I forgot to mention that heading into Indonesia from Australia was not straight forward. As I went into check for my flight to Bali I had to prove I was leaving the country after 30 days. As you all know, I fly by the seat of my pants and had nothing booked, so they wouldn't let me check in. OI had 15 minutes before the check in closed and as this was my 2nd attempt to head to Bali. I couldn't afford to miss this flight. So as I had met Kel in Cairns and had an amazing time, despite only being there for little over a week, I decided to book tickets back to Cairns to explore some more after Indonesia.

So for a month I bummed around Cairns. I had met another guy from Cairns while in Bali, Tony, who came to Flores with me, so I had friends to do things with. So for a month I spent my time chilling out, paddle boarding, seeing a shark while paddle boarding, spent 5 days on a deserted island with Kel, Rain forest walks, waterfall swimming, paintballing, sitting in a rescue helicopter and so much more. I left Cairns with a heavy heart as I had made some great friends there and also makes me want to come back and spend more time in Australia.

So I then was on my way for part 2 of my SE Asia tours. I am not going to get to all the countries I originally wanted to go, but its just another excuse to get back out here. So cheap is not always better, but cheap is the way I travel. So I got some bargain flights to Singapore. However bargain means flying all over the place to get to where I wanted to go. I left Cairns at 7pm, I then had an 8 hour layover in Darwin, overnight so I couldn't go into the city to see anything as I got there after 9pm and needed to be back at the airport at 3am to check in for my flight to Kuala Lumpur as I was flying with a different airline. Despite feeling like I'm getting too old for this s***, I still outstand myself on my ability to sleep in any condition. So curled up on the airport floor I managed a few hours' sleep before my flight. I then had a quick transfer in Kuala Lumpur and finally arrived in Singapore at about 10:30 local time the next morning.

I was surprised with how easy it was to enter this country, 90 day visa for free, quick and easy, bags collected all within half an hour of me landing.

So Singapore is easy for the English traveller as everything is in English, despite the massive ethnic diversity and the currency is in dollars and is pretty much 1 for 1 on the aussie dollar which I have become more accustomed to thinking in, rather than British pounds. Jumped on their version of the tube and was heading to the hostel.

So Singapore is a busy city in a hot part of the world. It is over 30 degrees and as muggy as hell, so the boob sweat quickly accumulated while carrying my monster pack on my back. I am proud to say that when I left the UK my bag was a whopping 23kg, I have now managed to now get it down to below 17kg, but as anyone who has travelled knows, anything over 10kg for a prolonged time on your back feels like you have an elephant on your back!!

After a few wrong turns I managed to find the hostel but unfortunately I couldn't check in till 3pm and it was only midday. I'm shattered, I've slept on the floor and the plane only and I must smell like a hobo but that doesn't stop me from exploring the city for a bit.

So the cheapest way to eat in Singapore is the food courts and luckily the hostel is located near a good one. I am going to love eating here, as there is plenty of duck, noodles and dumplings. Perfect!!

So after some plastic duck noodles (the ducks hanging up, full duck and all, are glazed with something that makes them shiny and look plastic) I decided I wanted to walk around the city. Ok, so the map makes it look like it might be doable, but its like most cities, yeah you can walk it, but you are going to get bloody lost constantly due to the maps not being totally correct, or pavements closed due to maintenance, or the fact that you go underground to cross the road and find yourself in an underground shopping mall and get completely disorientated.

I was having a ball of a time going nowhere in particular. The place is my worst nightmare in some aspects as it is just mall and shopping centres after the next. They are massive complexes which you sometimes find you have to enter to get through to the next part or to the train stations and have found myself popping out at the most random locations.

I also am so glad that I have used the London Underground so many times, because if you've mastered that crazy system, then any other countries transport system is a piece of cake. I have decided this may be the best way to see the city as its just too big and confusing to get around it solely on foot. However, its not London and do not stand on the right, its actually weird how automatic it is to stand on the right of an escalator on the underground system, but here you need to be on the left, which I realised after I was found day dreaming and blocking a whole load of people trying to get past me. They are much politer though and didn't get shoved to move though.

I headed back to the hostel after 3 to check in and thought I'd have a little lie down, maybe an hour or so, but low and behold 4 hours later I wake up! So in this hoste,l I am staying in my own pod, its awesome, got a little screen over my door, you climb in and can close it behind you for privacy, got my own lights and power point, very cosy and a bargain price of £8 a night!!

So after a quick shower and finally brushing my teeth (yes I know, I'm gross) I head back out into night time Singapore. It's beautiful, all lit up, it reminds me of Melbourne at night which is also beautiful at night. I head to the Marina gardens and walk along the Bayfront and through all the sky scrapers lit up in the night. I managed to get lost repeatedly and headed back to the hostel before midnight which is when the trains stop. Think tomorrow I may try and hit some of the bars as it looks like such a busy and vibrant city every day and night of the week.

The next day I went for the tourist option so I could see more of the city, the hop on and hop off bus! This was better than jumping on the underground everywhere as I got to see the city from the top of the bus and could pick and choose where I wanted to get off. Again it just proved that this was a busy city but with so much to see. They have so many green spaces and even grow massive gardens and trees on their buildings. The structures must be so strong to enable trees to be growing 10 metres in the air and more. The heat is relentless and is hot all through the night, I could see myself sweating a few KG off, plus with the walking everywhere.

In the evening I headed again to the waterfront where they were having live bands playing outside along the marina and had food at a very popular hawkers fair. However I am starting to crave some quiet space but I am off to Malaysia in a few days, as there seems to be lots of buses that head there, so I'll be off in search of beaches soon as I haven't found any here.

I have been managing quite easily to feed my face for a good price, it makes other parts of the world shocking in what they charge for food. I have been managed to get a big plate of rice or noodles, with chicken or duck and a coke for about $5 or $6 a time, this is about £2.50 to £3 for a whole meal and I've been loving it. I will never get tired of noodles, rice or chicken, whatever country in the world I am.

I also love being back in a part of the world where you can cross the road anywhere you bloody well like, as long as you are good at dodging traffic or running fast enough before the car gets you. There are so many countries where you just can't or not allowed to do this, so I have been running willy nilly out in the traffic, and as some of my close friends know, I have a terrible inability to cross the road at the best of times, so I have been taking my life into my own hands with this new found freedom of road crossing!!

My time in Singapore is coming to an end, despite its cheap food and reasonable hostel prices, its actually more expensive than most other places in SE Asia, it is a booming city with so many jobs and shops, everything you could want or need but it's not for me, so I'm heading to Malaysia tomorrow, on a bus, which is supposed to take 4 hours, but we shall see.

Here is a random fact to leave you with, you can buy Singapore fried rice in the UK, but you can't buy it here!!!