Singapore 1st to 5th January

Plans for Sinagpore didn't go quite as planned thanks to Qantas! Arrived 31st January at Perth Airport for our 1.15pm flight (a;lready put back form the morning). to find there was a 3 hour delay until 4.15pm. We theref ore sat in thew departure lounge where unfortunately the air conditioning had broken down & the temperature was 38 c outside. 4.15 came & went with the notice board flashing last call but with no Qantas staff to be seen. Eventually the first communication about what was happening came at 6.00pm, that a part was being flown in from Sydney & another part from Melbourne & that all being well we would fly at 10.30 at the earliest - this meant we would miss the fireworks in Singapore having paid for an expensive hotel on the river to view them. Many of the Qantas customers pointed out that we had been waiting 5 hours already in the hot departure lounge without food or water. This was then promised but took half an hour to organise & when arrived everything disappeared in a flash. Around 7.30 they gave us all vouchers for $20 to spend on food, but all the food outlets (the 2 of them) had pretty much run out of food being New Years Eve & we weren't alloweed to buy alcohol with them. We opted to buy a couple of sandwiches 7 some bottles of coke, & invested in a small bottle of Bacardi to drink in the New Year. Eventually flew at around 10.45 & midnight was a subdued affair with a Qantas dinner & a small bottle of Aussie plonk before the light went out around 12.30. Great New Year, atleast we have the Chinese New Year to look forward to in 26 days time..

Also one zip on my rucusack broke in transit, so now the little bag is held on to the bigger bag by washing line. You get creative when you travel as you don't necessarily have all the things you need to hand.

Staying at the Miramar Hotle for the fist 2 nights (a posh hotel from which to see the fireworks. Close to the river & Chinatown on the south side of town, but no metro close). Arise around 9am, despite getting to bed about4am, as couldn't work the curtains in our tired state on arrival, so they were only partially closed and the sun woke us. Set off to Chinatown for our first breakfast - eggs, rice & some other unidedntifiable stuff, all for $2 Sing. Gill then went on to buy 2 paisr of shoes (1 pair lasted 2 days!). In the evening went to Clarks Quay (Boat & Clarks quay are the active night spots on the river with loads of bars & restaurants. Watched some Chinese Lion dancers practising on poles for a big contest the next night.

After our 2nd night we had to move to our budget hotel, a Fragrance hotel (a chain a bit like Travel Lodge)located close to Little India & Orchard Road (& the Raffles hotel)on the north side of the river. Location was great & the hotel was fine (even had a pool on the roof), but the room was tiny, the size of our double bed!! Did the hop-on hop-off bus for the day, & went over to Sentosa Island in the afternoon. Sentosa Island is a big Play area, with lots of fun activities (none of which we did)& some very small beaches. They are building a Universal Studios there. Return via the Raffles but Gill refuses to buy the Sinapore Sling at their price (now Sing $22).

Day three & four do more tourist stuff in Singapore. Included walking around alot, going into lots of shops & eating various asaian dishes. We also swim twice a day on the roof. Did also do the Jurong Bird Park, the Zoo & the Night Safari (all in one day). All were great & the zoo & the Night Safari are extemely well constructed for seeing animals in 'natural' environments. We also visited the Stamford Hotel to see the view from the 71st floor. Whislt Pearse & Natalie paid Sing $ 300 for a bottle of Bulgarian merlot (their favourite wine) just to see the view, we did it backpacker style & did it for free (as it was too early in the morning for the bars to be open)

5th January we departed from Singapore by bus in Malaysia...