We arrived in Singapore just after 9.30pm on 2nd June (after flying from Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to Darwin and finally Darwin to Singapore!) The welcoming committee at Singapore Airport, as in Sydney, was a group of mask wearing officials dangling heat sensing equipment in front of us, presumably to check for any fevers or high temperatures which might indicate the dreaded Swine Flu! After hearing so much about it on the news we are now experiencing the reality of it all for ourselves - and there will proba
bly be more of the same as we make our way through Asia! Finally arriving at our hotel we hung up the 'Do not disturb' sign up outside our door and zonked out in our beds until about 10am the next day! Then it was up and out and all systems go as we only had three days to spend in Singapore and wanted to see as much as
possible! One of the highlights was the famous Raffles Hotel where as you can see we popped in for the obligatory 'Singapore Sling' cocktail! Mmmm! Absolutely delicious but very expensive! Put it this way -we spent more on those two Singapore Slings than we did on food for our entire time in Singapore! But it had to be done! We hopp
ed on the city's hop on, hop off buses to see some of the major sights and hopped off at various places such as the Botanical Gardens where you can see CK posing in the Orchid Garden surrounded by just a few of the thousands of different kinds of orchids that they grow there. The Esplanade on the riverfront was another
favourite place of ours as you could just stroll along and watch the skyline light up at night or visit the little outdoor food stalls that opened up every evening and served such a huge variety of local and traditional foods that it was hard to decide what to try! And all at rock bottom prices! We ate there the last couple of nights and also sampled some 'Kaya' there which is a Singaporean speciality! It's a jam made out of coconut m
ilk, eggs and sugar and flavoured with the pandan leaf which gives it it's unique green colour! Sounds yukky I know but believe me it's delicious! We tried a couple of different versions of it - having it as a jam spread on thick slices of toast and as a kind of fondue where you dip your toast soldiers into it! We are definitely hooked on it now - pit
y we have to fly out tomorro
w! We also managed a trip over to Sentosa Island which feels very touristy but still nice to see! You go over by monorail from t
he mainland and can take free buses and trams once there to get around the island. Then today on our last afternoon we took a trip along the Singapore River on one of the little bum boats which was very relaxing and a ni
ce way to finish off our time here! Although I have been once before to Singapore it was only a one night stopover and I was so jetlagged it all passed by in rather a blur(!) so it's been nice to see it properly this time an
d get to do a lot more! It's a very clean city too - there are always people sweeping up all over the show - hardly a leaf out of place! I'm not sure the rest of Asia will be quite the same but it's been a good place to start this section of our trip! Tomorrow we are off to Malaysia to visit Kuala Lumpur and then Penang Island so more on that later on!
We arrived in Singapore just after 9.30pm on 2nd June (after flying from Auckland to Sydney, Sydney to Darwin and finally Darwin to Singapore!) The welcoming committee at Singapore Airport, as in Sydney, was a group of mask wearing officials dangling heat sensing equipment in front of us, presumably to check for any fevers or high temperatures which might indicate the dreaded Swine Flu! After hearing so much about it on the news we are now experiencing the reality of it all for ourselves - and there will proba
bly be more of the same as we make our way through Asia! Finally arriving at our hotel we hung up the 'Do not disturb' sign up outside our door and zonked out in our beds until about 10am the next day! Then it was up and out and all systems go as we only had three days to spend in Singapore and wanted to see as much as 
possible! One of the highlights was the famous Raffles Hotel where as you can see we popped in for the obligatory 'Singapore Sling' cocktail! Mmmm! Absolutely delicious but very expensive! Put it this way -we spent more on those two Singapore Slings than we did on food for our entire time in Singapore! But it had to be done! We hopp
ed on the city's hop on, hop off buses to see some of the major sights and hopped off at various places such as the Botanical Gardens where you can see CK posing in the Orchid Garden surrounded by just a few of the thousands of different kinds of orchids that they grow there. The Esplanade on the riverfront was another
favourite place of ours as you could just stroll along and watch the skyline light up at night or visit the little outdoor food stalls that opened up every evening and served such a huge variety of local and traditional foods that it was hard to decide what to try! And all at rock bottom prices! We ate there the last couple of nights and also sampled some 'Kaya' there which is a Singaporean speciality! It's a jam made out of coconut m
ilk, eggs and sugar and flavoured with the pandan leaf which gives it it's unique green colour! Sounds yukky I know but believe me it's delicious! We tried a couple of different versions of it - having it as a jam spread on thick slices of toast and as a kind of fondue where you dip your toast soldiers into it! We are definitely hooked on it now - pity we have to fly out tomorrow! We also managed a trip over to Sentosa Island which feels very touristy but still nice to see! You go over by monorail from t
he mainland and can take free buses and trams once there to get around the island. Then today on our last afternoon we took a trip along the Singapore River on one of the little bum boats which was very relaxing and a ni
ce way to finish off our time here! Although I have been once before to Singapore it was only a one night stopover and I was so jetlagged it all passed by in rather a blur(!) so it's been nice to see it properly this time an
d get to do a lot more! It's a very clean city too - there are always people sweeping up all over the show - hardly a leaf out of place! I'm not sure the rest of Asia will be quite the same but it's been a good place to start this section of our trip! Tomorrow we are off to Malaysia to visit Kuala Lumpur and then Penang Island so more on that later on!
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