Hotel 81 Rochor Singapore

... and everything anyone could every need was here to buy. I only vaguely remembered Singapore when I was there 15 years ago but my memory had been somewhat clouded by my mother's insistence that it was a horrible smoggy city that had no soul. Despite the civil liberties issues I thought it was a great place to be and by the looks of things the city has got its act together since my last visit in 1994 and become greener, more liberal and more cosmopolitan.

... but gleaming high rise buildings and shopping malls. <br><br>On leaving the airport the efficient, spacious, air conditioned subway took us effortlessly and efficiently to our hostel from which we were able to navigate the city very easily using the plethora of maps on offer. And what did Singapore have to offer? Well, cleanliness (obviously) and then lots and lots of shopping. But the prices we had grown ...

... br><br>meals first, Charlotte sat and waited and waited and then just waited <br><br>some more, they then started giving out the normal peoples food, when <br><br>they got to us they asked us if we would like the chicken or lamb <br><br>meal, I opted for the safe chicken option and Charlotte ummed and <br><br>erred and told him she was a veggie! He then asked her name and <br><br>disappeared somewhere to look at his lists, when he ...

... The animals were absolutely magnificent though and the best part of the night was when we arrived at the lion zone. After watching them sleep for a few minutes, the male lion stood up and started roaring so loudly, the whole noise echoing through the jungle. The sound made the hairs on your skin stand on end and it made us quite appreciative that we were behind a barrier. We finished the night off in an unusual shop where for a few pounds you could ...

... of which included said credit card along with all our other credit cards, passports, phone and ipod touch (our backup).<br><br>Needless to say a rather small panic ensued but fortunately the spa staff got in touch with the taxi firm and all our precious valuables we back in our hands when our treatments were finished. The spa staff got a big tip as we left and the aforementioned items are now stored separately to avoid any future ...

Another week begins and you'd think I'd be writing expositions on hospital work but no! It's the National Day weekend which means I got the day off today.<br><br>Yesterday was an exhausting day for many reasons. I'm not going to litter this entry solely with negatives but I will mention them in a minute as a form of therapeutic venting. First however, positives. The day started nice and late after a quick recovery from Arena the previous night (I've discovered eating ...

... the luge we got some dinner the headed of to the Song of the Sea play, which was amazing. We took some video footage and will share it with you They have mastered the use of water to project laser images on and it really is an amazing sight to see, especially when characters are created along with a story. From there is was back on the cable car to the mainland the train back to our dorm and to bed.

... the area. As always, I was<br>super impressed with all the natural rainforest lining the freeways<br>and the pockets of trees clustered around buildings. We got a great<br>view of the city and the freeway by taking the monorail since it went<br>both above and below ground. <br><br><br><br><br>Basically the entire country is one big<br>city with high rises everywhere. I didn't see one single house, just<br>apartments. Since no one has backyards, they have to dry their<br>clothes out ...

... Despite initially saying they were fully booked, they then let us have two free bunks in a dorm room having checked. It must cost them a lot of money if they think they are fully booked when they aren't! We had dinner in an Indian restaurant, where I had a chicken korma that couldn't have been any further from one that would be found in England. The meat was on the bone, and the dish was spicy, instead of the mild coconut ...

... build. Did we mention it was bloody hot and humid? Singapore is about 1 degree of latitude from the equator. Luckily, appropriate dress here is just about anything you want to wear, including shorts, tank top, etc. (unlike Indonesia where essentially full coverage is standard). After a late lunch at a mini-hawkers market we were treated to a fabulous thunderstorm. The storm passed right over head with sharp earsplitting claps and an immense pounding rain ...