Getting here from the north of Malaysia was a piece of cake really, all we had to do was catch a overnight train which brought us over the boarder and straight in to Singapore center. Singapore is mega expensive so accommodation was going to be hard to find but luckily we had been recomended a place to stay by Ben and Ruth (one of the English couples we went to the F1 in KL with). The place they told us to go to was a hostel called The Inn Croud, they recommended here because they do a free city tour on scooters which they said was excellent, but when we arrived the scooter tour was fully booked for another two nights so we went around the corner to a cheaper but almost identical hostel called Footprints, which was S$16/night for a dorm bed incl. breakfast, and had a great atmosphere with a common TV area (which is where we spent a considerable amount of time cuz it rained every afternoon!). We met back up with Aim here too after she extended her travels for a month so she could see Indonesia with us! It worked out perfectly cuz we both arrived at the same time! It was so nice seeing her again and knowing she'd be there for the next month. After our long journeys we planned on a quiet night and just went for an Indian (seeing as we were in Little India!) with an Italian girl from our dorm called Jovanna. It was a good job we planned a quiet night cuz there was a huge storm, so after dinner we just snuggled in our PJ's on the sofa's around the TV and caught up on what we'd all been dong whilst seperated!

The following morning after our free breaky off we went for a stroll around the city, which is RIDICULOUSLY clean! You could eat your dinner off the pavement! We walked though Bugis market and treated ourselves to fresh juice, then went on to see the biggest water fountain in the world, then past the theatre and on to the harbour to see the Merlion monument, followed by a stroll by the exclusive Clarks quay, before snaking on some SMASH n gravy from 7Eleven!!! That night was a Wednesday, which in a lot of places in Asia = LADY'S NIGHT = FREE DRINKS!!! So a heavy night was planned! We started off at the famous Raffles hotel where the Singapore Sling cocktail was born - unfortunately drinks weren't free here and instead each cocktail cost us... wait for it... S$30!!!!!!!!! (about £15, which is 3 days living for us!!!). It had to be done though, so me and Rich shared one, and Amy had 1, or 3, to herself!!!!!! She does love a good COCKtail!!!!!!!! Hahahaaaaaaa! It was well worth it though, the cocktails were the best I've tasted and the atmosphere in there is like something straight out of the 1920's - the decor has been maintained and you can imagine rich old men sitting there with their Brandy's and Cigar's whilst their corsetted wives sat together over their Singapore Slings! There are monkey nuts at each table too and the shells are disgarded in the traditional way - on the floor! I almost skidded over when I first entered!!!!!!! After a couple of hours we went to the quayside to the bars, but were gutted when we couldn't get into any of the clubs (where the free drinks for lady's were)... because Rich wasn't wearing shoes! Who wears shoes with shorts in 30 degree heat?!?!!! It's impractical and looks stupid! And if Raffles allowed him in I have no idea what problem the normal bars had! Rich thinks it was becasue he was too good looking (no surprise there!). Anyway, it didn't stop us having a great night, the bars were so expensive so we decided to gather on the bridge where most other skint backpackers seemed to be and bought some drinks from the saviour... 7Eleven!!! Just to give you an idea on prices, there was one bar called Clinic where the seats were wheelchairs and the drinks were fed though drips... each drip bag cost S$50! RIDIC!

The following morning we checked out of Footprints and into The InnCrowd so we could join the free scooter tour that night, which was EXCELLENT! We bumped in to Dave and Kiki (the English couple we met in Langkawi and went to the F1 with) and they joined the scooter tour too, so it was so much fun! Dave is like a 5 year old so he was zipping all over the place on his scooter and constantly ringing his bell - he got told off several times, but it was hilarious! We were all constantly laughing! And it brought the worst out in Rich - he was racing Dave, the pair of them were a nightmare! Me, Aim and Kiki started off quite timid, but by the end everyone was racing! We stopped by several museums and were told the best (i.e. FREE!) times to go, we were told lots about Singapore, were shown the libraries, good view points, good picnic spots, Raffles, etc etc, and then we stopped off for food at a local hawker market which was amazing! The tour was a good 5 hours, we didn't get back till about midnight! It was so, so much fun!

The next morning we were up early to catch our flight to Indonesia, Dave was off to Bali to meet a friend and Kiki was supposed to be going back to Oz, but decided to come to Sumtra with us for a bit, eeeh! So off the 4 of us went, our adventures to be revealed in the next blog!!! x