We took a comfortable coach to Singapore, well quite a posh one actually (it was a long journey) which didt help the fact that on the way I managed to accidentally break the TV remote, much to Aimee's amusement (what good is a remote if it's stuck to the seat anyway?) Luckily we still managed to catch a couple of films on the journey to Marina Bay Sands. It was clear that our budget wasn't going to stretch the lengths required to spend much time here, but we got a good look around before making our way to our hostel. On arrival Aimee was confronted by a rather large and hairy half naked, senior gentleman. Luckily he was sleeping a couple of beds away! Our first night in a dorm room was noisy but not because of drunken teens as expected, but because of a 6 year old Asian girl singing at about midnight, there were a very diverse set of customers!. We strolled around chinatown enjoying the atmosphere including a very serious looking drafts competition.

We spent the first evening at Clark Quay a short underground journey from where we were staying, where there were plenty of bars and restaurants, including Hooters! (Maybe we'll go in tomorrow Aimee said). We caught some of the football at a bar, but had to pay about £6 for a beer so only managed to watch the first half!

We changed hostels the following day, not because of the senior gentleman, or the young family, but because our first choice hostel was booked up for the first night. It was a great hostel in chinatown themed on teddy bears, which was right next to the air conditioned underground station. This came in handy for our whole stay, and not just to get out of the heat!

We took a trip to Little India to try the local cuisine, as we fancied a good curry. As we left the underground station we could have been in Mumbai or Delhi looking at the people we were walking with. We couldn't work out why there were so many people men on the streets just milling about, and after asking around there was no reason! We found a restaurant just opening (we were hungry early), and the menu looked exactly what we were looking for, little did we know it was to be the worst and strangest meal we've ever had. The owner and his waitress wife/mistress spent the whole meal flirting intimately (including her biting his nipples!?) right infront me. The rest of the staff simply starred at us watching us take every mouthful and I've never felt so uncomfortable. They bought us popadoms without mango chutney, and a really spicy mint and yogurt dip. The lamb was like charcoal covered in chilli sauce, and the chicken curry was awful. On top of all that it wasn't cheap either. After that ordeal we headed back to the station realising we were only two of six non Indian people we had seen all evening, but the place certainly had a good atmosphere.

The following day we went to Sentosa Island, hoping to catch the delayed end of the Asia Golf Open, unfortunately we missed the action as they finished by the time we got there, but had a good look around the Sentosa Golf Club instead. Luckily there is so much to do on the island, we bypassed the casino and Universal Studios and headed for the beach which saved us some invaluable funds I'm sure. Although the beaches were beautiful, the price of a bottle of water was a little extreme at £5 each!!

We also tried out the luge (race down a steep hill on go karts) and skyride (ski lift) which was wicked fun and provided some good photos. Aimee actually beat me on the karts, which she reminded me of quite a few times during the day! We visited the Merlion, the national symbol of Singapore (half mermaid half lion) and managed to cram in a lot more during the day, including a nice pear cider on behalf of the boys at home, while catching up on some more footy. After another visit to Chilli's for dinner we stopped off at a sweet shop "Candilicious" as Aimee couldn't resist a pick and mix. We only managed about 100g as they were again very pricey, which amounted to about one of each sweet. We did attempt the casino but we were not appropriately dressed, nor did we have our passports (probably for the best!). After that busy day our beds were calling for an early night.

Our last day in Singapore was spent on the Singapore Flyer, (like the London Eye but bigger), to get some arial views of the city. On our return to the hostel we dared to try the local chinatown food of beef and pork jerky, which was nice for a couple of bites but then very sweet and rich, so a few dollars wasted there. We then headed for the airport for our overnight flight to Melbourne, Australia.