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Saz and Dave's travels
YO YO YO !!!
Today we woke up and were extremely bright and breezy safe in the knowledge that we were leaving this hole today to go to Singapore. We had a slightly odd breakfast at a "restaurant" that resembled a foreign legion or scout hut of some sort. We then returned to check out of the hotel and finally make our way to the airport. On checking out of the hotel it dawned on me that the bikers that i met yesterday were intent on taking us to the airport, however none of us fancied riding a motorbike with a 15 kg bag riding shotgun with us, so much to the disappointment of "my boys" Saz hailed a taxi which promptly drove us to the airport at break neck speeds.
Da Nang airport was very empty and looked more like a supermarket than an international airport. Luckily the flight was on time and having checked in proceeded through security and off to pay our departure tax of $8 per passenger. This should have been a relatively straight forward step of the journey, however the lady at the airport was trying to give us a dodgy exchange rate of 17900 dong to the dollar. Sarah was having none of this and kicked up a right fuss demanding that the lady gave us a fair exchange rate. Amazingly none of us got arrested by the two customs officials and Sarah actually managed to reduce the exchange rate to a more reasonable 16900 dont to the dollar (every little helps!!). After waiting in departures reading for 2 hrs, the Tiger airways flight was ready to board, it was made aware to us when we checked in that Tiger airways operates a free seating policy and hence as soon as the gate was announced there was a mad rush to get on the plane. Despite us being fairly slow off the mark and almost last to the departure gate, we had to board a bus to take us to the plane, so despite being last on the bus we were first off it and managed to get the emergency exit seats, which after weeks of pick up trucks, cramped busses and dodgy motorbike rides was the lap of LUXURY.
We arrived in Singapore at around 16:30, where our first stop after collecting the luggage was a mad rush to the airport Burger King. All three of us indulged in a bbq double turkey cheese burger with fries .... ummmmm fattenning.
Our first impression of Singapore was how increadibly rich the population is, having seen poverty in Cambodia and Vietnam, where kids were lucky to have clothes on their backs, all the children here were doing their homework with their I-Pod Nanos, mobile phones and designer clothes.
After devouring our first fast food meal for one and a half months, we all decided to head to the bus stop to catch the bus to Downtown where "budget" accomodation could be found. Luckily the bus was air-conditioned so even when all the rush hour commuters packed on (looking very disapprovingly at our big bags which were taking up 2 seats) we were extremely comfortable, however this did not last long as all of a sudden Sarah shouts that we need to get off, and we walk off the bus into the swealtering humidity of Downtown at rush hour wearing our massive back-packs. It was a nightmare trying to figure out where we were, where we wanted to go and how to get there with our bags on and got lost on several occassions.
After 30 minutes of navigating the streets of Singapore, we finally found one of the recommended hotels in the rough guide and enquired into how much it would be for a room. The response was not encouraging as it emerged that for one night we would be looking at paying Singapore$ 100, the equivalang of US$66. This was slightly outside of our allowance after having thought US$12 per night a little extravagent, so we decided to leave and find somewhere else. Luckily, just as we decided to go, a random Ozzy starts having a chat with Zac and informing him of the best places to go and how to go about getting cheap accomodation (in a rather patronising tone but still was very helpfull), and the receptionist must have taken pity on the poor backpackers and allowed us to use the hotel phone to make enquiries with other hotels. After ringing round some rather expensive hotels, I stumbled upon a cheap guesthouse in the rough guide and gave them a call, the receptionist informed me that we would have to have a 6 bed dorm, however breakfast would be included, as would free internet access and air-conditioning at a cost of S$12 (US$8) per night. This sounded perfect after traipsing round town for what seemed like hours so we head off in the direction of the Cozy Corner Backpackers Guesthouse.
We arrived at the guesthouse just after 19:00 and were shown to our beds. We had three sets of bunkbeds in a room with a set of small lockers and a desk - hardcore backpacking now. The other three guests had yet to arrive so we commendeared the best beds and set of in search of tea.
As we had just eaten at the airport, we decided to have a drink first at a small bar which specialised in making Strudels, so Saz promptly decided that she was going to have an apple strudel for tea, Zac and I however fancied getting something savory and decided that the McDonalds accross the road was a safe bet - more fattening food.
Saz then decided to make a move home for a quick shower while me and Zac had a quick mooch round the flashy shopping mall. Everything was very high tech and it felt slightly bizaar being back in the Western world but it was all good, Zac even spotted a digital camera that he would buy the following day.
Eventually we all got to bed at about mid-night but since we had been out the other 3 guests had arrived and were soundly sleeping so we decided to go straight to sleep as quietly as possible.
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