Singapore

We arrived in Singapore to begin the Asian segment of our trip. A bit that we have both been looking forward to since we left LHR some 142 days earlier. Singapore is a very good starting place for asia as it's got the hustle, bustle and food but it's also very westernised and extremely clean and safe. A gradual way back in.

It's also a lot more expensive that other asian countries, so we stayed in a dorm room. The first time we had to do that in a while...in fact the first time for a month that we had to stay in a hostel at all.

We've both really enjoyed Singapore, it's a very interesting place and it's got a fascinating history and some amazing new developments. The Marina Bay Sands hotel complex is astounding, and the Singapore Flyer is very impressive too. We went to the Zoo which was great, possibly the best Zoo I can think of, as well as the Changi WW2 museum and rather eclectically, the Philantelic museum too (we were very hot and they had air con!) However, trumping all of this by a country mile, are the hawker markets. These are very basic eating areas, where there are loads of stalls selling local fayre. They are not posh but they are very functional and incredible value. You are looking at £2-3 for a wonderful plate of local grub, freshly cooked. Noodles, Rice, Dim Sum, Curry. It's all there and all lovely. I didn't try the frog porridge though I'm sure it's delicious too.

We also had some business to attend to. Namely getting our visas for China and it turned out to be a bit of a pain. We turned up with forms printed and filled out and passport photos, but were told when we got there that we needed proof of our flight from China. We had to go back to the hostel (90 min round trip) to pick that up, only to be told on our return that the forms were out of date and we'd need to fill out new ones too. So much for trying to be organised. We eventually got our applications in with seconds to spare before they closed (at 3pm obviously!) To our amazement 4 days later we collected our passports with visas with very little fuss (and £50). Yay, we can now go to China.

We also discovered when we were there, and somewhat by accident, that Joe was arriving in Singapore for work, and more incredibly, Ragnhild was coming out for a holiday too! As such we met Joe for dinner twice and Joe and Ragnhild once, as well as hanging out a bit, and even blagging a swim in the roof top pool of the Hilton. It was really nice to meet up with some friends from home and for Betta to speak some proper Norwegian too.


Next up, a new country for us both, Indonesia.

MandB