OK Hello Everyone!

I am just killing some time before my flight to OZ tonight so thought I'd fill you all in on Singapore!

Firstly, I can't even believe I got here - cheers Mum & Simon for sorting my life out. Couldn't have been any more unorganised really, but I guess that will make this trip all the more interesting. One day I will learn not to be so last minute about everything! Nice plane journey in which I tried to start my 'try all things new' approach to life. I ate Pasta on the plane, it was just a lunch starter but at least I tried it. Still don't like it much :o) weird rubber food! Followed it up with lamb and managed to splash sauce all over the guy next to me - my bad! He was scary anyway - he was reading a magazine on rotting teeth :os I listened to the podscast from all my mates at work which was awesome and really got me in the travelling mood. Then I arrived.....

Day 1:

So I thought it would be a good idea in jeans and 2 tops to make my own way from the airport to my hostel, so managed to navigate the tube system to the nearest stop. What is only a 5-10 minute walk took me over an hour cause some k*** packed 19kgs of backpack and 8kgs of hand luggage, one sleeping bag and a straw hat! Oh yeah that's me! So Getting lost with all that luggage and in 30 degree heat. ERROR! When I made it to the hostel the receptionist looked disturbed and how sweat soaked I was - nice!

Thought I'd get straight to it so after a shower headed out to the main shopping district. Unaware that it rains a lot over here - I got poured on a fair few times. This plus the ridiculous humidity = Monica from Friends style hair! You know the episode where she is sporting an afro? Well make that ginger and you've got me in Singapore :o) Needless to say people seem to stare at me a lot here! A LOT! The shopping malls are crazy. 15 stories tall and 1000's of shops and food places in each one.

I then headed down to Chinatown. They have these things called Hawker Centres where there are shed loads of Chinese food stalls that do meals for like 2-3 dollars which is like 1-2 quid! I saw what I wanted - Duck Rice, looked good. Thing is they all said self service on the front of these stalls and all I could see was people cooking. Tried to watch for a bit and work out how to go about serving myself, but couldn't. All I could see was a big pot of rice and one big ass dead duck hanging from the ceiling. I wasn't about to go and start hacking down some duck! I chickened out and did what any Western lost and hungry tourist would do......6 piece Chicken Nugget Meal, thank you Sir Ronald McDonald!

I met my room mates back at the hostel. I was in a room of people all living there with jobs, but looking for flats. There was Patti, an Indian lady who worked in a bank, Jennifer, a Chinese lady who worked in medical research, and Fabio from Portugal who was a PHD reserach student. I went to dinner to a Thai place with Patti and Jennifer, but apparently I picked the most 'UK style' dish on the menu. Haha - one step at a time people!

Day 2:

Managed to convince Fabio and Jennifer to take a trip down to Sentosa Island with me. This is an island on the tip of Singapore which has beaches and attractions, theme parks etc. Very touristy but nice. Managed to get them to do Luging with me. I was thrilled to find this on the island as I've always wanted to do it and I've only seen people doing it in New Zealand. Basically it is a little cart thing you race down a hill track and it was awesome. I would have preferred a bit of race action from Jennifer and Fabio, but Fabio took off before Jennifer and I were allowed out the blocks and Jennifer was going so slow I just blazed her lol. I'd love to do that again with some people who want to risk death round the corners and have a proper race!

We were there quite a long time, so we all just chilled out back at the hostel. It was getting a bit later and Patti had said she'd take me down to Clarke Quay which is the hot night spot. Thing is she was asleep and had been practically all day. Jennifer got in bed and Fabio said he was going to go to sleep too. It was only 8 o'clock. I went down to the common room to see if there were any random travellers, but it was empty so I thought sod this, I'm off down there alone. It was a great place, loads of bars and restaurants. Would have been good to get people down there, but oh well. Just wondered around for a while and then sat down by the river and got a cocktail. It was nice, except from being completely bent over and arse smacked by the price of it. Alcohol in Singapore is ridiculously expensive. I had 1 cocktail and it cost me 20 dollars! Mental. I've never gone and sat down somewhere like that for a drink on my own before, but I don't know why!!! It was lovely just to sit and watch the world go by. Don't feel anywhere near as worried about doing anything on my own anymore! Result.

Day 3:

I had a lot planned in for my final full day. I thought I'd be the considerate kind and let all the workers get their showers before I jumped in. Patti just didn't get up though and I wanted a shower before breakfast. I gave her till the last minute and then just went in the shower anyway. When I woke up she had gone. She'd been asleep fully clothed and I guess she literally just got out of bed and walked to work - WTF?

I headed out to Changi which is along way out of the centre of the city. It involved me getting the tube nearly all the way back to the airport and then a 15 minute bus ride into Changi. I went there to visit the Changi Museum and Chapel which is dedicated to the Japanese Prisoners of World War II. My Grandad was held here in Singapore by the Japanese as a prisoner for nearly 4 years during World War II. I never met my Grandad, but Dad used to to say that he would never talk about this time in his life. My Dad always read books about it and wanted to come to Singapore himself to see and learn more, so this museum is definitely somewhere Dad would have wanted to go.

It was so emotional and utterly harrowing. The things they went through were truely horrific. I know my Grandad was starved, beaten and tortured and came back weighing just 4 and a half stone, but to actually see these images and hear accounts of what happened to these people was unbelievable. They were all so brave and it really is a wake up call and makes you remember how lucky you really are today. I spent a couple of hours there and wrote a card for the wall of rememberance and lit a candle for my Grandad.

After that I needed a pick me up - so I went to the Raffles Hotel! This is the bad ass rich boy mumma jahumba of hotels and has the famous bar called 'The Long Bar' where the cocktail 'The Singapore Sling' was invented in 1915. It had to be done so I ordered a cocktail and some chips. The drink was 25 dollars - ouch, but worth it. Met a nice Kiwi man called Dave and had a nice chat over our drinks. We asked the barman how may they sell a day. He said 800 - 1000!!! At 25 dollars a pop that's one money making bar!

I then headed back to the hostel as Fabio was coming on the night safari with me! On the night Safari we met another lady called Carla who is a Northern lass from Lancahire. Gutting it was my last night as I finally found someone to drink with! She was really fun to hang around with and before I knew it I was necking pints of draught Chang Beer at the safari park! Me....Draft Beer....Downing it? Who am I? Night safari was pretty good, awesome to see the animals at night. Nothing quite so scary however as walking through rainforest in the dark looking for lions and then a full on tropical rainstorm with thunder and lightening and crazy rain busts out on you. I was s***ting myself.

After the safari we headed back to Clarke Quay and got some food and a drink. Later on Carla (my kind of girl) cracked out a bottle of Bacardi she'd brought from home and we went up to the roof garden of our hostel to keep drinking. Ended up meeting a university trip of guys from Switzerland up there and we ended up drinking and chatting with them until 3am! Was a good laugh and I'm starting to see just how easy it is to talk to anyone. I feel like Singapore wrapped up on a high, shame Carla didn't arrive earlier, but I've had a really good time here.

I am just killing time and doing some laundry before I have to leave for the airport! Sorry this was so long. I will do shorter and more frequent updates form now on. Text Dan and he is on now on the plane to Austraila. I am so excited I may burst. I am however alreday dying for a sausage roll, and a piece of Tottenham cake from Greggs with a cup of Tetley so a tiny bit of home sickness. God I'm missing bread. Think my lack of carbs has seen me lose weight this week! Anyway...

BRING ON OZ!!!!!

Love you all and miss you too - speak soon x x x