We left Australia excited to be taking on a new challenge and to see a different culture and a bit of history.  Where better to start than Singapore, a cocktail (cocktail, Singapore Sling, get it) of Indian, Chinese, Malay and British influences to name a few.

Singapore, at the tip of the Malay Peninsular,  became an important port during the 14th century until it was destroyed by the Portugese, but it's modern history began in 1819 when Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company founded a British port there.  During World War 2 the Japanese took control, then the British again until it become part of Malaysia in 1963, before finally being expelled in 1965 to become an independent republic.  The name Singapore (or Singapura) means City of Lions, as someone saw what they thought was a lion as they sailed by centuries ago.  It's made up of 77% Chinese, and about 10% of both Malays and Indians....in case anyone cared!

So we arrived on the 22nd and headed straight to our hostel, the Inn Crowd, which had been recommended to us.  Unfortunately they had expanded recently and we got put in the new building, which was dark, had no windows in our room, and was basically crap.  The next day we moved to the New 7th Storey Hotel which was OK, and where a sweet, old Chinese name nicknamed me Richard Dynamite (think I might use that). 

The plan for Singapore was shopping, relaxing, and eating great food, but we arrived and realised we have a lot to do in South East Asia so we couldn't spend too much time here, which is a real shame as it's a fantastic city and somewhere we could definitely work and live.  The food is great as the Indians have taken on Chinese and Malay ideas and vice versa, there is a Little India, Chinatown, and a colonial district which has loads of surviving British buildings, and generally has a really nice feel to it.

After spending most of the first night walking around looking for a new hotel we went for some dinner near our hostel in Little India, expecting to find a slap up curry.  Unfortunately we ended up eating off banana leaves in the only restaurant still open, where everyone ate with their hands and sitting next to dirty guys with their smelly feet out.  The meat was sooo sub-standard, and we basically had no idea what we were eating, but it certainly wasn't slap up!

We've definitely had enough of roughing it, so the next night we put on our best togs (which are holey, ill-fitting and faded but not as holey, ill-fitting and faded as most of our clothes) and went to Raffles Hotel, which is famous for inventing the Singapore Sling.

Every tourist who visits Singapore ends up at Raffles Hotel drinking a Singapore Sling, but we thought it would be a classy affair with people dressing up and that we would be in the hotel itself(trying not to sound like snobs but we are).  Instead we arrived at the front entrance and were herded off to the Long Bar, which we discovered was where all the tourists are sent and is barely even in the hotel. 

We ordered our over-priced drinks (about 20 Singapore Dollars or 7 GBP), and the waiter asked us where we wanted to sit.  Luckily there were no seats so we said we'd be back, but then realised there were a few bars in the hotel, and that this one was for the commoners. 

We went back to the front entrance and asked for another bar, this time being sat in the Writers Bar, just by the elaborate lobby of the hotel, where there were only three other older and classier couples enjoying the ambience of the hotel and the gentle, tinkling of ivory from the pianist (I think the occasion warrants the use of posh speak!).  We even got nuts!

Really enjoyable once away from the tourists, and even though it is a bit embarassing asking for the same drink as every other tourist (although we asked for a menu to pretend we were considering other drinks), the Singapore Sling itself is really nice.  If you go though make sure they don't sit you with the riff-raff!  On the way out we walked passed the Bar and Billiard Room, which is all leather chairs and la-dee-da's, but the Writer's Bar is just as nice.

Whilst in Singapore we also visited the Asian Civilisations Museum, which has some history on Singapore, South East Asia and the religions of South East Asia, as well as thousands of arterfacts.  You could spend about a week in this place and still not see everything.

We were also lucky to be there during the Chinese New Year celebrations (the Year of the Pig), which is great as they celebrate for about a month with different parades and events all the time.  On one of our nights there was a parade down Orchard Street, which is possibly the most famous street in Singapore.  There were a number of different carts with dancing which went on for a few hours.

Finally we visited the Night Safari, which is a bit like Jurassic Park in that you sit in a tram and get driven through all these different enclosures at night, but you can also walk around to see the animals.  It is quite open as most of the animals are in enclosures which have water or ravines between us and them, so it's not like watching animals in cages, although they don't have acres to run around in.  Some of the animals can walk right up to the tram though.

The highlights were (as always) the elephant, lion, tiger, rhino, giraffe and zebra enclosures, but also the flying fox enclosures, which are basically big bats but one of them had managed to get out and flew right by our heads as we watched it's mates through the glass.  There's also a fruit bat enclosure which you can walk through, and they fly right around you, and they had gharial crocodiles, which are these strange crocs which sit there with their mouths open all the time.  Allison liked the cute mouse deer.  Finally being Chinese New Year they had a dragon dance, and also a fire show which was quite cool.  It's probably a bit cruel though how they put some animals opposite their predators!

On our last day we visited Chinatown and the Chinese markets, and realised that maybe the food in SE Asia might not be all that we thought it would be, as the locals all seem to eat chicken feet and pigs organs...mmmm.