BANG and the humidity hits you! Fortunately we were only outside the airport for 30 seconds before getting into an Air Con taxi. We arrived at our hotel (very nice by the way!) and in true Steadman style, dumped our bags and went out for a wander . We walked along Orchard Road and couldn't believe the shops and malls. It was amazing, every brand you can think of and they all had shops the size of Asda (a bit of an exaggeration but you get the idea!).We found a bar with a happy hour and sat down taking in our surroundings, what a change from Perth. We went into one of the malls to find a restaurant and struck it lucky with Din Tai Fung, which we found out later had been voted a top 10 restaurant by the New York Times! Not knowing what we were doing or ordering we managed to save face just in time by not putting the dish of ginger in our tea, realising, after watching the locals, you add vinegar to it and eat it with your dumplings! The food was amazing and cost next to nothing so very content we headed back to our hotel.
Our first full day and we were up and out and after a fruit juice for breakfast we jumped on the MRT and made our way to the Changi Museum. The Museum was at the site of the WWII Prisoner of War camp where Mark's Grandad was held so it was a very thought provoking morning for both of us. Afterwards we headed back to town, had a late lunch and went down to Marina Bay to book our tickets for the Singapore Flyer the next day. We decided to go to China Town for dinner and we weren't disappointed. It was bustling and colourful and we bought dinner from the street stalls and it was amazing and cost next to nothing. After a busy day we had one beer for the road in the hotel (whilst enjoying a Singapore band doing hits from the 80's!) and then bed.
Birthday Alert! Birthday Alert! The day started with another fresh fruit juice and then after changing some money for our next trip we walked to the Botanic Gardens - probably the best yet and the Orchid Garden was breathtaking. We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant in the gardens and then hopped into a taxi to the cable car station over to Sentosa Island. It was really busy with locals and tourists as it was Saturday but we sat and had a drink in the Skybar then went up the Skytower. We then went on the skyride down to the beach and back before getting the cable car back and heading to the hotel to change for dinner. Even though the birthday girl had had lots of treats already, they kept coming - Birthday cake from the hotel in our room, Singapore Slings at Raffles, a trip on the Singapore Flyer and then dinner at Seafood Paradise (where we avoided the live frogs but did have some amazing seafood!). After dinner it took ages to find a taxi but we got back to the hotel and and had one last drink to see the Birthday out.

Sunday was our last day before joining the group so we made the most of our hotel and stayed in bed all morning. After we checked out we did a bit more shopping (new walking sandals/trainers for both of us) and went back to Din Tai Fung for more dumplings (feeling like pro's and chortling at the tourist types!). We picked up our bags after lunch and got a taxi to our new hotel in Little India. We were pleasantly surprised as we'd expected the worst but the room was far nicer than any hostel we've stayed in. We decided to go for a walk before our group meeting and met Vicky outside the hotel who would be in our group (Hoorah! we knew that there would be at least one nice person) and then had a wander around the streets. It was such a change from the rest of Singapore but the sights and smells were great. Later on we met our tour leader, Pete, who seemed really nice and the rest of the group clicked straight away (we were so please when Pat & Jeff suggested a quick beer before dinner!). We ate together in the back alley of a restaurant and the food came out on a tray covered in brown paper but we got stuck in and it was one of the best curries we've had and also the cheapest meal so far - Brilliant! We all got on like a house on fire straight away and had a few more drinks at a hostel before making our way back to the hotel. We knew after that evening that whatever we did and saw on this trip it was going to be alot of fun. Malaysia here we come!