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Well sorry that its taken me a while to blog peeps but been busy taking in the culture and sites of Singapore so I will start from the beginning...
My flight... I got a flight at 20.30 from London Heathrow on Wednesday (4th) evening however wasnt able to check in online via the BA website apparently due to missing passport information but fortunately they had over sold on the flight so I was upgraded to world traveller plus wahooo... well I thought that just meant more leg room was I was a little frustrated but it also meant I got some nice food.... Beef fillet crumbed with mushroom and something with dauphanoise potatoes and veg... hmmm lush... after that had some technical issues with my screen but the hosts soon fixed it and managed to watch puss in boots... (I didnt rate it) anyways then I popped a few sleeping pills and managed to sleep for a few hours... woke up 2 hours before landing at Singapore and actually felt good...
I am sure my bag was lighter at Heathrow.... Collected my luggage to find it was bloody heavy... who put some stuff in there... Laura!! did you climb in?? anyways proceeded to catch the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) basically London Underground in Singapore... Wasn't too bad apart from my bag hurting my back and the journey seemed to take forever!!!
I am staying at the Rucksack Inn on Hong Kong Street so had to get off at Clarke Quay stop. Hostel is ok basic but ok... get free toast and tea all day!! wahoo... Arrived at Hostel and quickly had a shower..only 2 showers and toilets though and the room holds alot of people! Nevermind am only here for 5 days... When I arrived I noticed a sign saying Pub Crawl!! I thought bonus! but I missed it because I chose to shower! (Yep I turned down a pub crawl in order to be clean!) Nevermind! As I was getting ready I started talking to a young couple from Malaysia sleeping next to me they mentioned they were meeting a friend for dinner and asked if I wanted to join them over at Clarke Quay (of course I didnt refuse) Clarke Quay well its very busy and very very expensive...
We went to a mediterranean place in Clarke Quay (yep I am not a fan of this type of food but it wasnt my choice so just ate something) we had some mild humous and I chose a wrap of some kind again was ok but cant rate something I dont like right?! anyways then their Singaporean friend turned up called Gee... very funny and interesting guy... well he talked alot lol for some reason I found myself lost for conversation!! yep you heard that right..anyways we went to Le Noir a nightclub (which was dead) so we went to Shangai Dolly which was supposed to have some chinese dolly dancers but a band was playing instead... this is where I paid $15 for a bottle of tiger beer (8 GBP!!!!! WTF) it was my first night and I couldnt quite remember the conversion rate... God damn... anyways I went to find a 7 Eleven to buy cigs at this point... I told the guys I would meet them in the next bar (which I didnt make it to) I took a little wonder and noticed a pay phone (Which I thought I would remember for later when I would ring home) found a mcdonalds too (didnt stop for a burger) as I was walking back I bumped into Gee he said the others were heading back to Hostel and asked if I fancied a beer... We had a beer from the 7 Eleven on the street, a good old natter and I said farewell and returned to hostel as it was 1am!! The hostel was eerly quiet... but I managed to rummish around and found my eyepatch and ear plugs and got a good few hours sleep... Day 1 over!!
