Good morning from Singapore!

                                            Got in yesterday morning at some stupid hour of the day what with the time difference. Had a almighty struggle on the MRT (like the tube) with our backpacks. Never felt pain like it! Trust us to arrive in the morning rush hour! We took up about three peoples spaces. Kirsty found the least painful way to carry her back pack is to be bent at a 90 degree angle. Julie just hung off the hand rails-we must have looked a real sight! Plus we were stinky and tired. Anyway one 30minute journey and a treck across a field later we are in The Hive hostel. Clean, friendly and with hot water (not that we need it-it is so humid here and because of the pollution, no sunshine). We're are in a shared mixed dorm which we found hilarious when we arrived (think serious lack of sleep made us slightly crazed!) and both on the top of good old Ikea bunks. Intially tried to get some sleep but that was not happening so had a shower and went to explore. First we went to City Hall MRT station which is where the Raffles Plaza is and where we are going today for a Singapore Sling! Had some food (Julie had spring rolls then black pepper beef and noodles. Kirsty had shrimp in beancurd skin and the same beef-very nice but they seem to like putting slimey fried eggs on everything!) We then had a look around the mall thats attached to the station (plus it had air-con). Just like anyother mall really but did have some cute stores. Katie (someone we met in the hostel) has told us that in one mall she went to here its just like being back at home. Its got a M&S, Monsoon (just think of the tax free shopping here mummy Hart!) and loads of other shops from home. Next stop was China town as they had a festival. As we came out the MRT it was really cool- red lanterns all up and down the street, lots of little stalls selling various things and most importantly a camera shop!!! Julie went in to see if they had any ideas on how to upload pics and how much memory she had left. So we are sorted! We just have to get the photos on a CD then we are good to go and you all can see all the amazing things we've seen! Its cheaper to do that in Thailand than here so your gonna have to wait a little bit longer but at least we know how to do it! After that we got totally knackered and decided to head back to the hostel for the night. Spent the rest of the night getting up to date with the website and getting our washing done!

So today we are gonna go and have a drink in Raffles and do the night safari so we'll tell you all about that tonight!

Raffles was very cool. As we walked in we were crunching on peanut shells which was a bit weird-the done thing is to throw your empty shells on the floor. Luckily the peanuts were free cos we both ate about our weight in them and had a small mountain of shells beside us when we got up to leave! Obviously we ordered the famous Singapore Sling (like every other tourist in there!) and it was lovely-especially at S$18.5 which is about 7 pounds. Julie and I shared a drink cos, you know, we are offically backpackers now.

Next it was onto the night safari which was excellent. It was basically a zoo but you get around on a tram thing and get off at several stations and go exploring yourself. Saw leopards, elephants, giraffes, bats(we had to walk through their enclosure) and loads of other ones. We also saw a show where the animals would do little tricks.

All in all a good day had by all.

Next its off to KL, Malaysia. We're getting there by train which should be interesting.We'll let you know howe it goes.

Love and miss you all

Kirsty and Julie

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