Singapore

Trip Start Feb 25, 2007
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Trip End Aug 25, 2007


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Sunday, July 27, 2008

We arrived late at night Singapore time after a really good flight. 7 Hours of films really nice food and drink and we got bumped up to the extra leg room seats. The help desk at the airport said the hostels were all full and the best option was a budget hotel not far from the airport as taxi fees went up alot after midnight. We walked out of the airport and hit a wall of muggy heat, sooo sticky. The budget hotel turned out to be in the middle of the red light district which our taxi driver found hilarious, us not so much. Our taxi driver was actually a really cool guy, told us pretty much everything there is to know about Singapore, its sights, politics and demographics within about 15 minutes. Just by driving through the outskirts of the city we could tell we were going to like it.

The mix of cultures and languages is so bizarre. Made up of Indians, Chinese and Malays and then with English as the official language. The city is very cosmopolitan and western feeling in the centre and yet all over there are restaurants and shops and temples looking completely south east asian. We moved to Little India on our second day to a hostel we had been recommended. The journey on the bus showed us a lot about the city, with posh looking department stores and Harley Davison garages sat on the same street as dingy little restaurants called "Frogs leg Porridge" and "Pig Organ Soup" with tacky plastic chairs and tables supporting an array of different races.
Little India itself is really great, the smell is fantastic 24 hours a day and the food is amazing! Loads of really cool little shops selling all sorts of indian clothing and crafts and crazy food shops too. Yesterday we visited a couple of temples and a few street shopping malls. Had curry for lunch and Chinese food for dinner and played scrabble and chilled out.  
Today we headed over to China Town, walking through the main city centre around the river was really cool, it is such a clean and modern place. China Town was great to wander around, lots of stalls and temples and the smell of insense is everywhere. We have visited Buddhist and Hindu temples and both were absolutely beautiful. 
We also headed over to Sentosa Island, linked to mainland by road and tram, we took the tram over. The island is basically a resort, with many attractions dotted around and beach areas and parks, its really nice but feels veyr artificial and on a sunday it was full of people too.  
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