Singapore 17th - 21st October

17th October

Well, getting here was a pain, purely for the fact that trying to get a connecting flight when the previous flight was delayed is rather stressful. Especially in a place where they seem to not be fans of signs - even in an airport (Guangzhou Airport is where we caught our connecting flight and had all the problems).

At Shanghai airport, Candy obviously looked dodgy as her back got taken to a security inspection room where she also had to go, but they then changed their mind and sent her on her way and let her bag go.

Emma accidently annoyed a scary immigration officer by stepping over the yellow line before she was allowed, and let's just say if looks could kill Candy would be a lone traveller! It took about an hour to find the correct connections area for our flight plus get through immigration and then find another gate and then eventually the boarding gate (which then changed last minute). And no, we weren't walking slow, we were infact walking fast and at some points running most of the way. I think we must have covered pretty much the whole of the airport.

We made it to Singapore, delayed by about an hour, and arrived at the InnCrowd Hostel just before midnight. The lights were out in our room so we just had to jump into bed and try and sleep, even though we are both so tired as the past week has been non-stop, it proved hard to get much sleep at all.

We've never stayed in a hostel before (well emma has with her Uni group in Berlin but says it's nothing like this one) so it was a bit of a culture shock.

18th October

Communal shower cubicles and toilets all in one was a bit daunting at first but we've now just got on with it - up until now we've only ever stayed in nice hotels. Gosh we sound a bit snobby. Candy has kind of developed a bit of an obsession with toilets, she's terrified of the 'squat' toilets, so at least they have 'normal' ones here. Other places we've been looking at staying, we've always looked at the pictures of toilets. So rock'n'roll we know.

The second day here we adapted rather well. There's a good communal area downstairs where you can chill, eat, watch tv and mingle, which is what we've been doing. Rainy here so taken the oppertunity to book a few things, going to Kuala Lumpur next and sorted the first four weeks around the Thai Islands before Full Moon Party (21st November) on Koh Pha-ngan. They have a selection of books about various countries so we've been researching through them.

We walked all around Singapore today, taking in the sights. There seem to be a lot of building works going on of epic proportions.

Saw the Singapore Flyer (like the London Eye) but didn't go on (very budget conscious at the moment). We did however go to the Famous Raffles Hotel and pay $29.50 for one cocktail. Yes I did just say we were on a budget! It's rather impressive. Not like other hotels we've seen in the sense that it's not a skyscraper. It''s very tradional; The Ritz meets tropical meets somewhere you could imagine Hercule Poirot to visit (random but that's the best way to describe it). It then started to pour down, and we mean pour down! So we jumped in a taxi back to the hostel and grabbed a beer. Nice.