Singapore

Hello everyone!

So I know I said I was going to try and make this a daily blog but given the somewhat inconsistent ability to access the internet I am now going to make this a whenever I have enough time and resources.

Basically this will mean whenever I'm on a long train trip between places and I will either write and upload later or write and upload as I am doing now!

We are keeping a daily written journal so I will hopefully have enough material to pull from also.

June 1st, 2012
Day 1 - Sydney to Singapore

This day consisted of a flight from Sydney to Singapore with some really good service, food and legroom even in economy provided by my newest favourite airline, Singapore Airlines.
Upon arrival into Singapore we had a straightforward process through customs and even more straightforward trainride and walk to our hostel The Inn Crowd in Little India.

The trains here are fantastic and run on time and seem to be driverless which I am certainly impressed by, CityRail needs to send someone here to learn the concept behind a good rail system and how to run trains on time.

We went for a walk once we had been checked into to our room without a view over to Bugis Street.
Bugis Street is a local market area (Similar to those of Thailand, Hong Kong etc) where we tried some of the street vendor food and found it to be not all that bad really.

Following our little foray into the other side of Singapore we headed home and found a nice little hostel pub called the Prince of Wales where we had a beer and decided we were staying for dinner because they were showing St Kilda vs Richmond.

Day 2 - Singapore Touristing

Breakfast was provided by our hostel as part of the price and this consisted of toast (with margarine from a massive can), Strawberry Jam and two boiled eggs per person. Cannot complain at all.

We then decided to get on one of the tourist hop on, hop off buses that did a loop around the city and showed you the sights while giving a history of each area we were driving through. If you only have a short amount of time anywhere I would highly recommend this as a quick info option as it enabled us to get a good understanding of Singapore as a whole in a very short period of time.

Stop 1 was at the Singapore Flyer, a 165 metre high Observation Wheel that is currently the largest in the world. This was a great option as it showed us a birds eye view of Singapore and gave us ideas for what we wanted to do on day 3 (Marina Bay Sands...).
Next stop was Orchard Rd which I can really only describe as a 6km street lined with multiple Westfields all seeming to sell the same things and contain the same shops. It really is quite an eye-opener.

The most important thing about these though was the fact that they are air conditioned and it is far better to be hanging around in one of these than walking the humid streets!

By this time we decided to head home where we had a Google recommended meal in Little India of Chicken Biryani which was really quite good and a good cheap meal we both shared.

We ate this sitting out the front of the hostel and this is where we met Ben, and Economics student from Germany who we sat talking with about anything and everything for the next couple of hours before we decided to call it a night.

Day 3 - Marina Bay Sands.

Day 3 was another day assisted by the trains which I cannot rave enough about. We caught this down to Marina Bay Sands a newer than new monstrosity with a huge hotel, casino, another Westfield that seemed to go on and on, boat rides in the Westfield and what looked to be a titanic shaped ship structure placed across it's top which actually turns out to be a swimming pool (for hotel guests only) and an observation deck (for everyone else if you are happy to pay the $20 entry fee - we were not...)

After a rather long day we headed home and here I sit updating the blog as promised.

Next update will probably be on the 5th as it will be our last day in Zagreb with free wifi.

Until next time, consider yourselves updated!

Aaron

On the bus.

Marina Bay Sands on the left.