We left Melaka quite early as usual on day 23 and I can't say I was sad to go. I was really looking forward to getting to Singapore, although not really to the 5 hour coach ride it took to get there. We got a taxi to Melaka bus station, and it was the crasiest taxi I have evr been in. It was covered in carpet on the inside and teddybear material and lights. If anyone reading this is from Needham, it was like being inside Mr Crisp's car! When one of the girls put on her seatbelt, which was a rare thing to find in a car, the driver started shouting at her to take it off. The bus journey wasn't that bad after all. It was quite amusing to see all the people with extreme hangovers. They did actually look green.

We arrived in Singapore in the early afternoon and went straight to the hotel. One thing I did find there was that none of the taxi drivers ever seemed to have a clue where anything was or where they were going, so we eventually arrived after having to stop and show him where it was on the map. This hotel was actually really nice and a big improvement on the last place we stayed, but surprise surprise it was in China Town once again! That afternoon we needed to try and sort out accommodation for the next two nights. Our trip with intrepid finished the next day, but a few of us were still staying on and needed somewhere to sleep. We went to get lunch and have a look around, but it started to pour down with rain so we ended up just looking on the internet. Even in Singapore rain that heavy was really rare, and we seemed to be taking it wherever we went. That evening we were due to go on the night safari as it was our last proper night together, but was called it off because of the rain. Luckily it did stop in the end so we went out for dinner and a nearby chinise restaurant, then we went to a bar afterwards. It was really sad as we hadn't really thought about leaving up to then, and we had all gotten so close in the group. We had to say the first goodbyes and obviously I know that we will never see some of the people again which is hard after spending all that time together. I think everyone found it the hardest to say goodbye to Johann, and he got a bit emotional when we gave him our card and presents. We will always be his first though! Hopefully we will see some of the others in Australia at some point, and we still had a couple of days to go at that point.

The next morning after breakfast and more goodbyes, we had a look around the chinese markets which were just down the road. They did have a lot of good stuff which was still quite cheap, and it was nice with all the red lanterns everywhere. I got some presents for people so I won't say exactly what I bought! After that we moved on to our new hostel. One of the girls had found it for the six of us that needed somewhere to stay; Backpacker's Cosy Corner - it sounded quite nice. It turned out to be in a really good central area, near most of the places we wanted to go, and near to the busesd and MRT. However, it was really crazy inside! It was really colourful with loads of flags everywhere, and even had an Ipswich Town FC flag up which was weird. Luckily we had two 3 bed rooms to share so we didn't need to sleep with anyone we didn't know and they were private. But there were people sleeping in beds in the corridors and outside on the terrace. God knows how little they paid as our rooms were only 5 pounds a night. The girl we shared with who was at the end of her trip said it was one of the worst places she had stayed, but I didn't think it was that bad so hopefully that bodes well for the rest of my travels.

After that we took the river tour down around the harbour which was a good thing to do as we saw a bit more of the city and places to go. Singapore is really nice to look at with a great skyline, and there were plenty of nice bars and restaurants near the river which wasn't too far from where we were staying. It was very hot though and much more humid than anywhere else we had been so far. We went for lunch by the river afterwards, and there were loads of places to choose from, so we managed to persuade one man to give us all a free drink if we ate there. It turned out the food was really good, and we all got a free glass of wine which was nice. Jimmy, the owner, was a bit of a character too and talked to us for ages about the things we should do. But, as it turns out we didn;t get such a good deal after all. We got our free drink, but they also bought us out garlic bread and then hot towels which we didn't ask for and thought were free too, and then charged us for them. What a cheek! So the boys stole the towels.

In the afternoon we walked up to Orchard Road, which took ages in the heat. It's the main shopping district in the city, although there are shops and malls everywhere. I didn't really want to buy anything but I thought I would just go for look as it was so well known. That evening we all met and went for a drink at Raffle's Hotel, which was only a minute from the hostel. Just in case you haven't heard of it, it's the most famous hotel in Singapore and is very posh and expensive. The bar is really famous too and it's where they invented the Singapore Sling cocktail, so obviously we had to go and try one. I felt a bit out of place in there as we were blatantly scruffy travellers, but I didn't care. The cocktail was expensive so I could only afford one but it was so nice! I thought I'd probably hate it but I didn't. They also had a weird tradition of eating loads of peanuts at the bars and tables, and then just thowing the shells onto the floor. The floor was absolutley covered in them, but I still don't know why they do it. It was a really good place to see though and I'd love to stay there one day but I'm not holding my breath. After that we just went for food and to some more, cheaper, bars by the front. They were a bit crazy though with a band playing weird jazz like music, with a guitarist who had urine written on his T-shirt!

The next day we left early and went to Sentosa island which is a man-made island just of the coast. We went by bus, which is the first time I'd been on public transport except for the MRT in KL, and they were really nice with TVs on them. They were just a clean as the rest of the city. I still find the cleaness strange considering you could never find a bin anywhere. It was really nice on Sentosa. One of the girls from the group had booked to do a dolphin swim there with the pink dolphins so we went to watch her and then the dolphin show afterwards. I decided there that it is something I would definetly like to do in Australia. We walked around the Aquarium as well, as it wasn't really hot enough to spend all day on the beach there. The aquarium was really good inside, and very interactive so you could touch a lot of the fish. We fed stingrays with bits of fish between our fingers, and they came and sucked it out, which was a really weird feeling, and I didn't like it one bit. I touched a shark too! Justin loves them so we had to spend ages looking at them. I also saw alot of the fish that I had seen in the sea when snorkeling in Thailand.

That night was our last night in Singapore, and in Asia in fact. We had to leave at 5 in the morning to get to the airport, so we decided not to have too much of a late night. We all went to the Singapore Night Safari, which we had wanted to do the first night there. It was just like a zoo, but it was different going around in the dark, and a lot more of the animals were up and about. We saw a night creature show at first, and I sat in the worst possible seat. An animal was crawling down a rope over my head and munching on food which he dribbled all over me. Then they started to pretend they had lost something, and when they opended the box in the floor which had been right under my feet there was a 12 foot python in there. It had been under me the whole time, and it was huge! It was about as thick as my thigh. After that we just went around in the tram. Most of the animals weren't in cages or behind fences, which freaked Justin out just a bit I think. It was a really good last night.

Then it was our turn to say goodbye to everyone who was left which was sad. Up until now I hadn't really thought about leaving and it seemed strange. But I was starting to get excited about Australia. A lot of the others talked about it all the time, and just wanted to get there, but I just enjoyed Asia so much I hadn't really given it a thought. We got up at a quarter to 5 in the morning and then left to start the next stageof out trip!