Whilst we did a lot of prep for Asia, we heard accommodation was easy to book at the tourist office at Singapore airport so we decided to just pitch up and see what was on offer. However, we (Ev!) got the flight times wrong and we landed at 9:30pm not 19:30 which meant all the decent back-packer accommodation was gone! Being on a budget, we opted for a cheap hotel in a less reputable area, which was a real eye opener! As we arrived at our hotel and wondered what so many women were doing out so late without their husbands. There were lots of men offering them lifts home - so they were being looked after – at a price. Our room was small and had a stench of cigarette smoke so had to put the air con on “full blast” to try and remove the odour. It didn’t really work, but it was better than sleeping at the airport!
The next day, we searched our lonely planet guide - as most local calls were free, we phoned around and found the South East Asia Hotel. We thought we’d walk to the train station, which didn’t look far on the map. However, it is always a lot further when you’ve got back packs, so it wasn’t long before we caught a taxi to the station (which turned out to be on the other side of the road)! We then jumped on the train, which was really clean and spacious, even in rush hour, and then walked the short distance to the hotel.
They only had a triple room, which was a bit more expensive, but it included breakfast which turned out to be noodles, filled parcels and deep fried potato. This was in a perfect location between China Town and Little India, and the landlady was really friendly and helpful so worth the extra money not to mention a far better area. The location was on a pedestrianised road with open-air food stalls where the locals were getting their breakfast of noodles or rice. A couple of buildings down were Hindu temples, and the street was lined with small family run shops selling novelty items
Food Market
One of the first things you notice is how clean it is here – there is no litter anywhere as you get fined if drop anything including chewing gum and the street cleaners are out regularly. The second thing you notice is the cultural diversity – Hindus, Buddhists, the old China Town, Little India, the British colonial buildings, and the modern sky rise buildings – and with only two days here we had a lot to fit in.
Abdul Mosque
On our first day, we headed north and went to Little India where we found a nice little Australian run café for brunch, which did some nice scrambelled eggs and tea. We visited some of the bigger mosques including Abdul Mosque before it started to rain. At this point we caught the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) over to Orchard Road famous for shopping, so we went to Lucky Plaza, had a look around the shops, had a Starbucks, then headed back to the hotel area.
Lucky Plaza
After to chatting to some weird American lady, we headed down to China Town. We brought some silk pillow cases from a Chinese market, before chosing a spot for dinner. The chopstick diet has now begun...
City by Night
Next day, after breakfast we wandered up to the coach depot to get our tickets for the next day – an 8 hour journey to Kuala Lumpur. From here, we headed back south to Little India to wander around the shops and markets. The food markets are all open air, and wouldn’t pass any of the UK health and safety laws! All the fish and meat is uncovered and there are lots of flies around. The smell of fish follows you and there is quite often blood on the floor.
From hereafter, it rained pretty much all day, but that didn’t matter too much, apart from giving us wet feet and blisters! We took in China Town and had some yummy biscuits, before going to the Buddha temples, which were really peaceful and serene. The Hindu temples don’t always allow tourists into their temples, so we were grateful the Buddhists were more relaxed and allowed photos.
Inside the Buddist Temple
We walked around the docks and saw the famous peeing lion (Merlion), before heading to the 72nd floor of the Swissotel for happy hour cocktails (which were London prices even at half price) and got some great views of the city, although it was a little grey.
Merlion
View from Swissotel
Cocktail number 1
On our way back, we stopped at the Hindu temple near our B&B and after watching the locals going in and out, we decided to take off our shoes to go in to have a look – we hesitated as it can feel a intrusive watching someone worshipping Gods you don’t understand. The Gods are a mismatch of different animals, having a human body with an elephants head. The sculptures and artwork are really colourful and bright, something we would rarely see in the UK.
We also stopped off at the SunTec Mall to take a look at some purple-gold jewellery - a bargain at only s$4,000 for a braclet!
In the evening, we went to the night zoo, as recommended by Heather and Sprocket. There is a train that runs around the zoo, passing animals pens. There are no cages, and the animals are in lowered pits surrounded by razor wire, so as you pass the animals at night, it doesn’t look like they are locked in. There are train stops scattered around so you can wander through various enclosures, such as bats. This is a bit more interesting than seeing the animals in the day as they are a bit more active.
One of the only pictures that came out from our Night Safari
It’s been a short stay in Singapore, but probably about right. Whilst we have seen most things we wanted to see, it is a place that we would come back to again as its ideal for a 2-3 day stop over.
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