Singapore - Saturday 11th December - Thursday 16th December

After a pretty straightforward journey south and through the Malaysia-Singapore border we departed our coach on Singapore's famous Beach Road and made our way to our new home for the next 4 days - a plush apartment on 19th floor of the Park Royal hotel courtesy of a legendary ex colleague of mine. We got some understandably strange looks from the receptionist when we arrived, looking every bit the filthy backpackers we are, it was also odd to be referred to as 'sir' again!

Having made ourselves at home, we went out for a wander around the neighborhood and found a cheap Hawker market in which to eat our evening meal. Hawker markets, a collection of Asian food stalls under one roof, are a godsend for budget travelers in Singapore seeing as most restaurants cost about 3 times as much as in neighboring Malaysia

We awoke on our first day in the city and decided to head to the Singapore Zoo, which involved a journey on the tube and then a bus from there. Incidentally, Singapore has a superb public transport system, especially coming from Thailand where in parts you're lucky to find a tarmacked road let alone an air conditioned underground system. The zoo itself had the usual array of exotic beasts from around the world and is a great day out. The highlight (for Janine) was the 'Jungle Show', held in a mini amphitheater in front of a capacity crowd of a thousand or so tourists and opened by a group of tribal dancers who decided that what the show needed was a tall, athletically built western fella to bring up front with them and give the occasion that bit of extra 'glam'. Me being the obvious candidate, I was selected and promptly stripped of my shirt and handed a spear and shield with which to dance around to the amusement of the many camera-wielding onlookers. I felt like b****** lovechild of Michael Jackson and Prince out there as I busted my moves, apparently I looked more like an Emu on hot coals. Matter of opinion i guess!

That evening we put on our best outfits (for me this involved finding a pair of shorts without a noodle stain) and made our way to Raffles Hotel. If there's one thing that they love in Singapore it's Stamford Raffles - the famous English gentleman who designed what was to become the layout of modern day Singapore and put it on the world map. For a man who only spent just over 8 months in the place before dying a poor man and losing all of his children out in Asia to disease, he left a lasting impression on the place, with many roads and building named after him. The Hotel is of course the most famous of these buildings, having housed various celebrities over the years. We made our way through the beautiful courtyard to the Long Bar and ordered ourselves the obligatory Singapore Sling cocktail. At S$30 each, it's possibly the most expensive drink I've ever tasted, but as you sit there, surrounded by the colonial furniture and floor covered in discarded peanut shells (it's tradition to graze on the complimentary peanuts and then lob the shells on the floor) you genuinely feel part of something special . Either that or I was just pissed, difficult to tell.

After Raffles we wandered up to see the Christmas lights along the shopping mecca that is Orchard Road. The best way to imagine Orchard Road is as a cross between Oxford Street and 5th Avenue with Bluewater sized shopping malls every 100 yards, if you have money to spend then Singapore is an awesome place to spend it. Unfortunately we didn't and so had to make do with window-shopping at Chanel and Armani and marveling at the Christmas displays.

For our second day we signed up for a 'History of The Empire' walking tour around the old Colonial District and up inside the spaceship-shaped, Norman Foster-designed courthouse building. It's a great way to spend a morning, especially if you're a bit of a history geek like me! The afternoon involved a wander back through the bustling Little India via one of Singapore's huge electronics malls, I was like a kid in a candy store without any pocket money.

For our penultimate day in Singapore we visited the museum at Changi Prison for a history lesson in one of Britains less glorious hours, the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese and subsequent imprisonment of the Allied troops. We also took a trip up to the top of the brand spanking new resort hotel on the South of Singapore harbour. Shaped like a huge ship suspended on three massive towers, it is a sight to behold in itself and the views of the city from the open-air deck at top are breathtaking.

On our final day we headed over to Sentosa Island. Sentosa is a strange place, it feels like your in a theme park or on a movie set. It's really difficult to describe it to someone that hasn't been there, but basically it has a few man made beaches which are surrounded by ibiza style beach bars, it has huge resorts, Universal Studios, luge tracks, cable cars etc. We went on the luge track which was good fun and we can't wait to go on a track again in New Zealand. Of course Janine won the race! This was followed by lounging on the beach before heading back for a good nights sleep. Singapore is a cool place but it seems to be lacking an identity and as such has a little bit of everything to keep you all happy!