Friday 24th February 2006. Chennai to Singapore.

We got to Chennai airport with plenty of time to spare, and as we sat there waiting for our plane we thought back over our time in India and were very pleased that we managed to drive the length of the country without hitting anyone or paying a single bent copper any money. Lets hope that we can keep a blank score sheet in SE Asia.

The Air India fight was really good - loads of room, free drinks and nice food. We arrived in Singapore dead on time and before we knew it we were walking out of the airport and into an air-conditioned taxi where the driver turned on the meter rather than asking us how much we'd be prepared to pay...it was quite a culture shock. Things continued like this as we drove into town along spotlessly clean dual carriage ways (no rickshaws, cows, camels or elephants on the road here, and no piles of burning rubbish in the gutters either), as we marveled at the way everyone stayed in one lane at the traffic lights (let alone stop at them) and were puzzled by the eerie quietness that comes with an absence of constant hooting. It really did come as something of a shock to our senses and we were staring out the windows muttering "look how clean it all is..." like visitors from another world.

We arrived at our hotel (the "Frangrance Emerald - a bit of a way out of the centre but close to the MRT and pretty cheap - and checked into the worlds smallest hotel room before walking out into the very humid night-time and having noodles and a beer sitting on the street - lovely!

Our last view of India.

Saturday 25th February 2006. Singapore.

Up bright and early today as we walked down to the MRT station and caught the spotlessly clean train to shopping heaven - Orchard Road. Every shop you could possibly imagine was here, from Louis Vuitton to HMV, all located in absolutely huge, immaculately clean, air-conditioned super malls. We spent mot of the day wandering about, window shopping and getting fed loads of free samples in the cookie shops!

Sunday 26th February 2006. Singapore.

We'd read that Singapore Zoo is one of the main tourist attractions on the island, so off we went to have a look. It's quite a way out of the centre of town but getting there was no problem at all on the superb public transport. The zoo itself was fantastic - no bars on any of the enclosures, happy looking animals and knowledgeable staff. We spent all day wandering around watching the various animals - especially the Orang-Utans!

Feeding the giant tortoises.                    Amy's worst nightmare...

Monday 27th February 2006. Singapore

Another day spent soaking up the niceness of Singapore- visiting the malls, going to the cinema (Final Destination 3...not bad) etc etc. One thing we have really noticed is the heat and the humidity here - the sun is so strong that you can feel the rays beating against your skin, and the humidity is so great that walking out of the air conditioned Malls is like walking into a bathroom after someone has had a hot shower.

Tuesday 28th February 2006. Singapore 

Yet another really touristy day today as we headed for Sentosa Island. On the way to the cable car to the island we called in to the train station and booked tickets on the "Eastern and Oriental Express" to Kuala Lumpur. These were a bit of a swizz as you pay the exact same price in Singapore dollars (of which there are 2.7 to the £) as you would in Malaysian Ringitts ( of which there are 6.3 to the £) if you were coming from Kuala Lumpur. So, we paid 60 Singapore dollars (£22.22) to get to K.L whereas we would only have paid 60 Malaysian Ringitts (£9.52) to get to Singapore on the same train!

After a foreign legion style trek through the burning sun and walking up Mount Faber we arrived at "The Jewel Box" dripping with sweat. After standing under the air-con unit for 10 minutes we got a glass bottomed cable car over to Sentosa Island. The island is advertised as Singapores favourite holiday destination and it's like a theme park - everything from 4D cinemas and toboggan runs to beaches and dolphin shows. It's quite a large island, but once you are on it all the buses to from one area to the other are free, so we caught one and headed off to the aquarium. The main attraction here is an under water tunnel where you stand on a conveyer belt and are propelled along under the waves with sharks, rays and other fish all swimming above you- great fun and we went round 3 times! After the aquarium we headed for the beach where we walked along to the "Southern most point of Continental Asia" and took the obligatory photos before watching the dolphin show and visiting the 4D cinema (3d glasses and moving chairs, water and air jets etc). At the end of the day we headed back to the mainland very sunburnt (well, Mark was...) and very happy. For dinner we headed for a fish and chip restaurant near Clark Quay which was really, really good.

Mark meets Manta-Ray                  Amy on Siloso beach, Sentosa         Us at the Southernmost tip of Asia.

Wednesday, 1st March 2006. Singapore

Went for a walk around China-town today...really only a few streets of houses and buildings and where most of the shops seem to be geared up to selling tat to tourists. We did find a few traditional Chinese shops and had a great game trying to guess what the stuff on sale was - dried Sea Horse anyone? In the evening we headed back to the Zoo for the "Night Safari" part of our ticket. This takes place in an entirely different area of the zoo and is superb. We got there about 19:30 and had dinner in "Bongo Burgers" whilst watching a show put on by some fire-eaters, then we got on a little "Choo-Choo train" thing and headed off into the darkness, spotting all of the nocturnal animals as we drove along. Half way round the train stops and we got out to have a walk around, in the dark...an amazing experience. Highlights were standing in the bat enclosure as a giant fruit bat beat its wings not 1 meter above us, and being able to see a Clouded Leopard walking around.

Chinatown

Thursday, 2nd March 2006. Singapore

We hired a "bum-boat" today from Clark Quay and went for a little float up and down the river that runs through the city. You get a totally different perspective on the place from the river- around the harbour front the contrast between the modern skyscrapers and the older style buildings (most of which are now bars and restaurants) is amazing. After the boat we headed for Raffles hotel and made straight for the Long Bar where, yes you guessed it, we had a Singapore Sling and a G&T. I (Mark) thought that the Singapore Sling was pretty horrible, but the G&T was OK. The bar itself isn't much to write home about and it reminded us of an English Chain-pub, although it was fun throwing monkey-nut shells on the floor and the automatic punkah fans on the ceiling are cool. In the evening we had a lovely dinner sitting overlooking the river at Clark Quay as our farewell to Singapore - we've really enjoyed our time here although it can be a pretty expensive place.

Singapore Harbourside                      Amy and the Long Bar, Raffles Hotel.