Singapore

 Hello from the other side of the world! We have officially started off on our travels, starting in Singapore!

After spending the night in London, we were off to Heathrow for a 9am flight. It went smoothly and we had a quick change over in Abu Dhabi to break up the journey. We landed in Singapore airport at about 11am and hopped onto the metro to find our hostel. 

We were able to check in right away and change our clothes, but as it was the middle of the day we headed straight out to explore. We walked up and down the river a little which had a nice pathway and underpasses to get you across the roads. It was pretty hot, humid and sunny, so we did get some iced tea to take with us on our walk. We ended up in Fort Canning Park which was really nice and had several paths leading to various interesting spots. 

There were fountains, archways and the tree tunnel. 

After this brief expedition, we were ready for bed, so we went for a very early night. 

The next morning we went in the opposite direction to Chinatown. We got some egg and leek dumplings for breakfast and explored the area. There was a big hawker centre (market) selling all sorts of food, clothes and gifts as ell as a street market. We also got a fruit pot which had some really nice dragon fruit, papaya and guava in it. 

After Chinatown we went to Faber Point Park which has long trails running through it and periodic views over the bay of Singapore. 

It also had a bridge which was pretty cool called the Henderson Wave and was built to look like waves. We walked pretty far, so by the end of the afternoon we were tired and went back to the hostel to rest. 

Later in the evening we went out to find a big supermarket and on the way found another hawker centre for dinner. There are so many of these in Singapore, we ate in a different one each day and there's some we didn't even get to. Inside, they are giant food halls with dozens of different vendors selling all sorts of food and drink for very cheap. The most expensive meal we bought here cost us £3 each. This one had banmis (Vietnamese sandwiches) so we grabbed these and a coconut dessert. 

After picking up some things from the supermarket (including salted egg flavoured crisps) we went back and had a slightly more reasonably timed night. 

On our third day, we took the metro and then a bus out to Northern Singapore to visit Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. It's so far north that you can very clearly see Malaysia across a small bay. Mitchell got a "Welcome to Malaysia" text when we started walking. 

That's Malaysia in the distance!

It was a very rainy day while we were here, but still warm! There were plenty of trails to walk around and hides to sit in to see migrating birds. We also saw crocodiles, monitor lizards, an otter, a hornbill, monkeys and bats while we were here! 

We stayed here for most of the morning and early afternoon. About 3pm we caught the bus and metro back into town and got off at Raffles Hotel. We didn't go in (we're on a budget) but we did get a photo out front. 

From here, we walked into Little India. While Chinatown felt very touristy and busy with all sorts of people, Little India was definitely where people from India lived and worked. I saw a few other tourists, but the majority of people were Indian and just going about their days. It was very busy and smelt different too, lots of spices, cooking food and people. We went into a hawker centre to find some dinner and got a potato masala dosa each for £1. 

That night we stayed up until 10pm (!) doing some more planning and work. The next day, we were off to Singapore's most iconic attraction, the Gardens by the Bay. We started with the OCBC Skywalk, which took us around the tops of the tall artificial trees and gave us great views of Singapore below. 

The next stop was the flower dome where they had just opened a Japanese sakura blossom exhibit. The blossoms weren't quite in full bloom yet, but there were still plenty to see. 

The dome also had other year-round gardens to see, including a baobab tree garden, a succulent garden, a California garden and more. 

We spent about an hour here and then went out for a break and a snack. Then it was on to the other half, the cloud forest. As soon as you walked in there was a huge mountain of ferns and leaves with an artificial waterfall falling down. It was very impressive to walk up to. After you passed it, you took a steamy trail through a leafy orchid exhibit inspired by Thailand. There were so many different types of orchids to see here, and they were all so pretty. 

Once we were done with the orchids, we took an elevator to the top of the waterfall. From here we could take the path which wound around and around the dome. When it went inside, they had an interactive wall projection, a display of crystals and places to peek out behind the waterfall. This area was my favourite. 

We made a quick dinner in the hostel that night as it had been a big day. 

In the morning, we went to Clarke Quay to walk the other direction down the river and find some nice breakfast. We found an acai bowl place which was very nice and chilled. It looked like a cross between a cave and a spa. 

We then went for a walk to try and find a park that Mitchell remembered from the last time he visited Singapore. We weren't able to find the right one, but we did take a nice walk through a park. We ended up by the Merlion and got a good picture of Mitchell. 

For lunch we went into a very Chinese hawker centre and picked up some yam filled pau buns (which were purple!). We also stopped at one of the fresh orange juice vending machines we'd seen all over the city. We watched it crush four oranges and dispense a freshly squeezed juice for us. 

We ate these in the park and then discovered a new area with more fountains and had a little break from the heat. 

In the evening, we went to a Japanese supermarket and picked up a noodle kit and some fresh tofu for dinner. We took this with us (although we didn't end up eating until we were back in the hostel) to the light show at Marina Bay Sands. This is a nightly free show in the bay and they projected lights onto jets and sprays of water, all set to music. It was very cool, and I'm glad we discovered it. 

For our last full day in Singapore, we took another bus to MacRitchie Nature Park. This park had trails through the jungle and plenty of monkeys, plantain squirrels, another monitor lizard and plenty of noisy bugs. The main attraction though was the treetop walk. After walking up stairs for ages, we went through a gate and were on a long bridge suspended over the jungle. That was very cool! 

As we completed the loop and were on the way back, we passed a group of girls all stood around a monkey with a backpack. He'd opened a pocket and was tucking into a packet of nuts. As we watched and more people gathered he grabbed the bag of nuts and the girls were able to retrieve the backpack (and the packets of cigarettes the monkeys had also broken into). 

Eating my lunch back at the hostel rather than risk it with the monkeys

In the morning it was back to the airport to continue on to the next part of our journey which you'll have to read about next time!

Lots of love,

Emily and Mitchell

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