Thankfully our flight was not cancelled this time and we arrived in Singapore at 7pm dead on time. As we stepped out of the fully air-conned airport the immense heat hit us and we breathed a sigh of relief... we can finally ditch the baggy jumpers and thick socks! We got a 30 minute taxi drive straight to our hostel for no more than a pound each, bargain! At the hostel the two young guys behind the counter were, well pretty hopeless... they couldnt find our booking reservation for ages and then they tried to over charge us, but we put them straight. That night we discovered the joys of sharing a dorm room with 30 other travellers... we requested for the light to be turned on at 10 past ten and when we got up to the room a man with the biggest reddest eyes you've ever seen started yelling at us waking up the rest of the room in the mean time. We learnt that it was unheard of to have the light on in that room, so we adapted ourselves to doing everything in the pitch black (naturally the area around our beds became a complete bomb site)

We went to Little India the next day, which is an area of Singapore with the sights, smells and sounds of India and we couldn't resist buying a curry from one of the little restaurants along the way, everyone around us was eating with their hands, but we havn't adjusted that much just yet! We found a huge shopping centre called Mustafas which was like a huge, totally crammed market where you could find anything you wanted for a very low price. Nyima found a top of the range camera and after about an hour of haggling and bargaining we managed to get it, fully accessorised, for just 150 pounds!

Then we went to Bugis Village, where much to Laura's delight we found a Topshop...prices were way too high for us though! Laura and Martha had their hair coloured for just 12 pounds so that they were no longer ginger...however for Laura this kind of backfired and she is now a fullly fledged red-head!!! Lucky for Martha she has a head of summery blonde locks.

That night we returned to the hostel to find that the owner had cooked a banquet of Indian food to say good bye to the full team of cricket players and coaches who had been staying there. So we took full advantage of this free food and drink and we stuffed our faces on lamb, chicken, rice, dahl, very spicy cous-cous and the biggest prawns you've ever seen! The owner and the rest of the staff took a shining to us and treated us like royalty... we even drank our breakfast water out of champagne glasses and were given 3 slices of toast instead of just two (the other guests were not impressed!) We bonded especially with the manager there called Rohan (as you may of noticed from his over dramatic messages on our board!) Nyima found her connection with him as they 'both' have Nepalese backgrounds and from then on he called her his sister! Martha for some reason was nicknamed little girl as he thought she was a small swedish girl tagging along with the big girls, and Laura was nicknamed the smiling monkey (no suprises there!) During the rest of our stay there we found out that the scary red eyed man from before (who had been living there for nearly 4 years) had been complaining about the "chatter girls" every day and kept asking when we would be leaving. To which Rohan pleasantly replied "You will not talk that way about my sister and they can stay here as long as they like!"

On Tuesday we went to Sentosa, an island off the coast of Singapore, a themed leisure resort with loads of activities to do... all of which we could not do due to our tight budget but we managed to have a great time on the tropical beaches. Laura and Martha dug the biggest hole with their bare hands which came up to Martha's waist (and Laura's knees), such an achievement! We then went to watch the free show known as 'Musical Fountain'. This is basically just a fountain display with lasers, it was quite impressive but the presenter was ridiculously over the top and annoying! We got there about 3/4 of an hour before it started, took our seats and waited... suddenly there was a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightening and in an instant the heavens opened! Everyone around us seemed to have been prepared for it, as was Nyima, and their umberellas went up instantly... however clever old Laura and Martha were not prepared and assumed that affter the rain had passed a few minutes later they could dry off in the tropical sun. Alas no! The monsoon rain stayed for at least 20 minutes and when it finally stopped there was no sun to be seen, just clouds and oncoming darknes of night!! During the rain, at which point Laura and Martha were well and truly soaked (resembling somone who had just stepped straight from a bath fully clothed), a helpful lady came up to us to sell a waterproof clear bin bag with a hood... good lot of help that would have been! They turned the offer down but took the advise of seeking shelter as the storm was getting more and more dangerous! After the show we took the train home, which was fully air-conned and did not help the 'getting warm after terrential rain' situation!

That night after a warm but pathetically dribbly shower we went downstairs to woo Rohan a little more, he ended up sleeping in our dorm that night to protect us from the red-eyed man.

The next day we bid our farewells and headed off to Malaysia... Speak to you soon x x