Day 169 - We woke at 3am and jumped in to a taxi for the airport to catch our flight to Sydney at 6am. The flight was ok, we weren't fed and there were no TV's to watch films but we got through it. We had a short wait in Sydney before we were on our next flight to Singapore. The flight to Singapore was unusual as it took us to Adelaide first, kicked us all off, cleaned it then got us all back on with a bunch of new people. The flight took forever but they fed us 3 times, we were so stuffed we couldn't move. The weather around Australia was awful and the turbulence was horrific, wouldn't like to be scared of flying. After a very very long day we arrived in to Singapore at 8pm and after 21 hours of travelling and only sleeping roughly 3 hours out of 40, we went straight to bed.

Day 170 - We had a little bit of a lie-in still feeling tired but we were up in time for the free breakfast (toast, tea and coffee) and we were out by 11am. We weren't very far from 'Little India' so thought we would start there, it took us a while to find the centre but we got there in the end. We wandered around in awe of the Indian Hindu temples scattered around - such amazing design and colours. We were now right in the heart of Little India and you could tell by the crowds adorning the red dot on there foreheads and the beautiful saris worn by the women. It was brunch time, In Singapore there isn't much in the way of 'Street food' due to local laws so we stopped at a lovely cafe. We were so grateful for the air-con - Singapore definitely lives up to it reputation of 'Sticky Singapore'. We settled on a Lassie (a sweet yoghurt drink) and Thosai/Dosai (Indian pancake) with massala dips. After we wandered around a few shops, they were all so colourful and aromatic. From here we walked over to Arab street and the Middle eastern area, again the streets was beautiful, so busy and bustling and the air was filled with smells of incense and hashish. Here is where I discovered Teh Tarik! Lloyd had had it before in Brunei but never knew the name of it, just remembered having a creamy sweet tea and loving it. We saw a man in a tiny inlet with chairs in the street and we ordered two and they we so cheap. Basically Teh Tarik means 'Pulled Tea' and it is a certain type of tea made with condensed milk poured from cup to cup to give it a frothy head. Its delicious!! We then strolled along to Sultan Mosque, the biggest mosque in Singapore. It was beautiful from the outside, the architecture and colours standing out from neighbouring buildings but the inside was not much to look at. They had a lot of writing on Islam and their beliefs that the public could read so we had a look before leaving. We then went along to the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple which was down a back ally and slightly hidden but housed a giant Buddha Before heading back to the hostel we stopped in Little India for tea and ordered a banana leaf biriyani rice set. This is basically a banana leaf with an array of beautiful Indian food. We picked mutton curry, and it came with rice, 3 different veg dishes, roti and dips - mouthwatering.

Day 171 - Today we planned to tackle the centre of Singapore. We started by following a heritage walk that started at the 'Esplanade - Theatre on the bay', we climbed to the top of the building and got some beautiful views of Singapore's Marina Bay and the CBD skyscrapers. We followed the route through past the Civic Town Hall, The Court of Justice and the Museum all of which we were covered in scaffolding for renovation so didn't get a peek at anything - typical. We stopped off at the National Museum though to see the Singapore river expedition. It was really interesting to read about the history of the river and how it has changed over the years with industry. We then decided to have a walk along the river at Boats Quay. It was a bit fancy but we found a good lunch time special in one of the restaurants and we ate by the river- it was delicious 4 courses plus a drink each for £13, much cheaper than the rest of the strip. We walked along to Merilon Park to see the famous lion fountain then carried on in to the CBD. We got bored pretty easy so stopped for a Teh Tarik and a bit of air-conditioning. We headed back to our hostel and stopped off at a hawkers stall for some tea I got a beautiful pork noodle dish and Lloyd settled for rice with chicken.

