After a seamless and comfortable transfer from Perth to Singapore we passed through immigration and collected our bags within 10 minutes of getting off the plane and within another 5 minutes we were in a taxi to the hotel. As we had arrived at night we thought it better just to get a taxi rather than try to conquer Singapore's transport system in the dark! A short taxi ride saw us arrive at our hotel and only once we had checked into our room did Michael inform me that our hotel was right in the middle of the red light district!!! He hadn't wanted to tell me earlier as he knew I would worry about what we might find however it was pretty obvious when we got out of the taxi that something wasn't quite right so I was glad he knew what it was! The hotel shared the street with a variety of brothels some with Chinese women outside and others had Indian woman in full head to toe traditional Indian dress all perched on oil drums like a collection of exotic dolls! For the ones who didn't have a brothel to call home they were all gathered in small groups along the roads edge. I must admit I found it a little intimidating at first however for obvious reasons they were no more interested in us than we were them and so none of them even lifted their eyes as we got out of the taxi. Location aside out hotel was clean and comfortable and we even had a couple of English channels on the TV. That first evening we were happy just to relax in the room and leave the exploring to the daylight of the next morning. Our entertainment for the evening came from the "guest" our neighbour had purchased from downstairs as all we could hear over the sound of the TV was a symphony of ridiculous fake yelps of pleasure as she literally screamed the house down it was like something from a carry on film and all I kept saying was how can that man think that woman is for real it was just so ridiculous. It definitely gave us a chuckle or two and was a great introduction to crazy Asia the continent of all things weird!!
The next morning we were desperate to get out and explore this amazing city and thankfully outside had calmed down a little so we were able to make our way to the station to catch a train into town. Having not eaten anything since our dinner on the plane the night before we were both feeling pretty famished so the first port of call on arrival to the town was breakfast in The Raffles Centre. Desperate for a bacon sandwich or even some scrambled egg you can imagine our horror when at the first food court everyone having breakfast seemed to be eating noodles and a variety of fish and meat laden broths?? We walked around unable to believe that this is what people over here have for breakfast, there wasn't even the hint of a mcmuffin and even though we were both hungry we both agreed we weren't that hungry! Feeling a little disheartened and about to leave empty handed we passed a little place where I happened to see the word toast on the menu to be more specific kaya toast and whilst neither of us had a clue what it was it came with a side of soft boiled eggs so how offensive could toast be? It was the closet thing to breakfast we had seen so it had to be worth a try! As it turns out kaya toast is a classic asian dish and apparently a must try when your in Singapore. It is basically very thin slices of bread toasted until very crispy then spread with a sweet jam made from eggs, sugar, coconut and milk and finally the whole thing is sandwiched together with a thin slice of butter. As I mentioned earlier the whole thing is then served with a couple of soft boiled eggs and either coffee or tea. It was actually the perfect choice and we were both delighted that we had been able to find a must try classic for our first breakfast in this new country. It was very sweet and with the eggs it made for a very rich and filling start to the day and whilst I definitely couldn't have it every morning it was lovely given how hungry we both were. Even the tea and coffee was an experience as given their own way the Singaporeans would make your tea or coffee with sugar and condensed milk which would have been far to sickly and sweet for my tea however Michael took it in his coffee and it was actually really nice as it took away some of the bitterness from the coffee! After stuffing ourselves full with toast and eggs we were ready for a closer look around the shopping centre and we couldn't believe our eyes as we looked around us to see Marks and Spencers, Topshop and River Island if I hadn't known better I could have been transported back home as these are shops I havent seen for 10 months. Even though I couldn't buy anything there was a good hours entertainment just looking round the shops at all the familiar labels, my favourite being the food section of M&S with all the delicious biscuits and treats I usually associate with home. To anyone watching us we must have looked ridiculous cracking ourselves up over a packet of M&S percy pigs!! (if you don't know what they are you must make it your challenge to try them as you wont be disappointed)! After walking around a few of the shops in the centre we were ready to head outside and take in some of the sights. Our first stop was the famous Raffles Hotel (where the money lives when they visit Singapore). It is also here that the hotels long bar invented the Singapore Sling cocktail which we discovered you can purchase and enjoy in you own "souvenir" glass for a mere $25. The hotel itself is beautiful with its crisp white exterior and cute shutters on every window it is immaculate and perfectly maintained right down to the last flowerbed. It has the most calming influence as you wander around the courtyard and public areas I could have happily occupied one of the tables around the bar and sat supping Singapore slings all day! We had only been outside for about an hour however it was so muggy and hot that we were already seeking out an air conditioned haven to cool off. We stumbled into another one of Singapore's many shopping centre's Funfan an unbelievable 5 storey mall selling nothing but electrical goods. It was lovely to have a break from the heat and get some water to rehydrate and whilst we were there we had a look around some of the shops. After about half a dozen it became clear that all the shops pretty much sold the same three things, laptops, cameras and giant TV's and once you have seen one 100 inch TV you have really seen them all and as we were not wanting to buy anything ourselves it soon got pretty