Single over en Singapore Sling

Singapore has been a blast and we feel we've managed to cram quite a lot of stuff into our scrummy four night stay. We feel it is the perfect length as long as we can't do any shopping anyway (considering both money and luggage space).

Our first night I had my first meeting with the dreaded jet lag monster, consequently making me wake up after two hours sleep thinking it was morning and then being unable to fall asleep when I again woke up at 4 am. However, I am pleasantly surprised at how soothing the 5.40 am prayer from the Mosque is, considering all the complaining I have heard from other people. The guy who is singing the prayers must be a really good one ;)

On our first day we walked (with some mishaps and detours) from our lovely little hostel to the central Singapore area with the Marina and the iconic skyline. The cute thing about Singapore is how the big, massive skyscrapers (the tallest one being the Swissotel where they hold a vertical marathon every year up the hotel stairs, maybe a new challenge for you Pappa ;) and the picturesque colonial houses live side by side (picture above). It's also very colourful everywhere. Everyone paints their houses a different colour and even some of the apartment complexes are sporting bright colours.

Just looking around and getting to know the city was basically our day. We were both still very tired from the flight and were still adjusting to the insane humidity and constantly swooped into shopping centers for that life saving extreme air condition chill they set up in there. We had ourselves a pint and a meal by the riverbank where there was a row of colonial houses used as restaurants, pubs and bars. Gorgeous! (picture above)

Later that evening we joined our roomie Natalie (York, UK) for the Nightsafari in the zoo (picture above). It was an amazing experience and can be recommended to everyone who comes here. It was so relaxing and quiet to walk through the spotlighted paths. Especially the bat enclosure was exciting as the bats were free to roam and they were absolutely humongous (the size of a rather large fat seagulls) and when they were flapping their wings there was loads of screaming (you just don't want that to fly into your hair, especially mine where it could get stuck;). We were the last ones to leave the park at midnight, but before we left we had a 5 min. spa with a type of doctor fish (picture below). The fish eat dead skin cells off your feet and apparently this is exfoliating to the skin and a natural spa treatment. It tickled as hell, especially the larger fish when they nibbled under your feet, but kinda felt like putting your feet in a bubble bath with tiny bubbles. The funny thing was they all really seemed to enjoy my feet the best (another woman next to me had only about 5 on her feet, mine were covered) which should probably tell me to use some more moisturizer on my feet :D The staff even managed to convince Henriette to put her feet in with the fish, even though she started off being very very skeptical :D

For dinner we went to a food court where they sold Singaporean specialties. It's called a hawkers market and the food they sell is the kind you find in the street stands (just under more hygienic surroundings) Really cheap to eat there, a full plate would be somewhere around 4-6SGD (which is about 20-30 kroner or £2-3).

On our second day we were refreshed after a good night sleep and wandered up to Orchard Road which is the main shopping street. Here we found a really beautiful shopping center, really up-market and luxurious, where we ventured into the toilets and found that we could get a wash while we went. A button would spray you down there and another would dry you :D it cause a lot of giggling and some screaming, but was a hilarious experience. There were also escalators on the outside of the building (picture below) which was fun for me, but Henriette realized suddenly that she is afraid of heights and experience vertigo so was looking mildly scared as we went up.

This was also the day we decided to take the trip to Raffles hotel find the Long Bar and sit down and have a Singapore Sling (picture below) (apparently consists of gin, cherry brandy, orange juice, pineapple juice and limejuice) and eat peanuts still in the shell and throw it on the floor. Good times. Although the drink did set us back 27SGD (135kr, £13.50), but it was worth it :D The guy behind the bar says he makes hundreds of Singapore Slings every day and that next week when the Singapore Grand Prix Formula 1 is on, he's gonna make about 1000. Very hectic. The Formula 1 here is apparently the only one that runs during the night and it runs through the streets of Singapore (loads of construction workers putting up stands and railings everywhere). Unfortunately it isn't till the 25th of September, so we just miss it :(

We then ventured into Chinatown and had a looksie at a Hindu ritual in the Sri Mariamman temple and covered our bare shoulders (and Henriette's long legs) to go into a massive Buddhist temple where there loads of figurines everywhere. The ones in the photo are supposed to protect people born in the year of the Ox and Tiger. Everywhere people were burning random things in front of their stores, so at last curiosity overtook and we had to ask someone. Apparently it is the end of month 7 and you burn stuff to wish for more money/business for your shop. We thought we mite try that at home ;)

At dinner we started chatting to some 50-60 year old Singaporeans (ethnic Thai) and although some of their English wasn't good we had a blast and they even managed to convince us to join them for karaoke. Here there were more people our age and we ended up staying till the bitter end, both me and Henriette sporting the microphone at some point or another (because no one can be worse than the Asians when it comes to karaoke) and there was a lovely atmosphere, just us two Europeans and locals :D Random, but good night :D Only bad thing was we missed Natalie leaving because we stayed out late. She was traveling on to Malaysia. We now have an old German woman as our roommate, and she is a bit weird.

Today we've been taking it slow and just did a sightseeing bus trip. The world's largest water fountain (Fountain of Wealth) was turned off. I was gutted. Judging by the size of the hole and the fact that there is a food court belonging to a shopping centre around the bottom, it would have been a spectacular sight. We were supposed to meet up with the Norwegians we met on the plane (actually we've planned that every day) but something has always come up and we have now agreed to meet in Sydney (they will join us in 3 days) where we will be staying at the same hostel and we just can't possibly have another excuse ;)

Now we are packing and preparing for our departure at 6.30 am for Sydney and we are both looking forward to finally reach Australia.