A lie in on the last day, after a good nights' sleep, which I really needed. Been struggling to adjust to the new timezone.

Caught up on my blog in the morning, after actually making it to breakfast!! Then had my City Discovery Tour at 1.30pm. Found out that this half tour is incredibly popular, the coach was completely full (which was a bit of a shocker after half full buses for the last 2 tours) and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Not with Singapore, but with the tour itself. Because they include quite a lot, you spend a fair bit driving and not very much time at each stop!

We started out at the main harbour/marina area in town, which used to be the old docks, but has become an entertainment leisure area now that the docks have moved, and we had a 20min stop to photograph the Singapore Mascot, the merlion, (head of a lion, body of a fish for those of you who were wondering) and some of the skyline. Finally got to get a photo of the hotel which I kept glimpsing, but never getting a chance to photo - have a look at the album - it is a hotel, with 3 towers and a curved ship balanced atop the towers, which functions as it's roofgarden/restaurant/pleasure area. It costs about S$10 to get up and about S$100 for dinner there.

I have to say, Singapore is not afraid of architecture, apart from the social housing, no two towers or buildings are alike, but actually none of them are gratuitously ugly like they are in London - sure there are some huge glass and steel towers, but they just don't seem ugly the way they are at home - maybe it's the sunshine!!

From the harbour, we drove past some of the old colonial buildings, which have all been preserved, as Singapore is conscious that it's history is pretty short, so it preserves wherever possible, but we didn't get to stop and see them or photo them. Then we went to China town and stopped off at the oldest Chinese temple - erected on the spot where the first Chinese settlers landed! Again, no interior photos, so not much to see. Quite a nice old temple, but not very big.

From there we made the obligatory stop at a factory so they could try & flog us something - though to be fair, that's the first one I've been too. It was a gem factory where they specialised in making pictures out of gems - a bit gaudy for me and it was flippin' expensive!!

From there to the Orchard garden, which I discovered was just around the corner from my hotel. We had 40 mins, but could definitely have spent all day there, especially as it was in the Botanical gardens - and yes I took far too many orchid photos! Bonus, got a picture for Mum & Dad - thought I would have to go without, as I've seen no real typical tourist shops up until that point!

From there we went to Little India, as our last stop and I have to say I was disappointed, but in a way not surprised. Little India was the first place I had seen litter on the streets, flyers on walls and not beggars exactly, but people rummaging through bins for discarded food. The whole place looked shabby and run down and uncared for - I'm not trying to be racist, but what is it about Indians that they do this, take no pride in their surroundings? In the all of the areas of Singapore I had been to I hadn't once seen a single bit of litter, yet there it's covering the streets, no beggars or street hawkers or anything - but there people rooting through the litter and scavenging - it was a real disappointment. Chinatown wasn't immaculate, but it was messy rather that dirty. We had at least 20 mins at Little India, but after a 5 min fag break, I went back to the bus!

Got back to the Hotel in time to get the Shopping Shuttle and decided to treat myself to the new camera, as the humidity is making my old one somewhat tempremental - new one is waterproof, shockproof etc and with the Tax Free rebate, is cheaper than back in the UK - now just need to work out how to use the thing!!

Did some more blog catching up and then early to bed, as have a 6am pick up for the flight to Bali!