Sharon and Andy's World Tour 2006

6 - 10 April

By the time the bus from Melaka reached the border with Singapore it was pouring with rain. We are talking torrential rain. We'd been relatively lucky with our world weather up until now (i.e. four months of near-constant sunshine), but this didn't bode well.

However, the immigration process was commendably trouble-free and by the time the bus reached the terminus in Singapore the seemingly endless downpour had stopped.

We ditched our bags at the hostel (an awful room for the first night, as they'd cocked up our booking) and headed out for the evening.

Downtown Singapore

Two things became very quickly apparent;

i) Singapore is at least as humid as the worst bits of Asia, and
ii) Singapore is about ten times as expensive as the worst bits of Asia

Undeterred, we found a local pub - the Lot, Stock and Barrel and remortgaged our house to buy a couple of pints.

I'd had high hopes of Singapore as the guide books suggest there is lots to do. I particularly fancied the cable-car from mainland Singapore to the Sentosa Island theme park.

In a bid to be healthy, we embarked on yet another cross-city walk, following a long highway and finally climbing a steep hill to the cable-car station. Arriving sweat sodden and on the verge of collapse, we were told by the highly apologetic attendant that the cable-car was undergoing maintenance and therefore out of order. D'OH! Sometimes it pays to phone ahead...

The following day we headed to Singapore Botanic Gardens, and this time there was no room for disappointment. Out of the hustle and bustle of town, the gardens are a beautifully landscaped and peaceful haven, where you can easily forget your rapidly diminishing bank account for a while...

Another aspect of Singapore highly noticeable to a foreign visitor is that everything seems to be prohibited; chewing gum is banned, jaywalking is illegal, you can't eat or drink on any public transport, you can't smoke in public, you can't skateboard or rollerblade anywhere, and you'll be strung up (or worse) for drugs or vandalism offences. As such, Singapore seems a bit sterile and joyless, and almost as though fun is something that has to be enforced...

Anyway, following our slightly disappointing earlier visit to Kuala Lumpur Zoo we decided that the highly praised Singapore Zoo should be worth a visit. It is. In fact, it's the probably the best Zoo we've ever been to as care has been taken to provide as natural an environment for the inhabitants as possible. And they have Meerkats.

Eating, drinking and shopping seem to be the three main pastimes in Singapore and it's fair to say that we heavily partook of all three in our few days here (the shopping malls are endless)

But, of course, we couldn't leave Singapore without a visit to the famous Raffles Hotel and the Long Bar in which the Singapore Sling was invented. Once you get over the crunchiness of the floor, which is heavily covered with discarded monkey-nut shells (a big bowl sits on each table) the bar is very comfortable and homely, in a colonial sort of way.

And there ended the Asian leg of our tour. Next stop - Oz!