Before I start this one, I just want to say, posting all the photos takes a long time. For this reason, I'm going to put links to the photos on facebook. If you can't see because we are not friends on facebook - add me (Joe Vyne). If you are not on facebook - get on it as everyone else is!
So this half term, we went to Singapore. We had a wonderful time. We took the Odyssey bus down which had wifi and films to watch, but the bus driver only remembered to turn them on 5 hours into our 5.5 hour journey so we didn't make the most out of these facilities!
We turned up to our dodgily named hotel: Adonis Hotel. It wasn't at all what we were expecting and I was especially impressed with the complimentary room service, as well as the freeflow cocktails they served between 5 and half 6 every evening. Hannah got a bit annoyed that I tried to make sure we were back at the hotel for these times!
The first day was nice, we got in at 2pm, then went out to explore Chinatown. It was really busy but we found an awesome little restaurant right in the middle. After that, we went to Altitude, a rooftop bar on the 63rd floor. It had floor to ceiling windows and I was terrified. Then the roof became available, so we went up another floor to the roof to look at the sights. It was stunning, but again my fear of heights did not make this the most relaxing drink I'd ever had. I thought the top of Verve, at 33 floors was impressive, but it turns out that being able to look down at the roof of other skyscrapers is very scary! We also did a little bit of shopping at a really cool street called "Hagi Street". I bought a really nice bow tie. All the shops there were incredible, with lots of vintage stuff in them.
After spending most of the money we had taken out in dollars, we tried to get some more money out of our Malaysian HSBC account, as we had done in other countries. Everywhere declined our cards which was a bit of a worry. My English Barclaycard worked, so I had to ask mum to deposit some money into the account (I paid her back after). Really worrying stuff though from HSBC and not good at all. The cards did not work the entire time we were there, despite us signing things to say we wanted to use our cards abroad...
The next day we decided to check out the zoo and the river safari. I did my usual thing of enjoying being in a place, so started imagining what it would be like to live there, which annoyed Hannah who is more of a realist! The zoo was awesome, and we saw so many different types of animal. Favourites were the tapirs which were awesome and the white tigers they had. After the zoo, we had a bite to eat at kfc for lunch. Very local. There was a peacock wandering around though which made it a bit more fun. Then, opposite the zoo, was the river safari. Here we went on a boat ride, went on a small water "safari" tour, and... saw a Panda! It is Hannah's favourite animal, and I'm really pleased we managed to see one. Her face was brilliant as we came around the corner and saw it. To top it off, I also saw a Giant Anteater which made my day, although we were only passing it at the time, so it made it a little tricky to photograph.
When we got back from the zoo and river safari, we went up to where the mosque was and had a really nice Turkish dinner. The food was delicious and the rice was the best I've ever had. We stopped off on the way back to have a drink in an Italian bar and watch Arsenal beat Bournemouth 2-0, then went back to the hotel.
On the third day, it was meant to be our big shopping day. We were staying near Orchard Road which is meant to be famous for shops. We walked there, but unfortunately, because it was Chinese New Year, most of the shops were shut. I still managed to get myself some awesome shoes though! It was the day we saw something funny happen. It was raining a bit, so we were waiting under cover for the traffic lights to be green, so we could cross the road. There was a European family stood nearby. 2 children, mum and dad. Dad had a skateboard (I noticed when Hannah muttered "midlife crisis" to me). I couldn't believe it was his, and thought he must be holding it for one of his children. He tried to anticipate that the lights were about to go green, so before they were allowing people to cross the road, he jumped on his skateboard and started down a small hill towards the road. As it was raining, the floor was quite wet and he fell off the board and landed on his arse. The skateboard then comically rolled into the road and was run over by a car. I really struggled to hold my laughter in.
In the evening, we went to a Lebanese restaurant which was lovely and had an early (ish) night.
On the 4th day, we decided to do a walking day. We got the MRT to the start point and went off on the canopy walkways through some of the parks. It was quite a hot day and parts were hard work, but it was really rewarding. We had been walking for over 6 hours by the end of the day. We also went to a place called "Haw Par Villa". It was a weird little place, with lots of statues depicting different strange folkish tales. The weirdest part though was the different stages of hell exhibition in a cave. You went in, and there were little scenes set up showing how people are punished in the different parts of hell. Very jolly.
Pumped up from this uplifting experience, we went back near the hotel and ended up having a lovely Italian Pizza for dinner. After this, we went to the night safari. It is a bit of a hassle to get there, but if you get the MRT to a certain station, then a certain bus, you can get there. We didn't really know the way so I got us a bit lost. We were meant to get there at 9ish, but it was more like 10 when we got there. When we went in, a man said it would be closing at 10:30 (the brochure had said 12!). We rushed onto a tram and did the tour of the park. I was quite upset and Hannah was very grumpy at this point, because we would be missing out on a lot of the animals. After the tram ride, we were ushered into a "Creatures of the night" show. There was an adorable little boy who was called up from the audience, as well as an absolute beasty Japanese guy. The show was incredible, but when we left, it was time to go. We asked another worker, just to make sure and he said the park actually shuts at 11:40. We rushed round the walking parts of the trail and saw some amazing animals. We saw (and heard) some lions, a leopard up close. We also went into the fruit bat enclosure and they were massive! I saw a flying fox type animal jumping between the trees too. It was amazing and really felt like a safari. The animals were separated from the paths by small rivers of water, or a ditch, so it didn't really feel as if they were in cage. Whilst all zoos are inherently unethical, this one seemed a lot better than most.
On the last day, we tried shopping again and had a bit more luck. I got a Roma shirt and a new wallet! Then it was time to take the bus home.
Overall, I really enjoyed Singapore and had a wonderful time. It was really good fun and I definitely want to go back again. The only thing was it was quite pricey!
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