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Day 60 and it was the noisiest nights sleep ever. With Burns coughing and the plastic sheet covers, it was a cauldron of noise. Also, it felt like a prison because we had no windows and no natural light, it felt about 3am when it was actually 10am. We left by 11 to the Prince of Wales hostel round the corner. We checked in and had breakfast in a place next door, the Countryside Cafe. I had beans on toast with Hash brown, it was awesome. As we did this we managed to book the following night at The Inn Crowd, which is widely regarded as the best hostel in Singapore. We walked round the shopping malls and heart of the city, which was cool, very westernised city with hundreds of advert boards and designer shops. We walked down Orchid road which seemed to be the main shopping district and the malls were massive. Burns was looking to buy some new earphones, and when haggling with a man in an outdoor shop got shouted at and told sarcastically that he'd get a free razor blade for his beard. We soon left. He did eventually buy some earphones, from a proper store. We got the MRT home, showered and then had a beer in the pub downstairs. It was my first ever pint of Pilsners, was quite good as well. We went out for a curry, me and Luke had Vindaloo again and it was awesome. Headed back to the Prince of Wales and had a few more beers while me and Burns watched the city-united match and the girls and Luke played pool. After that game the others went up to bed and to relax and me and Burns watched the Super Sunday game as Arsenal somehow beat Chelsea. The game finished at about 2am and Burns literally jumped round the bar celebrating. Seriously, I've never seen him so happy. We bought a celebratory Mars bar and water from the 7 Eleven and went to bed.
Day 61 and we had to be up at 8am as we needed to get our bags over to The Inn Crowd and make the most of their free breakfast. After Breakfast we walked to Tekka Mall to get a bus to the world famous Singapore Zoo. After a 20 minute wander to find the bus stop, and a 30 minute bus ride we arrived at the zoo. The first animals we saw were some seriously loud squawking parrots. We had a photo taken with them but they were so loud and aggressive we kept flinching and ducking. We walked round a tree top canopy and saw lots of monkeys and chimps. We then went past some otters which were pretty boring, as were the wild boar and pygmy hippos. We did enjoy the tusks on the boars though and kept referring to Jack Morgan's tusk on Look Around You. We also saw in this area Tigers, Kangaroo's, some birds, Elephants and some more monkeys. We briefly saw a sea lion show which the sea lion, known as Phil (or Big Phil) would balance a ball on his nose, catch a frisbee etc. He also could pose at the side of the pool 'kissing' people as they got their picture taken. After this Luke, Helen and Laura wandered off and got separated from me and Burns so we walked round the reptile section and saw some lizards, an enormous tortoise, and some gigantic snakes. The Python we saw was about7-8 metres long and thick enough to eat a fully grown pig. We then met back up with the others and went into the Africa section and saw Giraffes, Lions (being fed), Zebras, Rhinos and Meer Cats. We also saw a Polar bear feeding session which was awesome. The bear was 550kg and 17 years old and had been the first bear born in the zoo. We then wandered to the entrance and needed some food, the only option was KFC so we gave in and had a chicken burger meal for $3 which is about 1.50 in pounds so we had to have it really. There are no pound symbols on any PC's here so have to write pounds in case anyone was wondering. We got the bus back to the Inn Crowd. After a few hours relaxing, we changed into some smartish attire and headed out for food. We had more brilliant curry (well Burns and Helen had Pasta) at the Countryside Cafe, but the service was dreadful. After, we walked for 15 mins and arrived at Raffles Hotel (or Ruffles as Laura likes to call it). We went into the Long bar which is open to anyone (you need to reserve and wear the right dress code to get in the main hotel). We ordered the same drink everyone has in Raffles, A Singapore Sling. Me and Burns got them from the bar for a mere $130! We did the math and worked out with tax added it was about 13-14 quid for each drink. They were well nice so we took our time. There were free peanuts (the ones in the shells which you have to crack open and eat) at every table and people were just eating them and chucking the shells on the floor. Literally the floor was covered in peanut shells. We made the most of this and were littering our table, chairs and floor area with shells. Me Luke and Burns nearly managed to eat a whole box of them. While all this was going on we had some live music playing and a band with a lead singer who sounded a lot like Barry White his voice was so deep. Laura bought a Raffles glass, whereas Helen 'borrowed' one. I 'borrowed' some of the peanuts. We headed home about 1130-12 and went to sleep.
