We have been in Singapore for 2 days and neither of us can believe yet that we are in Asia and have reached our last continent! We arrived late Tuesday night to the news that we had timed our visit well as it was Chinese New Year over the next few days, and we could expect some big celebrations, so that was really exciting!

Next morning we had a bit of a lie-in (still recovering from the 4am starts) then we headed out to explore. We wandered round little India where we saw some temples then went to Kampong Glam which is the Muslim Quarter. One thing that we have noticed about Singapore is just how multicultural it is, with Muslim, Indian and Chinese quarters being in such close proximity!

Apparently being in Singapore is all about the food so in honour of this we had some lunch where we tried Murtabek, which is a type of flat bread with chicken/beef and curry sauce.... It was really good but true to form we ate way too much! In case we were in any doubt, there was a "no spitting" sign on the wall!

After lunch we went to look round a mosque and we both had to wear a very fetching green gown (the first of many) and Jonny got collared by one of the guides telling him about the Qu'aran. This would also be the first of many conversations we would have that begin like this: them: "where are you from?" us: "Manchester" them: "ahhhh... Manchester United!!" There seems to be a big following over here (much to Jonny's delight).

After this we took a bit of a walking tour around the other sites such as the Raffles Hotel, the War Memorial statues, a complex that looks like a boat plonked on top of 3 towers, the Esplanade (which looks like a durian) and the famous Merlion which is a half lion half fish (?!) statue. By this time it had started to rain and we were shattered from too much walking so we headed back to the hostel where we accidentally fell asleep!

This delayed us somewhat for our venture into Chinatown for the New Year celebrations, however it didn't really matter as they were pretty low key so we didn't miss much! We battled through crowds for a couple of hours (I'm not sure where everyone was going it really wasn't clear) then at midnight there was 10 mins of fireworks which we couldn't see properly because we were on the wrong side of the street! And the parade I was convinced there was going to be never came. So overall I think we would have been better off in Manchester for Chinese New Year celebrations!

Next day we had to change hostels (Chinese New Year strikes again) and afterwards we set off to the Botanic Gardens because I really wanted to see the Orchids! We got directions from the receptionist but after 45 minutes on the bus we realised she had sent us in completely in the wrong direction and we were practically in Malaysia! Unfortunately, there were zilcho other sites in the area so there was not much else we could do than turn round and come back! That's two hours of our lives we are never going to get back, and I didn't get to see the orchids! Instead we went back to Chinatown to look at a big temple then got some food at a hawker centre in true Singaporean style.

In the evening we paid a visit to a Clark Quay which is a massive modern complex full of restaurants and bars. After having a fancy kebab for dinner, we popped our head in The Clinic where everything is designed as a hospital and you can drink your cocktail from an IV drip whilst sitting in a wheelchair!

We didn't stay though ad we decided to save our money for something more traditional which was a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel. It was pretty cool to sit in there, eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor whilst sipping (and I mean sip- they were 25 bucks a go) a Singapore Sling, even if a million other tourists were doing the same thing!

That brought our time in Singapore to and end, and we were very excited about our journey to Malaysia the next day!