Day 172 - We had heard from several people that Singapore Zoo was one of the best in the world. We are usually very wary of zoo's, we just hate seeing animals and birds in cages or small enclosures but I was reassured this was nothing like that. After a long metro and bus journey we arrived at around 10am. We were really excited, we picked up a map and saw there was lots of shows to see and feeding times. First up we went to watch 'Elephants play time show' we both adore Elephants so got seats right at the front. The show was outstanding, there was 4 Elephants and they all came out waving their trunks and spraying water at the crowd. The Elephants showed us just how intelligent they really are, the zoo only trained the animals to do things that come naturally to them which is great. They showed how agile and well balanced they are by walking forwards and backwards along logs, they then showed us their strength and the best bit was when they showed us how cheeky they could be. There was one part that was so funny where it truly seemed like the Elephants were running the show not the keepers, we laughed the whole way through, total comedians. Walking around we saw Macaques, Howler Monkeys, Gibbons, Flamingoes, Sun Bears, Horned Lizards, Giant Tortoises- that being only a handful of what we saw. We stopped off at the snake area as Lloyd loves snakes then we carried on down to the 'Africa' feeding trail. There was 2 keepers and a narrative and they moved along each section feeding and telling us everything we could possibly want to know about the animals. They fed Wild Hogs, Meerkats, Cheetahs, Giraffes, Zebras, Rhinos and the highlight, Lions. We then managed to make it over just in time to see the White Tigers being fed - magnificent animals! We walked over to the 'Animal Kingdom fights back' show, here the zoo showed us how a Chimp can open a coconut far easier than man, then they showed us different types of bird that are in the rainforest and that are majorly effected by environmental issues. We then went over to Primate Country to see the Baboon's and other monkeys swing from tree to tree in huge complexes. We watched the Orangutan's be fed and got out photos taken. Finally we saw the Blind Mole Rat, Leopard, Jaguar and a few others before the heavens opened. We just say managed to see everything!The rain bucketed down, heaviest rain we have ever seen and it wasn't stopping. We were drenched through running for the bus. Back in the centre it wasn't raining and we got some Indian food at Lavender food court before bed.

Day 173 - We tried to Skype home when we woke up but the laptop charger had finally decided it was going to die. So we headed out in search of a new one, after a bit of research we found an IT mall not too far away and picked one up for a decent price. We then walked down to Bugis Street and had a look around the market stalls, it was very different to how my Dad had described it when he was last there. We bought some delicious blueberry ice-cream and left as there wasn't much to see. We carried on to a book mall in search of a Myanmar (Burma) guide book as we had decided it would be a good place to visit whilst in Asia. We wandered around for ages with no luck, a lot of the books were in Chinese or very old. We did find a shop selling the book we wanted but it was 3 times the price. From here we caught the subway to Ottram Park and walked up to Chinatown, it was very touristy and not like China at all, it was also very busy - over hyped! We managed to find a cheap food court upstairs in a shopping area, Lloyd got some Hokkien noodles and I got some Duck Noodles. Opposite was the Tooth Relic Buddhist temple so we had a look around there. Inside was very well looked after and had rows of people chanting along with the monks. We went upstairs to the roof garden which had a thousand mini statues of Buddha, quite repetitive. Then on the way back down we stopped at the Buddhism museum, it was so interesting to find out where the religion was born and its influences and differences across Asia (The amount we have learnt about Buddhism and the amount of pilgrim sights and temples we have been to is amazing). Back on the subway again, this time to Orchard street to check out the plantation residences on Emerald Hill - fab. If we lived in Singapore this is where we would like to live - beautiful grand Chinese designed houses with so much character. While checking out some more bookstores we stumbled by a ice-cream store called Stone-Cold creamery and couldn't resist. We ordered a 'peanut butter fudge cup cake' ice-cream and watched them male it. They got a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, mashed it in Peanut butter, Reece's peanut butter cups, caramel sauce and fudge, mixed it all together and served it. It was to die for! Back on the subway to the hostel we had to trek a further 30 minutes to buy our bus tickets to Melaka (Malaysia) and went for dinner. We stopped at the amazing Lai Huat seafood restaurant and ordered black pepper crayfish, chilli clams, veg, rice and a pot of fruity flower tea and it was all outstanding.

Day 174 - We spent most of the morning catching up on the blog, photos and planning out next stop. Once we were satisfied with the amount we had done we got dressed up - slightly, and headed to Raffles Hotel. We stopped off in Little India on the way for some lunch, a lovely banana leaf plate set which came with banana - nice surprise Once at The Raffles Hotel we wandered around the shops on the first and second floor. If you did not know Raffles Hotel is where the Singapore Sling was first invented and now going is a must do thing while in Singapore, so it is very touristy but we knew this before going. We walked along to the recreated bar (The Original is no longer standing) and after pretending to look at the menu we ordered two of (you guessed it) their finest Singapore Slings. The bar was very informal and the floor was covered in peanut shells (part of the recreation) we were given an unlimited supply of peanuts and the waiters came past now and again to sweep the shells from the table on to the floor. We were served our Slings (there is no bar service) and they we delicious - possibly the best cocktail I'v ever had. We made them last for as long as possible and then we were very quickly given the bill. So after the drinks, the added tax and the service charge the drinks turned out to be the most expensive thing we paid for in Singapore but worth it!! After we walked around the area and found a shopping mall where we bought a coffee to pass some time before the Marina Bay light show started. Just before sunset we walked over and took our seats. The show was beautiful no where near as tacky as the Hong Kong one although there did seem to be a lot of fountains and music on the other side of the bay. We walked back to the hostel and got an early night.