Day 135-136

We woke up early as our airport transfers was picking us up at 0830, we were pretty tired as we had been making pasties and watched some of the opening ceremony of the olympics. But Mel kindly made us a bacon and egg sandwich which set us up nicely for the day.

Our flight from Auckland Airport to Sydney went smoothly considering all the problems Qantas had been having. However, on arrival at Sydney we were told that our connecting flight to Singapore had been cancelled due to technical faults. Qantas put us up in a nice hotel where we enjoyed a lovely meal and a hot bath.

We were put on the next available flight which was at 0800 on the 10th August. They gave us a breakfast voucher at the airport so all in all we weren't too bothered to be delayed.

They checked us into the extra leg room seats and we made the most of the free alcohol too.

We caught a taxi to our hostel and we were a bit disturbed that we had to show him the way. Thankfully Lorna had written down some directions. When we pulled up to our hostel we realised that we were in the heart of the red light district next door to BJ's Massage Parlour. The hostel itself left alot to be desired but we've been told that it's pretty good by Asian standards - well what can you expect for 12 pound a night?!

We probably should've changed first as the humidity was crazy and we were roasting in jeans and a t-shirt. The temperature doesn't fall below 20 degrees and it has been around 25 degrees but with the humidity it feels like over 40.

We went on the MRT (Underground) to the City as we were staying just outside in Kallang. Straight off the MRT we walked into Suntec City Mall, which had every shop you could ever dream of and then some more.

Our first stop from here was the Fountain of Wealth, which is recognised by the Guiness Book of Records as the World's Largest Fountain; although it was switched off due to The National Day on the 9th. As we went under the underpass we saw about 50 kids breakdancing, which was entertaining. On the other side we entered the War Memorial Park. As we walked around it we saw the Tan Kim Seng Fountain and the Cenotaph.

On the Esplanade we saw the Singapore Flyer, the Dome Building, a silent protest on several topics and the Merlion Park.

From here we took a loop viewing Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, the Art House, Old Parliament House, Singapore Cricket Club, the Supreme Court, City Hall and St Andrews Cathedral. In the Cathedral we joined the service and we were surprised how many Asian Christians there were. From here we went for some dinner at the Hawker stalls on the Esplanade. Where we ate Mee Goreng.