Singapore

Postcard perfect Perhentian
see all photos »

Caught our plane from Kota Bahru to Johor Bahru early in the morning, arrived in Johor Bahru and caught a shuttle to catch a bus to cross the border into Singapore. Hop-on-hop-off buses for the next hour and a bit, from checkpoint to checkpoint; Malaysia border, Singapore border then in the Singapore one last bus to the MRT(subway) station. Really cheap, but tough hauling those bags on and off buses! Found the hostel easily. Recommended by a few people, and I'll recommend it again. Great hostel, good value. FREE INTERNET!! amazing. The people are so helpful, great atmosphere. (Betelbox hostel)

The beach's resident eagle?? It hung out on the beach the whole time we were there.
see all photos »

Checked in, hung out for a bit then headed out to find some food and go to the Night Safari. Stopped in at a food court down the street, and spent some time trying to decide what to get(at least 30 stalls selling food). I chose beef satay, my first satay ever, I think. Delicious.  To the MRT where we chuckled at the posters/ads. Good messages, just funny ...1. Can't sleep because of an argument? Try meditation"(that was actually on the side of a cab), 2. a couple cutting a wedding cake, "I love you honey"(woman), "I love James"(man)--advertising for a loaning company called James, 3. "Education costs money. Start saving now"(with a diploma with attached price tag: $500,000(!!!!!!!!) 4. "Show confidence, be affirmative" with 3 floating heads saying "Okay", "Sure", "Yup". And on and on.

Nice rainbow--Sean took this pic, I was too busy napping!
see all photos »

To the night safari, watched the animal show(which was only a little bit corny), then walked and walked and walked. It was laid out really well, with dim lights shining in all the enclosures. You could see most of the animals really well--not well enough for pictures with no flash(which you aren't allowed to use), but Sean got some good video. We saw the animals more often than not, and I didn't mind not seeing the few we didn't 'cause it means that they have an enclosure at least big enough for them to hide. I'm not usually a fan of zoos/captive animals, but this one(and the day zoo) are done exceptionally well. There are never bars between you and the animals--they are kept in with moats, and these are disguised so well that in some places you wonder why the animal doesn't just walk off. Walking through the jungle at night was really nice too, with all the animal noises coming from everywhere. The lions got excited at one point and were making some really crazy noises-the kind that you'd much rather hear in a zoo than while you're in a tent somewhere in the wild. :) Took a tram to finish off the tour which was nice--most people had gone home and there was hardly anyone else on it. Back to the hostel and tiptoed into bed(16 bed dorm)

see all photos »

Up the next morning, and to the zoo. Same idea as the night safari(no fences between you and the animals), but a lot more animals (and pics!) It's next to, but separate from the safari, so you see different animals. We watched a polar bear and lion feeding, and wandered around for 6 hours. It was great. They have lookouts in some places, and the animals seem curious and don't run away. The peacock was a big showoff. He kept turning so everyone could see him from his best angle!! It was less like a zoo, and more like going for a walk through all the continents, and just stumbling across all these neat animals. Around 4pm, just when we got to the Komodo Dragon exhibit, the storm that had been threatening for awhile finally broke. And by broke I mean, it rained as hard as I've seen in a long while... Impressive. We stood in the jungle under a shelter by the Komodo Dragon exhibit, almost alone and watched the rain. Very Jurassic Park-esque. Sean had his bathing suit on, so he took his shirt off and stood in the rain for a bit(said it was the best water pressure he's stood under in a while--the showers have been a bit weak :) )  , but came in after the lightning strike that  almost followed the thunder it created. Great lightning/thunder show. We enjoyed it for a while, until it seemed like the rain wasn't going to let up before the zoo closed. So, we wrapped all the important stuff up in plastic bags and headed back out. Got a bit wet, but the rain was tapering so it wasn't too bad. Headed back into the city, and decided to try to grab a drink at the Swissotel, on the 70th floor! We got in somehow(thought we might not get past the dress code), and went up, up, up, to the swankiest bar I've ever been in. We sat there, obvious backpackers, stinking from having walked around a zoo the whole day among the upperclass who probably had been to Armani to find an outfit to wear that night. Never felt so out of place in my life. Wanted to take pics, but it seemed like the kind of place that attracts people who don't need to take pics of the luxury around them... Snuck a couple anyways, of the nightview from 70 floors up. Food wasn't too outrageously priced, so we split a pizza and samosa/spring roll basket, and enjoyed a drink each. Happy hour meant only $9 Sing drinks instead of $18 Sing. ($7cdn instead of $14). Fun.

Sunrise
see all photos »

Up this morning, and  out to see the city a bit. Rode a city bus downtown(satellite tv on the bus!) , got off and walked around a bit. Went to visit The Esplanade (theatre house) and there was an offer for the restaurants in the basement, buy a main course get another free if you pay visa. So, we decided to splurge and I had a very nice steak lunch(soup, garlic bread, steak, fries, veggies, pepsi, and mango ice cream) for about $12cdn. Yum! Walked a bit more to see the waterfront, and a few of the sights, then back to the hostel to type this up, have a shower and head to the airport. 'Cause tonight we're going to AUSTRALIA!!! It's a good thing that I'm so excited about the destination, 'cause the flight time sucks. We get into Cairns at 4:40am tomorrow morning.  Yuck. Ah, well. On Wednesday we get our van(that we're renting), then there's no stopping us.

Longb each as we were leaving.
see all photos »

I'm going to go admire the rainfall that just started coming down. Must be a daily event. Crazy amounts of water falling now--can really see why there are so many storm drains in this city!!