Day 2 - Woke up a few times in the early morning but decided to stay in bed until 10am. got up had a shower etc and went out for a scroll.. quickly realised that it was hot and I was in need of some sun glasses... so went on a mission to buy some.. everything!!!! Everything is expensive in Singapore!!!! Early warning for anyone coming to Singapore.. take out a mortgage! Anyways eventually found some for SG$105ish (around 50 GBP) So at this point I was bored every MRT station and within a short walk away from me was another shopping centre... I hate shopping!! so I decided to go visit either the Habour Bay or the Marina Bay of Sands.. I chose Harbour bay... I got to Harbour bay after a short train ride... guess what... more shops and another shopping centre... I found out some information on the cable car rides though which was good.. defo must do that before I leave...So I had to meet some friends from the Harley-Davidson Office at 6pm at the office so time flew by, and by the time I knew it it was 5pm.. so headed over to Dhoby Ghaut stop to take a trip to the office for a grand tour... Harley-Davidson Singapore are on the 8th floor of the building and was lovely... they occupy the whole floor and was a grand set up...said hello to some of the managers and others there and then we headed out the office me, Cecilia and Erma. We had pre-arranged to go to the Night Safari so on route we picked up some traditional Singaporean snacks.. (names of food to follow once Erma and Cecilia have emailed me) then we tried to catch a bus but the bus didnt turn up so we got the MRT half way and then a taxi.. (oh in Singapore you shouldnt hail taxi's as it costs more.. surprise surprise...) starting to realise that you must pay for everything in Singapore!! anyways the girls were great.. after they had a tough day at work too... :-P so we got the the safari and decided to stay outside for a fireeater display.. basically a few guys blew some fire.. (was expecting more tbh) then we headed inside to catch the tram like bus thing to go around the safari.. was brilliant... lots of animals within hands distance... but many were away from the tram... it was good though... The best 2 bits!!! 1) Elephants!!!!!!! quite a few too and a little baby one which was only a year old!! was so sweet, you should have heard me squeel! 2) they did a animal of the night display too at the end of the night, which we went to later and the little Cat Leopard thing was asked to jump over 6ft high.. he circled a few times.. I thought he wasnt going to do it but after a few mins he went for it and done it... I screamed! :) so that was the night safari.. after that we headed out and managed to catch the last bus when Cecilia suggested we go have some dorian at the S11 place... I had seen some signs on the underground saying "No Dorian" I did laugh at the time and think why dont they like Dorian here... what has she done wrong?! lol Dorian is a prickly Singaporean Fruit! So they took me to this 24 hour stool but a little cafe (S11's are little cafes which are normally attached the neighbourhood blocks of flats) after a few little discussion between Cecilia and Erma about the best Dorians to get (bitter or sweet etc) they chose a smallish one.. so the guy cut it up and they made me open it (whilst taking pics and videos of me) and eat it.. basically you eat the flesh of the little portions of moist balls inside it, I described it as snot on a testicle... which made the girls laugh alot.. I couldnt manage more than one.. It wasnt the taste but the texture that bothered me... was too slimey... anyways Cecilia mentioned there is a sweeter version so she bought some and we tried it.. was a tiny bit sweeter but didnt like that either... Cecilia mentioned its tradition to add some salt to the spikey shell and mix with a little water and drink it because Dorian is so sweet that its supposed to make you very hot and the salty water will make you feel cooler.. I tried that too but of course I had too much salt :)
So we finished up at S11 by this time is was 2am.. we headed to Little India... had a little shopping experience (Erma buying groceries) then we headed to a little curry place and had proper stuffed Pratha (not the frozen stuff we get in the UK) Was lovely I must say and I even tried a indian tea.. tasted like chocolate hot milk was nice.. by this time it was 4am time to hit the sack! **pics and full names to follow later
Day 3 Sat - So today was going to be a busy one. headed to the Singapore convention centre near the Suntec City Shopping mall and found the Ducktours.. Ducktour was a big truck which can go on the river as well as around town.. I went on it.. was ok and got to see some of the most popular sites such as the fountain of wealth, the famous Merlion, the Art and Science musuem famous for the shape and design, Singapore Flyer (a london eye but bigger) the Marina Bay Sands hotel, Casino (dont know the land mark name but basically its 3 skyscrapers with a surfboard like object balancing on top of them) plus a dorian like building and another one which looked like a UFO which was actually the supreme court!! Anyways when I got back this promped a few little trips first of all I booked a flight on the Singapore flyer but before catching bus decided to go visit the fountain of Wealth (any sort of luck is good luck right?) so you put your right hand in the water (and its not the hokey cokey before you say lol) then walk around the fountain 3 times.. this is supposed to bring you wealth so I gave it a shot.. I will let you know if it works...
then I caught the little old bus to the Singapore flyer.. Arrived at flyer and skys opened up so decided to wait for it to stop raining.. it stopped I flew and it was lovely... Long story short... **pics to follow...
