Hey everyone,

We have just arrived back in Kuala Lumpur after five great days in Singapore.  The city itself is very pleasant.  It is really clean (especially in comparison to Malaysia, but cleaner then England too), people actually stop at pedestrian crossings and everything is neatly signposted.  However, on the down side it is very little history or culture.

We visited Orchard Road, the main shopping street, which was crammed with every shop you can think of and I could easily have spent a fortune there.  I could have spent even more money in Bugis Street Village - a large outdoor shopping centre with hundreds of quirky stalls and boutique shops.  Chinatown was really lively as we caught the end of the mid-autumn festival and there was a fantastic food street down there selling traditional food from stalls.  I particularly enjoyed drinking coconut milk out of a giant coconut with a straw!  The Little India area of Singpaore is a lot better than Little India in KL.  It has a hectic market street selling silks and saris and spices.  I had to get a henna tattoo and try all of the different Indian breads and sweets.  Again, it was a very lively time to be there as it is currently Deepavali, the festival of light.

My favourite part of the city was the marina as it looks really imposing with skyscrapers right up to the harbour walls.  The esplanade theatres here were showing some free dance, opera, and traditional Chinese music performances in the evenings so we went down to catch some of that.  The highlight of the whole trip, though, was definitely the night safari.  You can take a tram or walk the trails through the safari park at night and see all the nocturnal animals up close.  It was really well organised and we saw loads of really interesting animals, as well as a large snake that was not part of the safari.  We got within feet of lions, leopards, huge fruitbats, elephants, tapirs, and more.

I am now back in KL and am all set to do a little bit of last minute souvenir shopping before catching a flight home on Saturday.  I hope you have all enjoyed reading the journal - I have loved getting e-mails and messages on the message board from you all.

See you soon.....

Amy x x x