We had a good flight from Tokyo to Singapore (about 7.5 hours) as the plane was far from full it was very comfortable. We arrived in Singapore and the heat is the first thing to hit you. Now I can do hot weather but Singapore's humidity is another thing! We were staying with Paul's friends Richard and Vana and their 2 kids Matthew (3 & 3 quarters!) and Ollie (8 months). They have a lovely house in the suburbs of Singapore which was just a short walk to the train station straight into the city.

Our first evening we went for dinner in an Irish restaurant on the beach front. The food and wine was good and it was nice to get to know Richard and Vana. Sitting looking out at the sea it looks like there is another city out there but it is all the ships sitting out waiting to come in. I have honestly never seen so many in all my life! We then went for a quick tour of the city and back home to get some rest.

The following day (Thursday) Paul and I ventured in to the city on the train. We started off at Raffles Place which is near the water. After getting our bearings we walked along the Marina to the Singapore Flyer (it is just like the London Eye but 3 metres taller!). We had a whole pod to ourselves as I played the "honeymoon" card. It was quite something to see the city from above. After the flyer we took the city tour bus and got to see all the Singapore sights. Orchard Road is really quite amazing - there are so many high end luxury shops. Needless to say Paul was very keen to keep me on the bus and not let me loose in those shops! I could easily spend a whole year's salary in about 2 shops!

That evening we went on the Night Safari. This is a night zoo as the theory is that lots of animals are nocturnal so it is best to observe them at night. I was really enjoying the safari until we went into the bat enclosure. Now I never thought I had a fear of bats, I have often seen the little ones flying about in Dublin but the Singapore fruit bats are MUCH larger than those little Irish ones. So I had a bit of a freakout which included screaming, crouching and hiding behind Paul and then feeling like my heart was about to pop out of my chest! I can laugh now as there was this youngish guy looking at me with complete shock - evidently he has never seen a Scottish woman have a freakout!

Once out of the bat enclosure and feeling a bit calm again we carried on with the rest of the evening which was really enjoyable.

The following day (Friday) we went back in to the city and went to some of the malls - shopping in Singapore is quite overwhelming! And that is saying something coming from me! There are lots of Malls underground which are all connected - it was actually quite nice to be walking in a cooler temperature - the humidity can be quite difficult at times.

We went to Raffles for our Singapore Slings and they were delicious. We also went across the street up to the 70th floor bar which had amazing view of the city. I am really enjoying these bars on the roof tops of buildings!

We also experienced a rain storm in the late afternoon and it was rain like you have never seen before. It is had been in Dublin we would all be underwater! Thankfully Singapore have very good drainage to cope with the rains.

In the evening we went to the Marina Sands Bay which is a massive hotel and casino which has a mall and restaurants underneath it. It is also home to the largest Louis Vuitton store - it even looks a bit like the Louvre with the glass coming out of the ground. There is a light show here which is reflected on the water and buildings. Pretty cool stuff!

Thoughts on Singapore

Firstly it is hot and humid and can be quite uncomfortable without air conditioning. It is a very clean and efficient city but I did find the people quite rude at times.

The food was good and the choice was plentiful. For being such a small nation the wealth is quite vast! I really enjoyed my few days here although we could find no Kit Kats!