Our final stop before flying back to England was Singapore. We arrived there rather cold after a seven hour train journey from Kuala Lumpur. We'd made the mistake of travelling first class which meant we had large seats and ample leg room, but we hadn't anticipated the freezing cold level of the air-con. I was wrapped up with a towel round my legs and Richard put his hat on to keep his head warm.

We'd previously stayed overnight in Singapore before catching a flight to Phuket a few weeks ago. This time we were staying three nights to check out the city properly.

Accommodation is pricey in the centre. However, bordering the CBD is an area called Geylang around Aljunied MRT train station where we found hotels for half the price.

It wasn't the glamorous end of town. It was quite scruffy and smelly at times with lots of little shops, cafes on every corner and prostitutes hovering around. On the positive it was very authentic - unlike touristy Chinatown - and only 15 minutes by train from the centre or the airport.

We booked into the same hotel as before - the Fragrance Ruby at £27 a night. It was clean, comfortable, had an ensuite, TV, and coffee making facilities though the room was very small.

We spent a day walking round the main Singapore sights, starting at the famous Raffle's hotel which is where we would have like to have stayed if it wasn't for the £300 a night price tag! The old building looked grand and elegant set against a background of modern skyscrapers.

We wandered past City Hall, the Supreme Court and the new Parliament House. Richard though the imposing design of the later reflected Singapore's tough political ethos.

From there we went over the river which was lined with nice looking bars and restaurants and onto Chinatown. The streets were still brightly decorated with pink flowers from the Chinese New Year celebrations. It was busy with people and there were lots of stalls selling the usual tourist tat. We stopped for lunch and then strolled up through Fort Canning park to Orchard Road which is packed full with shopping mall after shopping mall.

Even though Singapore's population is 75% Chinese, it has a cosmopolitan feel. A lot of the food outlets around our hotel were Chinese based making it difficult for me to eat as their diet is very meat and fish based, including the sauces used to cook vegetables. So we tended to eat separately in the evening - I'd have some fruit in our room and then we'd go out for Richard to enjoy the local delights.

The first night he had a bowl of what looked like chicken soup with a pile of rice on the side. The only problem was the soup resembled home made chicken stock before the bones had been taken out! The next night was more successful with rice and three vegetable dishes including some tasty mushrooms. Geylang is definitely a great place to eat out if you want to eat where the residents eat, and is cheap - around £1.50 a meal. You just have to look round for the dishes that look decent quality.

Unfortunately for us alcohol is heavily taxed and therefore quite expensive. In the tourist areas we found it about £3.50 for a 660ml bottle of Tiger. In Geylang it was about a pound cheaper.

For our last night I needed a good feed ready for our long flight home the next day. So we went to Little India as that area had proved successful for me in Kuala Lumpur. There were loads of shops selling cheap jeans, socks and shirts, and many restaurants offering vegetarian dishes. I always feel a lot more comfortable eating Indian food because through their religion they understand and respect vegetarian cuisine so I'm confident the chefs are not going to use a fish sauce in the dish.

There weren't many bars around the area, but down an ally way at the back of some restaurants I spotted lots of Indians sitting at tables drinking, so we found a table there and had a beer. It was at this point Richard came up with the bright idea of changing the remaining Australian money we'd found in my wallet so we decided to splash out a bit more on the last night of our 16-month trip. We had a another beer and then headed off to a lovely restaurant we'd found on our wander round. It was slightly more aimed at tourists than others but I thought we should be careful as we had a long flight the next day.

The meal still left us with money for two more beers at our regular café in Geylang. The atmosphere there was really lively because English football is really popular in Singapore and it was the final of the Carling Cup. Seats were few and far between so we were joined at our table by a two local guys who'd come out to watch the match. We got chatting to them and after our money ran out they started buying us drinks. At the time it was all very entertaining and a good end to the trip. However, the next day was absolutely terrible - a 14 hour flight with a hangover from hell. Not a move I'll be repeating again!

Katy