Kicking back in sophisticated Singapore

These skater boyz know how to party, Singapore style... am I cool enough to get down with them?
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This journal entry brought to you by Micky

forget about the 3 meals of the day and constantly snack whenever and wherever possible

Singapore always comes as a real shock to the system after one has been traveling around Southeast Asia for a while and has become accustomed to the dirt, stray cats, j-walking, motorbikes belching fumes into the air and eating on the street. How to describe Singapore? Clean? Yes. Classy? Not exactly. Sterile? Yes. Contrived? Definitely.

On day one the rain came down... and I don't mean for just twenty minutes... I mean for six hours! What to do? Oh well, back to the shopping centres.
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Anything else to add? Well, for a start, you definitely know you're walking around a police state when you can't buy chewing gum, although I hear they've recently legalised table-top dancing. It's funny how guilty we felt when we weren't crossing at a designated traffic light and when - heaven forbid - we set foot on a grassy patch ajoining a footpath.

However, there are many things that Singapore has to offer. Perhaps the best thing to do in Singapore is forget about the 3 meals of the day and constantly snack whenever and wherever possible - a coconut here, a sate stick there... naan... vegetarian chinese... lassy... need I go on? We must have seven or eight courses throughout the day, but when you're between shopping centres (quite literally between several of them at most times) what better to do than wolf or slurp something down?

More of rainy Orchard street
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Finally - finally I convinced Marc that, yes, the night safari (for I had been before) was a sight not to be missed. "Oh, they have OTTERS HERE!" he remarked with such warm affection when a dozen of these eager creatures half leapt out of the river to great us squeakily. For anyone who hasn't been - this really is the pinnacle of any Singapore experience: a night zoo with very few (in most cases none at all) cages or artifical barriers between you and some of the freakiest, coolest creatures you've ever seen.

Enjoying a Singapore Sling at the opulent Raffles Hotel.
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And the shopping... shopping... who could forget the shopping? Pity we didn't have much money to enjoy it...