Day 62 and our last day in Asia was a relaxing one. We had to officially check out by 11 but afterwards we could sit in the communal area and relax. Our flight was due to leave at 8.15pm so we had the day to kill really. We did a lot of internet research on places to stay in Aus and things to do. We booked our first hostel for Melbourne and read forums that people had used to find activities and places to visit. We all uploaded some more photos as the wireless internet was so fast. At about 4pm we walked 15 mins to a MRT station and got a train to Changi airport. 45 minutes later and we were at our terminal.... the wrong terminal as it turned out so we hopped on the sky train and went to Terminal 2. Coops was really excited by the fact we were in an airport and couldn't stop smiling. We checked our bags onto the flight (mine was the lightest at 13.4 kg and Luke's was the heaviest at 19.2 kg) and headed for some food. We saw the sign and gave in to temptation. This time it was Burger King. The sign advertising the 'Quad Stacker' had lured us in. In Burns haste to get round the corner and find his last remaining Dollar he 'stacked' it and fell awkwardly. Luke and Helen were the only 2 who saw it happen but assure me and Coops it was hilarious. Luke didn't have BK and was waiting for the plane food. Once through Customs Coops changed into her Leggings which made her look silly in my opinion, but she loved them. Helen had made the mistake of keeping all her toiletries in her hand luggage and hence had her sun cream and toothpaste taken away. When will she learn. We all had goes on the free internet as our flight was delayed by an hour and a half because someone was really badly sick on the plane and that had made others sick and it smelt bad, apparently. On the plane we had separate seats; I was by a window, as was Luke 4 rows ahead of me. Helen was 2 rows between us sitting near the air stewards who she was chatting to instantly and was nattering away the whole flight. Burns and Coops had seats together on my row, but by the other window. Once I had got my Thermal socks on and sorted out my legroom I had to decide what TV and movies to watch. In the 7 hours we had, I watched Wall-E and Step Brothers (which was rubbish). Someone had already completed the crosswords and the Sodoku. I was gutted. I made the most of the free refreshments. In total I had 3 glasses of OJ, 3 waters, 1 cup of tea and a complimentary Beer with the Lamb Curry Meal which was surprisingly good.
Day 63 and we had landed in Melbourne. It was also Coop's Birthday (3rd December). It took a while to get through baggage collection and by the time we got to the arrivals area it was 830am local time, 3 more hours ahead of England so that's 11 in total. We had some drinks and got on a bus to our hostel which was called Pint on the Punt. I was exhausted as I hadn't slept on the plane and was falling asleep on the bus. The Punt seemed awesome when we got there, a British Pub with Bistro and dorms upstairs. Our dorm reminded us all of a Uni room / dorm. We put all are bags in and walked to the shopping areas in the area. We found a lively street with loads of cafe's and restaurants and sat down for a drink. We also found a magazine shop where we used yet more free Wi-Fi for research on places to go in Aus. We walked back to the hostel and bought some washing powder as we all needed to wash our sweaty clothes. We had to arrange the clothes into colours and whites. Me Luke and Burns struggled with this so the girls helped out. Burns asked if his Red swimming shorts were white because they had a white flower on them. I also attempted to Iron a shirt. This didn't really work but was good enough. We then hit the bar downstairs for the Cheap Backpacker Feed meal which was Chips, sausages and veg. We also got given drinking vouchers as we were staying in the hostel. We started having jugs of beer at half price. Good times. After a while the girls got tired and went to bed...at about 930pm! It had been a long day bless them. Us lads carried on. We had a few more beers, mingled with the locals. We got chatting to the bar staff who were very lively. There was a girl working who was from Warrington who gave us a free jug of beer just because I was wearing a Liverpool shirt - Bonus. The barman also gave us a jug for $4 when it should have been $10. We had several goes on the IT box, or as it was called here 'Barry'. We didn't win. The Deal or No Deal didn't have Noel Edmonds either. Luke gave up first and headed upstairs about 11pm. Me and Burns continued drinking and losing dollars on the quiz machine until 12ish and we headed upstairs. We found Luke asleep on top of the Washing Machine as we had he key and he couldn't get into the room. Me and Burns went on the internet and after a while to see what he up to I saw he was asleep on the corridor floor - priceless. After a while I headed to bed, forgetting he was asleep on the floor.
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