We chose the sleeper train option to get to Singapore, 4 hours longer but always looking for money saving opportunities we figured we could save on a nights accomodation. Bad move as they kept the lights on the whole way so we arrived shattered and not too impressed to find the station was in the middle of nowhere. We wandered around struggling with bags that seem to have gained a few extra items along the way before giving in to public transport. We provided much amusement to some locals as we ran down the road to catch the bus which then turned out to be going the wrong way anyway, but thankfully the driver took pity on us and dropped us at the bus station with precise instructions on which bus to get. After a stressful morning we eventually arrived in Little India and found ourselves a nice hostel run by a very friendly aussie man, who seeing how tired we were decided he would try and plan our whole stay in singapore for us. Although grateful for the advice we felt a bit patronised and decided to do the exact opposite of what he said and head straight out to explore the city.

Found Singapore has more shopping malls than Kuala Lumpur so we felt slightly depressed knowing that we didnt have the money or space in our backpacks to take advantage of any of them. Walking around the city we took in the sights; the merlion, the marina, the skyscrapers in the business district, parliament buildings and the very impressive fullerton hotel. On the way we checked out restaurants for that nights dinner as we have both realised that decision making is neither of our strong points and have spent many nights walking from restaurant to restaurant checking out all the options (i'm sure none of Nikkis friends or family will be surprised to hear this!). We eventually decided on an English pub serving bubble and squeak, the perfect vegetarian meal for Leanna, and went back to the hostel happy that we had a plan for the evening. As we arrived back there a few hours later we were gutted to find they only serve food at lunchtime so had to settle for the italian instead!

Next morning we set off for Sentosa Island, a man made island off Singapore with imported sand beaches and lots of other attractions to keep us amused for the day. We spent the morning on the beach taking advantage of the few hours sun before another monsoon descended on us. We took refuge in the coffee shop rather than our planned cable car ride and luge down the hill. In the evening we saw the songs of the sea show, an impressive display of fireworks pyrotechnics and other special effects but accompanied by a very cheesy story line and miming actors.

Our last day in singapore was spent at the zoo, reportedly one of the most impressive zoos in the world. The animals enclosures are kept as natural as possible with moats and small fences separating them from the visitors rather than large cages so you can get a lot closer to them. Saw all the usual elephants, giraffes, monkeys, tigers, lions, polar bears, before watching a waterworld show with performing seals, manatees, pelicans and penguins. We headed back to pick up our bags before legging it down the road to avoid yet another monsoon and catch our train to the airport. Off to Bali now where hopefully the sun awaits....