We had a good time in Singapore - it was the start of a two month long hectic schedule. I'm writing this from Rotorua, New Zealand. In two days we fly to Rio and then straight onto Salvador for the Carnaval - so the pace is set to continue.

We had a great time in Singapore thanks to Tasneem and Joakim, our couchsurfing hosts. As with all the people we've stayed with over the last 6 months, they gave us a glimpse of real life and used their local knowledge to help plan our limited time. Normally, if left to our own devices, we spend a worrying amount of time walking huge distances without getting anywhere - like in a nightmare.

They also provided us with our first hot shower in months, which despite it being in the mid thirties, went down a treat.

After the chaos of Bangkok it was nice to arrive in Singapore airport, where you can make free local calls from the pay phones and a concierge type chap in full uniform shows you to a taxi fitted with a touch-screen tourist information terminal.

It was nice to be in a car driving through spotless streets of other cars with 'soka' pitches seemingly on every other block and even nicer when we arrived at our host's gorgeous flat on the outskirts of the city.

And after we had the shower, we went through our options for the next couple of days and while they went off for dinner at her sisters, we headed into Little India for a curry. It was at some point during the month-long celebrations of the Chinese new year and on the way we passed a variety show - featuring at the time, some scantily clad children singing and dancing along to loud pop music. We skipped that and headed on to curry land. It was great - a real taste of home.

The next day started with a breakfast of slices of butter on toast dipped in half boiled eggs. Then a cup of 'bubble tea' which consisted of powdered ice tea with tea flavoured Haribo at the bottom - drunk through a thick straw. Had a nice little walk back to the flat through a festive Chinese market and some apartments that, as with most of the buildings and infrastructure we saw, looked brand new and worked so well - but was also a bit sterile. If we lived here we'd end up super health freaks - expensive alcohol plus football pitches and multi gyms on every corner. Luckily there's lots of ice cream, but it's mainly gelato - so we're safe on that one too.

After breakfast we caught a short ferry to a beautiful island called Pulau Ubin where we achieved one of our life long ambitions - riding a tandem bicycle. We took in a bit of rainforest, maybe heard some monkeys, definitely saw some Fan Palms, and ate some sea food.

Back to the flat for a power nap - then over to Arab Street to visit the premises of their recently purchased Swedish Cafe and have a look round some beautiful streets set around the mosque. Afterwards we went for a pasta dinner at one of the massive fancy shopping malls, gelato for desert and then a delicious donut eaten on the 65th floor over looking the city.

We had a look round some very posh bars, more shopping centres, art galleries, theatres, libraries and the esplanade. On the way home we saw the oldest bridge in Singapore which was built in and shipped from Scotland sometime in the 1800's and - to cap it all off, Joakim took a photo of us on the harbour, to be used on the Valentine's Day issue magazine cover he was designing. We slept like baby logs after all that.

Next morning, to Emily's joy, we managed to find some time to do a bit of electronics shopping. Then we said goodbye to Tas - wishing we could have stayed with them a bit longer and once we arrived at the airport wishing we had left a bit sooner! It had free massage, free playstation games, a swimming pool on the roof, spa, free trips round Singapore (for those with extended transfers), free local calls and of course free internet. But with all that on offer we only had time for a chair massage and a look in the Prayer Room - that's another lifelong ambition achieved - I'd say it was a bit of a let down.

Sadly, there was one other ambition left unfulfilled, to drink a Singapore Sling in Singapore - but I'm sure we'll be back for more.