Monday 12th July-Thursday 16th July

My time in Singapore - First morning I walked down the 'Little India' district with all the side streets with little stalls, and Indian music blasting out with the smells of food and incense everywhere, loads of temples around with intricate designs, then went down Orchard Road which is the famous shopping area full of HUGE malls and designer shops. Singaporeans love their shopping. Then went to Chinatown and looked around the Chinese Heritage Centre, which shows the experiences of the early years of Singapore when the Chinese migrants lived in the ethnic precinct. It was a 3-storey shophouse which captured their ways of life, traditions and hardships through exhibits, and met up with Faith, the girl I met in Perth (who got drunk for the first time in her life and passed out). We went for lunch and a wander around, then went to Sentosa Island which is a cable car ride away, going up the Sky Tower for views over the Island, then to the Merlion which is their half-lion, half-fish replica (its a big thing for them), then 'Images of Singapore', which was a fantastic walkaround exhibit of Singapores history, legends and folklore. Went back to Chinatown to see it come alive at night. Next day took a stroll alomg the river to Boat Quay, seeing the Esplanade Theatre on The Bay, crossed the bridge to another replica of the Merlion with water pouring from its mouth. Visited the Asian Civilisation Museum, then took a ride down the river on a bumboat. Its so hot here, the humidity is unreal, I'm sweating like a fat man running to the pie shop before it shuts!! The boat ended in Clarke Quay where a glass of wine by the river was in order. Next walked through Fort Canning park and ended up at Raffles Hotel, where I just HAD to partake in the world famous 'Singapore Sling' cocktail. Delicious! Just chilled out there in the courtyard listening to the jazz music playing. This is the life! Met Faith again for dinner then we went to the cinema and watched the late night viewing of the film 'The Haunting', which was surreal - watching an English speaking film with Chinese subtitles at the bottom. Different. The main language in Singapore is English. Faith's family are Chinese, but English is their first language and Mandarin their second. Faith wants to move away, she was explaining how strict it is there, and how their lives are mapped out. The only University courses they can do is business and accounting stuff, all money making - none of the courses you can do in the UK exist, and if they dont fall in that catergory then they are seen as failures. Not one person supports her decision to leave, they tell her she needs to learn to like it there, so I told her to follow her dreams and never give up what she wants to do. My calves are covered in a prickly heat rash, they are bright red and feel like they are on fire constantly, I have even come up in blister like burns in parts, and I look like a leper!! I always have such random and bizarre problems with the skin on my legs - im a dermatologists wet dream! Went back to Chinatown the next day to see the Buddha Tooth relic Temple which has 420kg of gold in it, donated by the public, then the Thian Hock Keng Temple, then took the train to the Chinese and Japanese gardens which were beautiful, then went back to Clarke Quay for cocktails by the river, then a walk back to boat Quay to see it all lit up.