Touch down in Singapore and reunited with Kerry! It’s been over a year since we last saw each other but it doesn’t feel like any things changed, I’m very happy to have another friend out joining me on this journey and I can tell how excited Kerry is too! I got a bit teary again when I first saw Kerry – I think it was maybe the realisation that my year abroad and time in Australia is officially over and seeing a friendly face really brought it to the surface. But I’m not letting it get me down when I still have an exciting 6 weeks ahead of me!!
Singapore has great transport links and you can easily get the underground train straight from the airport to Chinatown with a few changes but one thing we didn’t account for was the fact that today marks Singapore’s 50th birthday – luckily that provided us with free transport tour unluckily it also meant that the trains were paaaaacked which isn’t so fun when you’re just getting used to the humidity and carrying a very heavy backpack (and two other bags)!!
People were literally pushing and shoving to get on a train – it was absolute madness!! I’ve never seen anything like it before!
We gave up after we had to swap trains for the second time and decided to head out and attempt to get a taxi – bad decision! We were waiting for well over an hour in the queue and even the few free taxis that drove past wouldn’t stop! Eventually we made it to our hostel – very hot, very sweaty and very hungry! We headed straight out for some food in Chinatown and found a few street markets – not that either of us am had a clue what the food was that was being served! We were adamant not to get food poisoning on our first night in Asia so headed to one of the only Chinese restaurants still open for some noodles, sweet and sour chicken and spring rolls – playing it very safe!!
After the most glorious cold showers we got into our cell like beds and hysterically laughed at each other through our tiny peep hole!
Despite getting up early the next morning we didn’t manage to get our act together until midday – with only one day to see the whole of Singapore it causes a few difficult decisions to be made. First up we headed down to Orchid Road – a huge contrast to Chinatown where this road is full of the elite designer stores… Something neither of us can afford!! It was nice to see this legendary road though and I was surprised to see so many Australian stores within the more normal shopping malls!
We were helped by the most fantastically knowledgeable lady in the information centre who planned out our day for us… Obviously the next stop was the Zoo!
Singapore introduced the first night zoo in the world however if you’re looking for more animal interaction and a wider display of animals (as opposed to sitting on a team and being told about them) then check out the regular day zoo. We were treated to White Tigers and Polar Bears (both the first I’ve ever seen – and I’ve really been to my fair share of zoo’s!) as well as plenty of orang-utans, other monkeys and your standard set of African/Australian animals. We ended the day with the adorable elephants which is also the first time Kerry has ever seen an elephant! I’m looking forward to finding some conservation camps across Asia where she can meet an elephant up close!
After covering a good amount of miles walking around the zoo in the heat and humidity we were exhausted but we couldn’t stop here – there was still the light shows at Marina Bay and Gardens by the Bay to check out before we left tomorrow! We stopped off at Verve on the Bay for a pizza/pasta treat after a long day and then made our way down to the Marina Bay Sands admire the hotel from afar. We tried to treat ourselves to a night here but unfortunately due to leaving it too late and the National Day it was just too expensive for our budget however today Kerry and I have made a pact that within the next 5 years we will make it back to Singapore and we will stay at Marina Bay Sands (and hopefully for longer than the one night!).
After our moment of appreciation we walked over to Gardens By The Bay to see the impressive Avatar-style gardens. We couldn’t see much of the entire gardens with the dark sky however it did make a good setting for the light show!
Unfortunately our time in Singapore has come to an end already as we bag up again and head off for Vietnam!
eyes abroad 