Singapore

Singapore

To say I have been slacking in the blogging department would be an understatement. Since we arrived in Singapore and later Bali, I got swept up in everything around me and decided to leave the blogging for another day. That one day got pushed to two and three and finally almost a week. We have been in Bali for two days now and so I figure its time I try and log what we have done in the last week. Before I start, I just want to thank everyone for their comments on the blog and on Facebook! I love hearing what you all have to say and really makes writing this blog more fun knowing that people are actually reading it! Also, on another note, unfortunately I am unable to add pictures to the blog. For some reason the blogger site will not allow me to use pictures from my iPad. So any pictures that we do take (on the iPad) will be uploaded to Facebook as previously done. I know that pictures make a blog all that much more interesting but hopefully you can match the pictures on Facebook to the post on my blog!

So to begin, when we arrived in Singapore after a 10 hour flight plus two hours on the Tarmac at the beginning in Auckland, we had to take the MTR (train) to our "Green Kiwi Hostel".  The MTR is extremely cheap to get around and only cost us roughly $2 each to get to our hostel. After picking up our luggage (it's so nice to travel so lightly in comparison with what we came to Australia with!), we arrived at our hostel around 8pm which was 2 am Auckland time. We were tired but also were so excited to be in Singapore that we checked in and then immediately went for some dinner and Tiger beer at the local food stalls. This is where all the locals eat and holy crap was it busy! I would say there were 20+ stalls in this "food market" and we settled on a rice, chicken and veggie dinner for $2.50 plus $5 for a large tiger (two pints). After dinner we headed back across the street to our room which slept 10 people. Initially I was not too fond of sleeping with 8 others in the room but it was actually a really nice hostel and the beds and comforter were extra comfy so it was a great sleep. One of the chicks in our room however decided she was cold (even though the ac was set to 24 degrees and it was 32 degrees outside at 10 pm at night). So she turned the ac to 26 and needless to say, it was stinking hot!!  That next night I made sure the ac was set at a more comfortable 23 degrees (still quite warm obviously but much better!). That morning we woke up at 6 am (a little jet lagged) and decided to enjoy the sunrise on the rooftop patio. Even at 6 am it was already 28-29 degrees and so we were already sweating like mad. Breakfast opened at 730 and was included in our room rate of $40 a night for both of us. Breakfast consisted of gourmet coffee, two pieces of toast and fruit (oranges, watermelon and dragonfruit)... Delicious!

We had a shower and set off to tour the city at around 9 am (everything was still closed!). We thought we set off in the direction of Little India but instead we ended up heading in the complete opposite direction towards Marina Bay Sands (the building that looks like a ship is on the top and has the infamous infinity pool). So we decided to check out the hotel and holy cow was it ever insane. It was situated right on top of an insane mall equipped with a boat moat and a skating rank along with every expensive brand name store you can think of. We walked by a display case of jewelry where they had a diamond for $500, 000 and a vase for $800, 000!!! Clearly you needed money to stay at this hotel. We ended up paying $40 to take the 12 second elevator up 57 floors to the observation deck which over looks Singapore and also a view of the infinity pool (only guests can use and enter the pool area). 

After Marina Bay Sands we walked to Chinatown in the blistering heat where we roamed the stalls and ended up eating at another food court that was filled with locals (and lots of Singaporean business men/woman). I was surprised to not see more foreigners like ourselves but it seemed that the majority stuck to westernized food...boring! I ended up with a noodle soup which was delicious and Jordan ate breaded chicken and rice. Surpassingly the soup didn't make me all that much more hot because I was already the hottest I have ever been (at that point...wait until Bali!). 

 

After wondering around Chinatown for a couple of hours, we decided to start making our way back home. It was just after four when we got home and we were exhausted and so sticky!! It was a great long day and all we wanted to do was relax a little! :) That night we headed back to the market where both Jordan and I got more noodle soup..mine with shrimp and dumplings and Jordan's with beef. Of course we washed that all down with some more Tiger beer. The old woman who had served us beer the night before remembered us and brought us our beer right away. It was nice to be recognized but then I realized we were in fact the only white people in the joint on both nights! 

The next morning we woke up and had our usual breakfast on the rooftop and were out again headed to the city by 930 am. Our first stop was little India where we walked for what seemed like hours. We went to a mall where we picked up some shampoo and before we knew it, it was lunch. We ended up eating in an Indian restaurant (surprise surprise) and both ordered curry and naan bread. We noticed that the Indians around us were all eating with their hands (literally scooping the sauce onto their rice and shovelling it into their mouth). Was that ever an experience to witness...I had no idea they did that! While it wasn't entirely appetizing to watch, it is their culture and it was great to experience (in a weird way haha). 

After Little India, we headed to Singapore's technology hub-Sim Lim Tower and Market. The market is a 7 floor tower filled with stores ALL selling technology (computers, electrical gadgets, printers, iPads/pods/phones, cameras, etc.). Literally everything you can think of was in this mall...ridiculous! We went in wanting to look for a SD card for our camera so that we don't run out of room for pictures. We ended up bargaining a price of $27 bucks for 32 GB...after going into 10 plus stores. Not too shabby!

Now that we had made a purchase and gotten a rather good deal we decided to hop on the train and head to Orchard road. Regarded as one of the greatest shopping centres in Singapore if not SEA. It's insane the number of stores in a 2 mile stretch and the number of duplicate if not triples of each store. Most of the stores were too rich for our taste, or rather or budget, such as Louis Vuitton or Prada so we settled for a bench and chilled out until we decided to head home. On the way home we found a Wendy's and had some frosty's and walked home in the rain. 

That night we went to the Singapore night zoo, on the way there i kept looking over at the bus driver and was wondering if he just had really squinty eyes or if he was falling asleep...turns out he was taking a freaking nap! I started talking to jordan more loudly in hopes that it would keep the driver asleep. He would wake up and doze off for a second or two but still kept on the road thank god! I We watched an animal show and did a tour around the zoo on a "train" -basically a massive golf cart. The guide on the tour put on a fake accent to try and set the mood. It ruined the mood completely. There were lots of cool animals though...tigers, lions,elephants etc. 

The next day we walked around Singapore a bit more and headed to the airport in the afternoon to make our way to Bali! 

This has been a rather large blog so next post will be all about Bali! We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Xx