off to singapore!! for those who know me, youll know how much i dislike flying, but in fact i really enjoyed the flight from hong kong to singapore, mainly as there was a huge thunder and lightning storm not far out of singapore - ive never seen anything like it. the clouds were all being lit up from below, in loads of places by the lightning - it was an amazing natural light show! when i arrived in singapore, it was actually several degrees cooler than hk, probably as a result of the thunder storm, so it was a welcome change not to be sweating from every pore in my body!! i liked singapore, though it doesnt have quite the same buzz of hk. i was staying in a really nice hostel, in the centre of the little india district, which meant lots of great food, right nearby:) my first day there, i saw the merlion, a half lion/half fish statue guarding the entrance to the singapore river. its not really the nicest looking thing, but its a symbol of the country. there are several heritage walking trails around the city and i followed one which took me to the indian war memorial, the civilian war memorial, complete with four seventy metre high white columns, (which are referred to locally as the chopsticks!!), st andrews cathedral, built using indian convict labour, and carried on to the sir stamford raffles statue which marks the spot where he took his first steps in singaporean soil. i wandered round the padang, a recreation ground and now home to the singapore cricket club - in years gone by the hub of colonial british society - and the singapore recreation club - founded by those who were ineligible for membership to the cricket club. and then i headed to see raffles hotel, and took a wander round its museum - full of memorabilia and letters from famous people who have stayed there. took a look around, but didnt - on this occasion - venture into the long bar. beautiful setting, very colonial, elegant - and i would imagine, very expensive!! i also visited the battle box, in fort canning park. this was where the top British officers gathered to make decisions regarding the defence in Singapore during the second world war. it was originally built as a gasproof and bombproof chamber, and was here that the decision was taken to surrender to the japanese, on 15 february, 1942. its now an interesting if somewhat claustrophobic museum, where you can see the switchbaord and exchange room, cipher rooms with coding machines and even a conference room, where life size waxworks act out the debate to convince the lieutenant general that surrender was the only option. after that, i caught a bus which took me across the border to malaysia. i then took what will probably be the cheapest flight ever - one quick look at my credit card statement verified it was £4.30 - including tax!!! i flew from just across the singapore/malaysia border, from the rather nondescript city of johor bahru to the capital - kuala lumpur. being terribly money conscious as it was so near the end of my trip, i opted for local buses and trains to transfer from the airport - about 75km from the city centre. the airport train takes about 30minutes to get to the main train station. granted i paid only a fraction of the price that train would have cost, but it also took me over 3hours to get there!! so i arrived in the city late at night, but still took a wander round, as i was staying in a very central area - the golden triangle, and i wanted to see probably the most memorable landmark in the city: the petronas towers - when built the tallest building in the world - which looked fantastic all lit up. next day, i headed along there and was given a pass enabling me to go up to the skybridge which links the two buildings at the 41st and 42nd floors, at a height of 170m above the pavement. theres only a limited number of places each day, and it gives really good views - i was particularly lucky, as next day it rained and the cloud was so low, you couldnt see the top of it. there was also a movie about the construction of the towers, giving all sorts of facts and figures, which was quite interesting. i spent a lot of time wandering round the city, keeping out of the heat as much as possible - again the humidity was something else!! i saw merdeka square (merdeka means independence) which is home to the worlds largest flagpole - something like 90m high!! the square is also home to the royal selangor club, which was the british elites favourite watering hole. i went to the national museum of history, in which i learned about the nations history - everything from the geological formation of the peninsula to the previous prime ministers 'vision 2020' programme, the aim of which is that malaysia will achieve fully industrialised status by that year. visited jalan petaling - a covered street which is THE place in kl to go for your fake cds and dvds, tshirts, handbags, watches... but i showed amazing restraint and didnt buy anything. my last day in kuala lumpur, i went to the batu caves, near the city. they are a sacred place for hindus in malaysia, and consist of three main caves and several smaller ones. temple cave is the biggest, about 100m high, and contains several statues of deities. it is accessed by 272 steps - quite an effort to climb in the humidity, with numerous other tourists climbing alongside. there are loads of monkeys there, all waiting for tourists to give them peanuts and bananas - and ready to pounce on those who are not offering food!! the caves are surrounded by stalls selling hindu idols, pamphlets, bracelets and tapes, and of course, if you dont take the audio guided tour, you wont understand what you are seeing. i was a little disappointed, it all seemed like a way of relieving tourists of their money. still, it was interesting to see, even though i didnt know which deities i was looking at! i then took a bus from kuala lumpur to melaka, a historic city on the west coast. it was quite an interesting place, but i didnt have long there, really only a few hours. so in that time, i saw the remains of the a famosa fort, built by the portuguese using slave labour. almost 300years later, when the british arrived, they ordered the fort be destroyed, and now all that remains of it is a crumbling gate, known as porta de santiago. there was also an interesting independence memorial museum, and nearby, bukit (hill) st paul, at the top of which are the remains of st pauls church. when reading through my guide book, i discovered that a museum id been told about over a year ago, was actually located here, and it was well worth making the trip to it. the "museum of enduring beauty" was a somewhat gruesome look at cultural concepts of beauty and what people endure in its name, for example, foot binding in china, neck rings, lip plates, tooth filing, a practice common in balai and vietnam, even tattooing. some of the pictures were quite graphic.... i then headed back to singapore on a 'super vip class' bus. i guess there was more legroom than usual, but during the downpour en route, the panel above my head developed a leak and i got soaked!! once back in singapore, i headed out first to raffles hotel, where i thoroughly enjoyed my singapore sling in the long bar. of course i discarded my peanut shells on the floor - a strange custom for such an elegant place!! and then a friend and i headed out to the boat quay area - currently one of singapores most fashionable hangouts, where we found a pub to watch the euro2004 final. the pub was chosen because of its drinks promotion: it was ladies night, so all females drinks were free, while guys paid $25 (about £8) and could then have whatever they wanted!! enjoyed watching the footie, it didnt start until about3am. when it finished, we wandered round, really enjoying the city in the early hours, before most peope were up. was surprised it didnt start getting light until almost 6.30. we were wandering round trying desperately to find some food, but were unsuccessful, so went our seperate ways, and i made it back to the hostel about 7.30 - about the same time as others were getting up!! i managed maybe 90minutes sleep, before i had to check out of the hostel. surprisingly i didnt feel too bad all day. took a wander round a shopping mall in the afternoon, and came across johnny wilkinson doing an autograph signing session. seemed a bit of a con - he was only signing a poster, which came free with purchases from a sports shop, over $200 - about £70!!!! needless to say, there was a huge queue of folk clutching their posters and waiting patiently. other than taking a few pictures of him, my last day in singapore was quite relaxed. i headed out to the airport, where i had decided to spend the night, as my flight back to hong kong was at 6am!! got very little sleep again that night, as the airport was so well airconditioned - brr!! was actually first to check in as id been awake most of the night. the flight went pretty quickly as i managed to sleep for most of it. hong kongs airport is on lantau island, which is also home to the worlds largest outdoor seated buddha (it weighs something like 250tons!), quite an impressive site, though i was only able to see it for a short time after i arrived there, since the clouds then came down and covered it completely!!! i headed back to hong kong island, had an absolutely amazing thai meal (i really must go to thailand some time soon, see if the food is as good there as ive had elsewhere!) before making my way back out to the airport, to check in for my flight to london. i managed to get my bag checked all the way through to glasgow, which was lucky as i didnt have long between flights, and had to change terminals at heathrow. i didnt get an upgrade, unlike last year when i returned home, but i got the next best thing - three seats all to myself, so i was able to lie out and i actually slept most of the journey back. when i arrived at glasgow, i discovered my bag in fact hadnt boarded the same plane as me(!) but in fact it was delivered to the house the same day, so i cant complain. so now im back, i have fantastic memories of this trip - probably the best one ive done, and i have all my photos to look through!! for those who are really keen, you are more than welcome to borrow the 7cd box set!!!! my best memories of singapore and malaysia are possibly of the food - so much of it, so cheap and so good. and the people, particularly in malaysia were so friendly. its definitely somewhere id like to return, but i wouldnt spend any time in the capital, as i dont think it was all that interesting, compared to other cities. hong kong is a fantastic place, would love to go back again, despite the heat and humidity. maybe next time ill go in winter? so now that ive achieved the ambition of 30 countries before my thirtieth, i need a new ambition....any ideas?