Our 10th Country

As some of you already know, we flew out of Australia on Feb 22nd, bound for Singapore.

Singapore (meaning Island City) is typical city in many ways and probably most of what you'd expect, but it is remarkably clean, not so much in a clinical way, but there's zero litter, and clearly well looked after. It's also one of the safest cities in the world, mainly due to brutal policing, expensive alcohol and that a womans word in court gets you locked away, so ladies, you can walk alone and won't be hassled.

Singapore's major points of interest are the CBD, China Town and Little India, the botanical gardens and rainforest (one of the worlds only prime rainforest within a city) and it's Zoo.

The first night, we headed to Little India for a curry, which was pretty good, and certainly what the doctor ordered. After that, we made a near fatal mistake, we went for a massage. I went for a 30 minute back and shoulder massage, Miranda 40 minutes of reflexology. A small Chinese lady stepped out and directed me to a room for my massage, two minutes later she was going to town on me... No not that. She literally beat me up for 30 minutes, elbow in the spine, punch to the kidneys, just two of her favoured techniques. If I wasn't so proud, I'd have started crying like a little girl, but I manned up and rode it out. Occasionally, my focus was broken by Miranda letting out yelps from across the corridor, though interestingly they diagnosed a bad stomach, and water retention, all from touching her feet (which she's now very proud of, pedicure on the joint account...).

The next day we chose to see some of the city via an open top bus tour (you can see most of it in under an hour, as everything is in easy reach). Electing to jump ship at the main commercial area, Orchard Plaza, where we roamed the shops (if you like malls, Singapore is for you) for a while before heading into a food hall, we settled on a place called Teppenaki - Beef chilli stir-fry, vegetables, rice and miso soup for £5. Around about this time I realised these chilli's were particularly warm, actually, that does them an injustice, they were like a rocket up the arse! Thorough dehydration occurred in the form of head sweats and watering nose, luckily it was a good eat! Miranda got off more lightly with a similar dish with John Dory, but, with less chilli :-)

Earlier in the day, we were walking in the 35 degree sun, so we thought we'd head to the Raffles Hotel, for, guess what? Yep, a Singapore Sling! After they'd relieved us of £12.50 a piece, we headed off... Far too rich for our sort!

So, Singapore in a nutshell, alcoholic drinks are expensive, very expensive. Food is reasonable, and of good quality. The city is clean, and the people friendly. Ultimately, for me, it just felt a little disappointing and not something I can easily put my finger on. It just wasn't in your face enough to be memorable, nor did it have any obvious trace of it's roots. There's things we didn't see, but I saw enough to know it doesn't (for me) have the same appeal as London, or a lot of other places we passed through since October.

Today, we took the 6 hour bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and after guessing an anonymous Wifi networks password (1234567890, tut tut), was able to bring you an update. Much the same for KL really, I've heard it's more of a 2 day place than somewhere to get comfy - Thailands beaches beckon!

For those not in the know, we uploaded our Skydiving photos yesterday, proof we did (despite Miranda's trepidation) jump from a plane.

In other news, big congratulations to Katy for becoming a mum, to her baby girl Isabel (9lb 13oz). Well done!

Speak soon, bye!