I'm in Singapore!
But first things first... Here's a quick round up of things I forgot to say about Laos (mainly because my brain was still full of river water when I last posted...); We shared our room in VV with about a million ants of various shapes and sizes, but the balcony over the river made up for that. The people are quiet, friendly and softly spoken. They are more reserved than the other south-east asians we have met so far, but everyone says Sabadeeeee!" to everyone. Vientiene has the most AMAZING bakeries, even better than Nam! In Vang Vieng it tends to pour with rain at night; everyone dances on in the rain. The "coma inducing'' - as the lonely planet calls them - 'Friends' bars are a necessity after a day/night of tubing, and I'm pretty sure that the comas arn't just beacuse of the endless watching of friends... More self-inflicted! There are the cutest puppies and kittens everywhere, very tempted to put one or two in my bag... At one point a guy from Stoke saved me from drowning... And the river took my favourite flip-flops :( At the last hostel we stayed in Vientiene (Mixay Paradise - very nice, brand new and cheap!) We got a free breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, bread and jam, chicken stew AND rice! AWESOME. Laos is a place I would really like to return to. You bump into people you know all the time; it's got that village feeling about it, and it was a shock in come down to KL and Singapore which are so huge and anonymous.
The flight down to Kuala Lumpur went without drama, abit delayed but that's normal round here. We arrived late at night and got a bus into town to find the hostel I had booked in Chinatown. Wandering about in the dark and rain with all our stuff = not so fun. But eventually stumbled across the entrance to Wheeler's Guesthouse. By far the weirdest place we have stayed so far (and that's saying something!) Imagine one of the stairwells to an old city centre carpark in Sheffield... that's the entrance hall. We climbed up the shady stairs to find ourselves in the jungle. Huge tanks of even huger fish and terrapins, EELS, the lot! Our room was small and windowless but the rooftop garden was nice, with its own little family of cats. Our one full day in KL we went to see the Petronas Towers. We were too late for the Skybridge so just looked around. Went and got myself a new camera. Bartered the guy down afew Ringits, I was so proud of myself! And got ourselves a bus ticket to Singapore. KL seems to be a giant building site at the moment. Everything is in development, including the Metrolink thingy which is all abit chaotic. The people here are so friendly and warm. When we first arrived at the airport one of the lads running the bus service said ''why you wears sunglasses in dark?!'' I replied "I've been to Laos" he laughed and nodded and seemed to know exactly what I meant. The Pink-eye is nearly gone now by the way. We fulfilled a great need for home-comforts in KL. THings we havn't had for a month like chocolate (malaysian smarties!!!), Ribena (I hadn't realised how much I missed squash!), and MACDONALDS. Yes, yes, I know it's evil junk food. But it's damn comforting!
We got our bus to Singapore on Thursday, which involved us negociating the LRT to an unknown bus station in the outskirts. A confusing and bustling place, we eventually found where we were supposed to be and got our superposh and empty bus to the border! It was all going so well; we had made it through the first 'Woodlands' checkpoint, which despite its name looks alot like something out of 1984. But then getting through the checkpoint into Singapore (declare that chewing gum you criminal! I did'nt... oops! hehe) We discovered our lovely posh bus had left us high and dry! How rude. Instead we got a public bus, whose lovely "captain"(they call it that here!) let us on for free, and had no problem in getting to our hostel in Little India. It's a GORGEOUS hostel - The Inncrowd. Really modern and cool, huge comfory beans bags and ikea furniture. We get free breakfast here too. Always a bonus! One problem though... our first night I was visited by the scourge of backpackers... BEDBUGS. Arghhh! So I woke up (from a pretty sleepless night to be honest..) covered in these huge red welts, loads worse than the mozzie bites I've had. Asked the guy downstairs and he came to look at my mattress. There was one Bug. It was HUGE. I expected tiny little things but they are more like ticks. Especially seeming as he had been feasting off me all night. grr. Anyway they were really apologetic and sorted out my mattress and stuff. We did loads of laundry too incase they came with us. I got no more bites last nights so hopefully that is the last of that.
Yesterday we indulged in a spot of retail-therapy on Orchard Rd; The Temple to The God of Shops. Nai was in heaven, and at at the same time agony; as our budget is limited to say the least. You literally can't swing a cat without hitting a designer label. ALthough doing that kinda thing will get you life in prison round here. Singapore is great, I really love how cosmopolitan and slightly British it is. Having been before it feels a lot like home. We've had a ride on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit, or 'Marty' as Nai calls it). Super efficient and swish compared with KL. But it's expensive, so we are pedestrians mainly. Tonight we are going on a free scooter tour with the hostel. The push-scooter type, not motorised. And then tomorrow its off to Thailand again for our holiday on the islands and Full Moon Party! We are both (pretty much) fully recovered from tubing now, and raring to get on the beach again. I'm sure I'll tell you all about it :)
Bye for now and take care everyone. Love El & Nai
P.s. Sorry bout the return of The Brackets (i'm addicted... see?!)
p.p.s possibley broken my toe... oops!