Singapore

Part of the St Paddy's day celebrations!
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Although I was still feeling pretty unwell when I arrived in Singapore I was still eager to see as much of the city as I could in the few days I had there. After the 3 months in Australia it was exciting to be exploring somwhere totally different. I had heard from lots of people how westernized Singapore is and yes it is a very modern (but clean!!) city with hundreds of shopping malls but thats definitely not the whole story. Areas such as Little India and Chinatown in particular are full of life and give you a glimpse of other corners of Asia. For the first couple of nights I stayed at Sleepy Sam's B&B which is a backpacker hostel in the city centre right next to the impressive Sultan Mosque.

Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore
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I found it easy making my way round the city both on foot and on the MRT which is pretty amazing value (you even get some money back when you deposit your ticket!). Partly to escape the heat and seek a good bit of air con I decided to check out the Asian Civilization Museum, which has a great location right on the Singapore River and the entry fee was only  5 SGD which proved to be good value as was an interesting museum and gave good insight into Asian Cultures.  Another attraction I visited was the famous Night Safari which was good and definitely worth a visit for people of any age although would say is definitely more aimed at Kids/Families. As well as walking trails, there is a tram journey that takes you round a lot of the park and also a Creatures of the Night show which is another of the main attractions.

Along the Singapore River..
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I did a fair bit of shopping while I was in Singapore including buying myself a new digital camera as somehow had lost mine somewhere en route from Cairns! Other than that I just walked around the city and took in some of the atmosphere and there are lots of buildings of interest such as the Parliament and of course Raffles Hotel. I was there in the sunday before St Patrick's and found myself in the middle of a pretty big parade which was good fun! On my last day there I had to check into the hotel my tour was starting from and meet the rest of the group and in the evening we went out for a meal in Little India which was really good but absolutely heaving with people that night. We also went out for drinks in  Clarke Quay which was good fun as some very nice bars and even had a obligatory few Singapore Slings!