Chinatown Singapore

... br>Funnily enough a guy asked to sit with us in the coffee shop in Departures whilst he was waiting for his flight to London, we later found out that he worked at Water Aid and knew our very good mate Claudia. Small small world huh!

5.5 hrs later and after watching the truly diabolical G.I Joe movie we were at Changi in Singapore which is where we still are and will be for the next 12 hours...it could be (and has been) worse I can assure.

... of the day was watching how Soba noodles are made. We got a kick out seeing the noodlemaker roll out the dough (made with buckwheat flour) and then once it is the proper thickness (1.5mm) cutting it in thin noodle strips.

After the mall, we went to Arab Street and Little India. We needed to purchase a few accessories to give to Bhupesh's ...

... was very literal – the benefits of the product were stated very matter of factly – even if they didn’t sound all that convincing. One that made me laugh was for shampoo – that even moisturised the last 15cm of your hair! Well, it was all I could do to stop myself buying up the shop!

I was pleased to have seen quite a lot of Singapore in just the one day. It is quite a small city, so you can see most of it really in just 2 or 3 days I’d say.

... the road and went for a few beers in the CHIJMES Complex, sort of like a Covent Garden in that it was full of bars, restaurants and a few clubs, but with a lot more fountains and landscaping going on. This done I headed to City Hall MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station to get the subway back to my hostel in Little India. I was starving by now so I went wandering round the neighbourhood and found a nice-looking Indian restaurant called Lagnaa Barefoot Dining. I had ...

... Girls dorm was full so in a mixed dorm – 12 beds – got up there & all the bottom bunks taken so I am on the top bunk. Set myself up & realized I would freeze to death as straight opposite the aircon & was already cold so moved bunks. Took me awhile to situate myself with locks & lockers etc!!!




Next door is the church of the True Light - could hear loud singing so popped ...

... airport we found a genuine microbrewery tucked away on one of the upper floors and thoroughly enjoyed a sample of their home produced ales. So we were looking forward to a further chance but sadly it was not to be because the unit has now been changed into a Chinese restaurant. No doubt too many passengers failed to seek out and take advantage of such a great opportunity. A real loss to Changi airport, whose position as my favourite airport is now clearly challenged!

... then went for opulence and class at the Raffles Hotel where we had the inevitable Singapore Slings. Raffles Hotel is colonial class and as I entered I felt like a rich, Imperialist landowner. The drink itself is the best drink in the world. A combination of gin, pineapple juice, cherry brandy and about 7 other ingredients made the drink taste sweet and refreshing despite its high alcohol content.

Singapore is revealing itself to me slowly. It's very clean...

... my own out there walking around, looking in the stores and taking pictures of the temples. I didn't really care too much about all the temples and I really just took pictures of them because I felt like I should. For me, the great part of the day really was just venturing around and finding a path for myself to fit through. Walking around in Little India took a good majority of the morning So then, I headed to Boat Quay for lunch and a little rest before hitting up Chinatown. Boat ...