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SINGAPORE
Everywhere in Singapore was full, when we arrived, because Singapore has been taken over by HERBAL LIFE convention (think over-fanatical slim-fast enthusiasts) so we spent the best part of an evening sorting out accommodation with different hostels in Singapore's Little India.
Thursday, our first full day in Singapore, was Owain's last day before his mammoth trek back up to Bangkok to fly home, so we decided to spend it in the new Universal Studios. We arrived and we were quite literally the first people there, so we spent a little while doing the mandatory tourist photos with the 'Universal' globe before the Photo Taker's or Asia started pouring in with their ponchos and cameras.
The day was hilarious, even though the park is more suitable to young children and the only proper roller coaster was closed, we had a great time. To the Photo Takers we were as much of an attraction as Shrek and the Kung Fu Panda so we had to hang about for a while having our photos taken with holidaying Asians to pop into their holiday albums, along with the three million photos they already have, of gates, and queues.
After this we managed to loop the park in a couple of hours going on every ride and attraction. About an hour in the heavens opened, and we spent the remainder of the day looking as if we had just climbed out of the sea, as we did not have ponchos and I had forgotten my Topshop pac-a-mac which would have been a godsend on this occassion... I have no doubt that it would have performed admirably.
Highlights of the day included lunging to music with King Julien, and watching Universal's 'classic monsters' perform rock "classics" such as Britney's 'My perogative'.
The next day we realised was the quarter-year anniversary of the first day we ever tried Belikin, so we set about with a lunchtime beer to commemorate Belikin Day. This day passed in a haze of nothingness, except for a visit to Orchard Road which is Singapore's Oxford Street, clustered with Armani's and Louis Vitton massive stores. Come 6pm we had to see Owain off on his bus home, feeling confident that he was at least on the right bus for the first stage of his journey, and just keeping our fingers crossed as we waved him off that he would make it in one piece back to Thailand! It was a sad moment and we all walked back feeling pretty subdued as it has been great having Owain around these few months.
That night we were pounced on by Clare, one of the two Scottish girls we spent our time with in Fiji, and we set off in the morning with a banner to meet Canadian Bill at the airport. This was a great suprise as we had no idea that Bill or Clare would be in Singapore when we were until a few days before. That night we went for food (a strange little Indian you ate on Cushions on the floor, and me, Lauren and Chris made it onto the Wall of Spice as we had levels 3, 4 and 5 out of 6 'Spice Levels'. (I wish I had tried 6, I am convinced it would have been easy!) We returned to the hostel for a few drinks and Chris and Lauren ended up in a superclub somewhere in the heart of the city... I bumped into Chris at 4 in the morning when I came down for some water and he was standing in the doorway with his flipflop in one hand, looking beyond confused with his hair all over the place, while the woman in reception shouted at him about security... I am assured they had a great night.
Next morning we were in for a treat as we met Lauren's Dad on his stop in Singapore. We spent the day with Richie and Christine as well as Bill and Clare at Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, Singapore's oldest Hawker Centre, where we had a lot of beer and spent the whole day chatting until Lauren's Dad declared with confidence (and stiffly and in pain) that the Singapore Seat Cushion would be the way he made his millions. It was a lovely day and a sad moment when they had to leave. That night we had planned to leave to return to Malaysia but we were having such a great time catching up with Bill and Clare that we booked another night to stay with them.
Our last morning we filled with in-line skating up and down East Coast Parkway boulevard next to the ocean, working up a massive sweat and working off the previous day's indulgences. It was a great last day and we left for Malaysia with fond memories of Singapore.
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