Back in our favourite city Singpoare. We loved it that much, we just had to return! We had picked our hostel this time purely on location, for it's easy access to nightlife and the CBD. However, it wasn't quite as close as we had imagined, or as the taxi driver had described, when he said it was walking distance. Walking distance maybe, but with our huge rucksacks, when we were visibly sweating from every pore, and clearly wanted a taxi. After what felt like an hour's walk up the same long road, and all uphill, w made it to our hostel, which is clean and comfortable, and we headed straight to bed.
We were sharing a room with one other woman, and were habving a great nights sleep, until she had turned the air con down, and stole the remote! Needless to say, we both woke up freezing, and I actually had to put on trousers and a cardigan over my pyjamas and I was still cold. I managed broken sleep, but then when my alarm went off, all I wanted was a hot shower to take te coldness away. Annoyingly, there is only one shower on our floor, so had to settle for a cup of tea to warm my bones. I am in a tropical country, I should not be feeling this cold!!
Up and dressed in a semi bad mood, we headed out towards East Coast Park, where we spent the afternoon rollerblading. As soon as the blades (and knee, elbow and wrist pads) were on, we skated off, although very shakey at first I have to say. We soon built our confidence up, and we were speeding through the park, which is massive. Not only is it a huge park, by the sea, with ponds, cycle, skate tracks etc, but it is also home to a campsite, shopping centre, bowling alley etc. This place has everything, and McDonald's even caters for the active, and as well as having a drive thru, it has a skate thru!

That afternoon we paid a visit to the Toy Museum, which showcased a collection of toys from the past and present. I was unsure of quite what to expect, and was slightly disappointed to see them in just glass cases, but it bought about some good memories. En route we had spotted a sign which read 'free bar snacks between 5pm and 7pm'. Free stuff? We were there! And it would be rude not to have a cocktail at 5pm right? So, one cocktail later, and still no sign of the free food. Deeply annoyed, we aked for the bill. And then it came. Free pizza, so thin, it melted in your mouth. They are obviously are experts at doing this, as it immediately lured us into ordering more! We had planned to go out that evening, but found out it was ladies night, (so free drinks) the following night, so decided to postpone for a night. However, we were already dressed, and with no place to go. The gorgeous Swiss Hotel seemed like our only option. Going to the top floor didn't quite capture the same excitement this time around, perhaps because it was crammed full of people and we barely got to appreciate the view of the city.

We had planned to go to Changi Village the following day, to hire bicycles and explore the last pocket of Singapore which is untouched. As usual though. the weather was not onside, and it rained and rained. That is probably on eof the biggest frustrations, and yet the only one we have absolutely no control over. Instead we paid a visit to Orchard Road, by reccommendation, and stared vacantly into the shops. Many people had reccommend a visit here, yet without tonnes of cash to spend, window shopping certainly isn't fun. Instead we enjoyed a coffee shake, (the one affordable thing), and browsed at the amazing architecture instead. Later, we had a pleasant stroll along the river, once the rain had dried up and drooled at the riverside apartments, deciding which we would own when we finally live here.

That night we partied Singapore style, and sadly only managed four hours sleep. But sleep is sleep, and we were up at ten sharp, to get showered and breakfast before awaiting for our airport pickup at 11. The shuttle didn't arrive. And several times we enquired, only to be told it was on it's way and wouldn't be long. It was now almost eleven thirty, precicely when we should have been arriving at the airport. We couldn't possibly wait a moment longer, and jumped in a taxi to the MRT station. Probably the most annoying thing was changing trains, and knowing we were losing precious time. Sat on a bench at the MRT station, I leaned back to allow some weight off of my shoulders. I must have leaned a little too far however, and gracefully fell backwards off the bench, so that I was lying face up on top of my back, legs in the air on top of the bench, staring up, in the middle of an MRT station. Probably not my finest moment. We knew we were pushing it, but powered on until we arrived. Having changed tubes three times, the clock now ticking it was going to be hit and miss. It certainly didn't help matters that Singapore is such a huge airport. Out of breath, we made it to the desk, but the gate had been closed for a while now, and there was no way they were prepared to let us through.

We couldn't quite believe what had happened. One late bus, equalled a missed flight, and it also affected other parts of our trip, as we had booked places to volunteer teaching for a week, which had consequentially had to be cancelled, as we were working on such a tight schedule, and it would mean we weould miss out on other things we had already planned.We were dumbfounded, and spent the day traipsing between the three terminals in search of the cheapest flight the follwoing day. The only other flight that day was horrendously expensive, and even booking at the Crowne Plaza airport hotel for the night meant we were still saving a fortune to fly out with Air Asia the following day.

Pissed off didn't quite cut it, but then we saw our room at the PLaza and we were all smiles, The bathroom was see through (with a blind), the pool wads out of this world, with palm trees in it, just utterly amazing. We slept and slept and slept, until we absolutely had to get up and move the following morning for our flight. Perhaps not the worst thing that could have happened, but bloody annoying all the same.