monotonous and it was time to move on but fascinating to see an entire mall filled with hundreds of the same type of shop. We decided next to take in a self guided walk around the government buildings including the city hall, the old and then new court houses as well as some war memorials and decorative gardens before finding ourselves down at the riverside which houses many of the cities museums and galleries. We followed the course of the river through the town ending finally at Marmion Park which wasn't so much a park as a giant water feature. When the city was being put together many years ago the city officials wanted a figure that would typify and represent their people and after months of brainstorming the powers at be decided that the figure was to be the head of a lion with the body and tail of a fish?? The result being a giant lion/fish fountain that guards the city from the mouth of the river. By the time we completed the walk we were ready for another cool down and our sanctuary came in the form of another shopping centre called Marina Square. This was without a doubt the most impressive centre we had been in so far. An elaborate network of underground tunnels lined with thousands of shops and restaurants. There must have been miles and miles of retail space and you could easily get completely lost wandering around. The attention to detail was amazing with coordinated marble and beautiful water features throughout it was a great place to spend an hour or so even if you weren't looking to buy anything. We were happy to find a café, get a couple of iced teas and watch to world go by whilst resting our weary legs. Without even realizing we somehow found ourselves in a tunnel that took us from one shopping centre into a completely new one called Suntec which as you might imagine had yet more shops however this one also had a fantastic food court with lots of stalls selling loads of strange and frankly intimidating foods with guide book in hand it took us quite some time to decipher what things were as the words look nothing like the English equivalent but it was fun to challenge ourselves and to try to get some ideas as to what we wanted for dinner. By this stage we had been on our feet for over 8 hours and we were ready for a rest and something to eat which posed quite a significant challenge in itself. From reading the guidebooks we had decided we wanted to get dinner at one of the many Hawker Stalls that can be found all over the city. A hawker stall is basically a wee cart set up outside selling either one specialty dish or at the most 4 different dishes. The food is prepared and cooked right in front of you fresh and it is significantly cheaper than eating in a restaurant. Just a short walk from the shopping centre was a collection of hawker stalls known as Makansutra Gluttons Bay and according to our guide book they were amongst the best hawker stalls in Singapore. When we arrived it was pretty busy so we were able to browse the stalls and have a good look at what they were selling. I have to admit that whilst Michael was excited about eating here I was feeling a little intimidated by the whole thing and very much our of my depth. Eventually we decided to start with a sharing platter of 10 chicken satay sticks served with little cubes of sticky rice and a peanut dipping sauce. The chicken was delicious and to see the guy cooking them to order on his smoking charcoal BBQ was great. After managing to find something we liked we were feeling a little braver and ready to try something else. Not fish head curry brave but definitely something a little more adventurous. We settled on a dish called Roti Prata which is a south Indian flatbread which starts life as a small ball of dough however with a few deft flicks of his wrist the chef turns the dough ball into a thin sheet and tosses it onto a griddle pan to fry until its golden brown. These breads are then served with a side dish of delicious curry which the bread is dipped in. It was very tasty and with 3 breads between the two of us it was also really filling so we didn't need to brave the stalls again for another dish, we were very satisfied with our choices! After dinner and a good rest of our feet we had a walk along the riverside to get some great pictures of the city skyline at night before making our way back to the hood and our hotel!

The following morning we decided to check out what is considered to be the main shopping district Orchard Road. As the name would suggest it is basically a very long road with numerous large shopping centres where you can find everything and anything you could possibly want or need. We had a wander around a couple of the centres however after the first couple we really felt we had seen and experienced all that orchard road had to offer the traveller who had no money to spend! In my opinion the shopping centre's we had visited the previous day were grander and more impressive however we did amuse ourselves with a quick tour around the fancy centre that houses Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton and Channel to name a few. We were spending the afternoon and evening in the cities Chinatown however before catching the train out there we went to one of the many food centres for a spot of lunch. The food centre was 100% asian cuisine so as usual it took us about an hour to decide what we actually wanted to eat and we started by sharing a chicken and Chinese sausage soup which caused me to have a small fit when floating on top of the soup was what looked like either the liver or the kidney of the chicken! Once that was scooped out and I had dared Michael to eat it the soup was pretty tasty if a little spicy due to the copious amounts of chilli floating around in it. After the soup another 10 minutes of walking around acquired us a chicken, soy and noodle dish which again was very tasty indeed and more than hit the spot! A short train ride saw us arrive at the hustle and bustle of Chinatown and with guide book in hand we set off on the cultural walking tour which started in the Chinatown street market which was 3 streets lined with colorful stalls selling everything you could ever want in red and gold as well as loads of other pretty and colorful trinkets and souvenirs. Even though we weren't looking for anything it was still one of the nicest markets to get lost in. We next took a tour of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple home to Asia's largest stupa (Buddhist statue) made of 420kg of pure