue at the river mouth of the Colonial district, Helen was trying to remember her last visit to Singapore while walking over the bridge to the much adored Singaporean institution and architectural landmark, the Raffles Hotel. We then headed to Bugis as a deaf man we met ranted and raved about Bugis village and how cheap things were there. We were utterly disappointed with it as it all seemed to be tacky western clothes, the type of clothes you would see on chavs! Needless to say we left and headed back to the hostel to give our feet some rest!
The evening was spent at a food complex at Marine Parade town centre by the East Coast Beach. Helen obviously indulged in hainanese chicken and rice. The evening was spent uploading what felt like thousands of photos on to the blog.
On Thursday, we woke up and the realisation of going to India for two months hit us. Nicks excited but scared about going to India while Helen can't wait, she has been looking forwards to India for ages and hopes that it will be just as magical as the Andaman Islands! The day was spent at the hostel relaxing, sorting out our stuff and researching on what itinerary to do in India.
Our flight to Trivandrum, India marks the 7th week of our travels, and we will be meeting two of our friends Tyron and Fifi at Varkala. We will travel Kerala for two weeks with them and it will give us much needed breathing space from each other(!)
See you in India!
- comments
Anne Hi Nick and Helen Great to catch up with you and your travels, very impressed with the photos, keep up the good work. Do enjoy India and don't forget Saturday 6am UK time for the rugby, we need you both cheering for Wales !! We took about 600 photos in Venice and on our cruise, you'll be able to see them in a couple of years time !!!! God Bless you both Lots of love Mum and Dad xxxx