Sweltering Singapore

Skyscrapers in Singapore
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Singapore is an incredibly modern very Western city, and it's always pretty hot and humid there. I was surprised at just how modern it is, with its sky scrapers, Louis Vuitton shops, and even a Ministry of Sound nightclub! My cousin Anna kindly had me to stay with her for the three days that I was there and showed me around.

The diversity of people living in Singapore is incredible, and Chinatown and Little India were probably my favourite places, with great food and shopping, and with quite a different feel to the more modern parts of Singapore.

Me in the Indian district of Singapore
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We went to Sentosa Island just off Singapore by cable car, and went to the beach there which was my first experience of an Asian beach. We didn't much fancy swimming at the beach as there are huge container ships moored just of the coast, and the water can't be that clean there, as Singapore is one of the largest ports in the world, which a huge number of container ships passing through each day. Instead we went to a swanky Ibiza style resort on the island with a restaurant, bar and pool to cool off after a long hot day which was just what we needed.

Me in Chinatown, Singapore
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On Saturday night we went to the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel, which is a famous grand hotel in Singapore, and had Singapore Slings there. Raffles Hotel is the place where the Singapore Sling was created. I can strongly recommend them, they are a sort of cherry flavoured cocktail. The Long Bar is also famous for the floor being covered in peanut shells. When you arrive at your table there is a large bowl of monkey nuts on the table and the idea is that when you're done with the shell you just throw it on the floor! It seemed strange to throw peanut shells in such a posh place, but there you go.

Singapore is famous for shopping, and we hit Orchard Road on my last day in Singapore. I couldn't resist some shoe shopping retail therapy, as they were so cheap! We visited Orchard Road on a Sunday, which is the days that all the maids in Singapore have off, so the road was filled with maids as this is the place that they meet to hangout together on their day off.

From Singapore onto Melaka in Malaysia on the early bus.