gold and decorated with 201 rubies and encircled by 35 statues of Buddha it makes for a pretty impressive sight, in fact the entire temple is an impressive sight and one of the most photographed in Singapore. Next stop was the Sri Mariamman Temple the oldest Indian temple in Singapore built in 1827. Unfortunately we hadn't arrived at the time when any of the ceremonies were taking place however we were still able to take a walk around ourselves and whilst not as impressive as the previous temple it was still worth a look and the grandiose statuary, alters and ceilings were very beautiful. We next took a wander down to the Masjid Jamae Mosque a much more conservative affair and with its lack of sparkling red and gold we decided to give this tour a miss. The final leg of the walk took us to some specialist shops including a bakers, fabric shop selling thousands of brightly colored sari fabrics, a funky boutique hotel in a 1929 building, the red dot museum (home of contemporary art) before spitting us out rather conveniently on the Chinatown food street a street lined with stalls selling all manor of local specialties and so began the task of finding our dinner. The first course was easy as there was a little stall selling nothing but satay sticks which again made the perfect ice breaker before we went in search of something else. Eventually we settled on a stir-fry dish with loads of chicken and greens and ate it at a table right in the middle of the market. Whilst I had been eating dinner I had noticed a stall that did dessert quite unlike anything I had ever seen before. It seemed to be a giant mountain of shaved ice which was then covered with a variety of different colored jellies, fruits, syrups and my particular favourite sweetcorn?! It was like a giant snow cone on speed, absolutely fascinating to watch being made and hilarious to watch being consumed! Whilst I wasn't completely sold on having sweetcorn tipped all over my pudding I was intrigued enough to persuade Michael to share one with me. After much deliberation we settled on a toned down version called Mango and Tropical Fruit sensation and much to my delight we were presented with a huge mound of shaved ice covered with a variety of fruit, jelly and a couple of other things I couldn't even begin to describe. Needless to say the whole thing was delicious and the whole elaborate drama of the presentation only added to the experience and confirmed that the Singaporeans know how to do dessert! After dinner we had another walk through the market as it was now dark and with all the lanterns turned on it was a pretty way to walk off our dinner before heading back to the hood!
Our final day in Singapore and the area we were set to explore was Kampong Glam followed by Little India but not before we found a private bus company to take us to Kuala Lumpur the following day. We had read in our guidebook about some companies that run private coaches from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur for a reasonable fare so we set off in search and before long found one of the listed companies and managed to secure 2 seats on an air conditioned coach. We next headed to the quarter known as Kampong Glam once the seat of Malay royalty and apparently a trove of hidden delights easily explored on foot! The first stop was the Malay Heritage Centre built in the early 1840's it was once a palace where the Malay rulers held court it has now been restored to house some of Malaysia's cultural history. It is a beautiful restoration of what was obviously a very grand building and whilst we didn't tour the entire museum we did enjoy a walk around the gardens before moving next door to look at No 73 once home to the sultans decedents it now houses a heritage restaurant however you can still see some of the original and very grand features. The highlight of the tour was the gilded Sultan Mosque completed in 1925 it can house up to 5000 worshippers making it one of the largest mosques in Singapore. The mosque was definitely grander from the outside than it was inside however it was worth going in just to see Michael's face when they handed him a brown robe to cover his legs and then subjected him to a 20minute lecture on the importance of Islam and the one and only god Allah. I think it is fair to say that whilst I find religion interesting it is definitely not Michael's cup of tea so at the first opportunity we promptly made our excuses and left onto Bussorah Mall. This was a street of pretty palm trees and yet more souvenir shops selling local handicrafts. The rest of the walk took us to loads of pretty streets of varying architecture in an array of colours. The final quarter we had not yet explored was Little India so this is where we headed off to next, however within a few minutes of wandering around we soon discovered that this was the most uninspiring area much dirtier and smellier than the others and not somewhere we were keen to spend a huge amount of time in. That said we abandoned Little India and caught the train to Clarke Quay the "trendy" part of town where you could find all the fancy bars, restaurants and nightclubs frequented by western holidaymakers. We knew we wouldn't be able to afford to eat or drink here but we were still keen to check it out and as expected we were soon longing to pull up a comfy seat in one of the outside bars and people watch. We managed to show restrain and settled for a walk along the quayside and around the centre with all the action. With the sights and smells of everyone eating we were starting to get a little hungry ourselves so set out in search of a nearby hawker stall. What we found was even better, an air conditioned food centre serving the most delicious Teriyaki and Katsu curry for a fraction of the restaurant prices so that was our final dinner in Singapore taken care of.
Unbelievably that is our stay in Singapore over and we have thoroughly enjoyed our gentle introduction to Asia with some of the comforts of the western world. I feel that staying a little out of town allowed us to see a more true side of the city and whilst we did immerse ourselves from time to time with western foods and air conditioning we also made an effort to get out and about and experience the many faces and cultures the city had to offer. I don't know if I would ever go back to Singapore myself however it is definitely somewhere I would recommend everyone visit if they get the chance as it is a fascinating amalgamation of old and new, rich and poor