SO! It has been a long time since we made an update!

Our last night in Siem Reap was very relaxed. We all went for a late westernish dinner as the Cambodian food was getting a bit much. By westernish i mean jessica had a pasta that still had coconut milk in it - very tastey but very rich. I had 'pesto' which was more just pureed spinach and cream pasta and emily had the cheesiest pasta we have ever seen. (i guess this is how they do it in cambodia)

We had an early rise the next day by hopping in our tuk-tuk at 5 45am. It's safe to say that Siem Reap airport is one of the most rubbish airports on the planet with a single over-priced cafe ritazza where we were forced to get something for breakfast.

We arrived in Singapore and headed to where we would get the train. Daniel had kindly allowed us to stay at his (Thank you!!!!!!) and as we were trying to get hold of him or Stew we ended up settling for a Burger King lunch! Once we got some directions from Stew we got on the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) to Aljunied where Daniel lives. Of course we managed to get lost and of course the sun was beating down. Walking around for probably an hour with our backpacks was a bit uncomfortable! We finally found the Kondo and Daniels housemate, Ben, let us in. First thing we did, went for a swim! VERY enjoyable!

We got showered and went to meet Daniel at Blu Jaz in Bugis. Lindsey, Stew and Rea. Opening the menu was a bit of a shocker! As we were used to our lovely 4 dollar meals and 50cent mugs of beer, we were a bit shocked when everything cost closer to 8 or 9 dollars and a mug of beer was about 8!!! Emily and I enjoyed some Mango Juice (actually too much mango juice) and Jessica hit the wine - another little surprise when the bill came! This is when we knew, we werent in Cambodia anymore! Welcome to the city :)

The next morning we allowed ourselves a little lie in and got up at 10. We showered and got dressed and headed out for the city. Even though this is meant to be Singapore's dry season the heavens were open and it was pissing it down. Singapore is definitely a bit posher than Siem Reap so we did look a bit stupid walking around in our now smelly ponchos. We headed to the Newton food court for lunch. We were lucky as some local man could tell we were lost so let us follow him! The hawker centre wasnt so lively yet as it was only 11 45 (we had more of a brunch). Luckily our MRT to Orchard opened right into the mall where we managed to spend a number of hours walking around!

The mall was followed by a walk around the botanical gardens which was really nice. We then headed back to ION (the big mall on Orchard) and decided we didnt want to go meet the others for dinner in our stinky clothes we had been walking around all day. We went from shop to shop looking for something to make our wardrobe a bit more fashionable (as singapore is actually very fashionable...we of course didnt pack for this!) We all finally found a top/dress from the sales racks of various shops. We then headed to meet Stew to see a band, Jalabee Cartel - Awesome music. We then went to Lau Pa Sat (another Hawker centre) where we enjoyed Laksa, Tay Koew, Chicken and Beef Satay, Pork Dumplings, Prawn Noodle Soup and finally a Banana Prata for desert - what a feast.

Thursday we headed for the Singapore Zoo. We would have wanted to grab some breakfast to take on the way but it is actually against the law to eat or drink on the MRT.......this was one of the many laws that we found quite interesting while we were in Singapore! We met a lovely/bit odd woman called Nora who asked us where we were from and insisted on taking a photo with us to add to her collection of photos with random people in different places (each to their own i suppose). The zoo was very impressive and avoided having any cages (except for the big cats) which makes the zoo very 'real'. Most of the enclosures were nice and big which i assume allows the animals to be more comfortable. We walked around the zoo for about 6 hours seeing just about every possible animal! We sat and watched the chimpanzees for a good 40 minutes which was hilarious (well.....i actually fell asleep for about half an hour as the walking around and the heat had tired me out.) Emily and Jess said it was really funny though! We had imagined the ages of each of the chimps and what their roll of the family was. The ages ranged from the little 6 year old brother to the 9 year old who liked to irritate the 13 year old. We also saw some interesting grooming being down between mama and papa.........dont worry, you'll get to see a picture some time soon.

After the zoo we headed to city hall - the home of the Raffle's Hotel! We had a little wander round. The building is old but very beautiful. One day we all will come back when we are rich and get a suit. We headed for Long Bar - where the Singapore Sling was invented! We debating on whether we were going to waste the money on getting a drink each and finally settled..........when in Rome! Daniel, Lindsey and two of Lindseys friends who are on a year long tour came to meet us before we headed for the Swissotel where we went up to the New Asia Bar to get a view of the city at night - Beautiful.

As we had eaten a million peanuts at Long Bar (where we could just throw the peanut shells on the ground...bit of a strange concept) we werent too hungry. Daniel took us to the Fairmont (where he works) where we had a few drinks by the swimming pool. We grabbed a subway on the way back which we munched when we got home before bed.

We woke up on Friday to head to little India. We only left the house by around 11 so got to the Tekka Market and Food Court just in time for brunch :). Jessica and I shared a vegetarian Indian dish and probably the most amazing Mutton Steak Currey we have every tasted. We then had a little wander and ended up in the Arab quarter which was covered in cute little streets with colourful building. There was also a beautiful mosque.

We then headed back to Daniels to grab our bags and head for the airport. The flight to KL was quick and painless (airborne for about 10 minutes). When we arrived we got stamped into the country and found a bus/train service to the city centre. We took a taxi to where Lisbeth Barclay offered us her place to stay (which we really appreciate! Thank you :D). We found it, dropped our bags and went to find some food. We found a little restaurant (Secret Recipes) where we got some satay, noodle soup and Tom Yum Kung...we also treated ourselves to two slices of cake to share for desert :). We enjoyed our dinner at the lovely flat before watching a movie and then heading to bed!

I was convinced we were meant to be leaving tomorrow night however i discovered it was only monday! i found out that our train to Surat Thani would arrive at 2am so we figured this isnt a great option. We have found a pretty cheap flight that will bring us straight to Koh Samui on monday morning :). Not only does this allow us to avoid an overnight train, but we get 2 extra days on the beach! :D

As we are paying hourly im gonna have to get off, but we'll hopefully get an update up sooner than later!

Emma