Got off flyer had a nice little walk around a reconstructed food court and came across some "deep fried carrot cake" intrigued I gave it a shot... It was basically like a egg noodle cooked with radish and deep fried (it wasnt covered in batter) and actually tasted nice... wasnt the carrot cake you and I would enjoy with a cuppa tea though..
spoke with a young girl who explained that they had been rehearsing for a parade along the F1 race circuit (which I saw from the flyer) for a festival called Changi which is held at the beginning of Feb every year where all the schools complete a parade.. shes was lovely and asked where I was from etc.. bless her
Oh I walked a little of the Singaporean F1 track!! :P
After this I headed to Marina Bay area.. walked across the bridge as it had just lit up which was nice.. then tried to find out about the Skypark.. Skypark is on the top of the surfboard building thing I mentioned earlier its like a viewing point.. guess what.. they charge $20 (10GBP) for the lift journey and you cannot visit the amazing pool etc thats up there... another disappointment... by this point I was feeling tired can you tell? so I decided to make my way over to the Merlion to watch the 9.30pm show of the lights display... which was lovely! very spectacular!! I enjoyed this.. I had a beer and some edamame by the river in a little bar whilst watching the lights... (this was the first time I could actually chill since I got here, well just this day)
Back to Hostel by 11 bed slept fine..
Day 4 (today) Sun...busy day ahead.. I purchased a ticket for the art and science museum at the skypark yesterday so decided to head there first thing.. got there around 12pm (yeah I overslept, hostel was busy in the night) I went to musuem for 2 reasons 1)100th anniversary of Titantic exibition 2) art and science hands on exhibits
1) titantic exhition was actually ok but tour guide wasnt good.. I asked some questions and she couldnt answer and some of her facts were incorrect... anyways they managed to recreate some of the rooms and places such as the staircases, the iceberg (made some real ice, was cold to touch) first class, second class and even 3rd class cabins... we was all given a boarding pass before entry.. each boarding pass had a different name, class and cabin details of a person who was on board the real titantic.. at the end we could see if they survived.. I got "Miss Berthe A Mayne (aka Mrs De Villers) accompanied by Mr Quigg Baxter and they were from first class and due to be married when they arrived in New York... Mr Baxter didnt survive :( very sad! I also just checked and she died in October 1962 so isnt alive anymore... interesting though..
2) the art and science musuem was 2 rooms and was very disppointing..
then I headed over to the Habour once again to catch cable car to Sentosa island.. after it stopped raining again.. I caught the cable car... was a lovely journey...peaceful.. got to the island and headed to the most southern point of the continental asia.. it rained some more.. took a walk of the beach and sat under the shelter and had a beer... (you can legally drink of the streets of singapore)
Headed back on cable car and took a walk down China town amazing sites along the streets as they prepare for the chinese new year... Year of the dragon.. bought some little things for my trip, tri pod thing with bendy leg for my camera and a collapsable water bottle for $4 which I thought was pretty cheap! then I stumbled across a hindu temple... nice but guess what.. you have to pay to have a camera inside... another $4... people were praying so I felt a little rude taking too many pics... so I took loads... lol just joking I only took a few inside... share later..
Its now 11pm its taken me at least an hour and a half or so to write this essay... I will try and update sooner in future..
For now I am safe and sound, a little lonely but feel better for writing this... gonna finish me beer, have a smoke and head to bed... tomorrow I must prepare for my 7 hour flight to Sydney then another to Cairns... take care... next time I blog will most likely be in Cairns... ta ta for now... Missing everyone so much its unreal... Hoping Oz will be a little more friendly..
Over and out!
Vickie x x
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