First Day Singapore

Our first night sleep was great for Liam, air con kept everything nice and cool. Chelsea however was too cold and was kept awake by the guy in the room with the loudest snoring known to man. After two strong brews and sweet coffee (not sure about this), toast and chocolate cereal we headed out.

We saw the Sri Krishnam Hindu Temple and the Kuan Yim Temple. The Hindu temple is very impressive, the facade is deorated with brightly coloured carvings of Hindu figures. People collect incense sticks from the outside stall, light them and enter the temple whilst rocking the sticks back and forth around head height.

We walked through the city streets past the Raffles Hotel and War Memorial Park, towards the Marina. The buildings around this area are huge, the streets are wide and full of traffic and the sidewalks are lined with tropical trees. In between the skyscrapers there are old colonial buildings from when Singapore was a British Colony. The city feels a bit claustrophobic, really hot and humid, surronded by giant skyscrapers and manic traffic.

We had a stroll down the Marina promenade, bought a drink and sat watching the tour boats go back and forh. The area is very prisitine, the streets are constantly being sweeped and the buildings are clean cut and act like giant mirrors. Following a bridge over the Singapore River we went to see Merlion, the fountain that welcomes visitors to Singapore. We then had to make a pit stop at a souvenior shop for Chelsea to but some plasters for her little toes.

For lunch we decided to find another Hawker market and shared a plate of smoked duck with noodles, which was delicious. One the way we stumbled across a buiding pumping out air con so we quickly dived in and discovered in was a giant shopping centre which we walked around ten miuntes before exiting back out into the furnace that is Singapore.

Making our way back to the area our Hostel is in, we called at the Bugis Market for a drink, you can choose from an array of iced fruit juices for a dollar. We both got lime. As a detour on the way back we decided to venture into the arab quatre, and we saw the Sultan Mosque, which was imposing set inbetween the small shop fronts of the arab quatre.

We made in back to the hostel just in time for a massive thunderstorm, which lasted more than an hour, got washed and changed and headed back out, We made our way back down to the Marina front to see the Gardens by the Bay, These are 50 metre atrifical solar powered trees that light up various colours in the dark, and they were beautiful. They are set in a real garden, a welcome relief from the madness of all the traffic. The skyline opposite on the Marina at night is amazing, our photos do not do it justice.

After a long walk around, we made our way back towards Raffles Hotel and caled into the Long Bar for a predictabel Singapore Sling, Each table in the bar had a box of monkey nuts to help yourselves to and we were encouraged to throw the husks onto the floor. Feel sorry for the preson responsible for sweeping up as the floor is covered.

On our way back to the Hostel we called back to the same hawker market as yesterday for something to eat. Chelsea asked the lady working their what was good and was advised a noodle dish which turned out to be the exact same she had yesterday, Ooops.

Tomorrow we plan to take it a little easier after all the walking of today, we are going to head down to China town and wander round.