Marc & Nora ROUND THE WORLD 2005/2006 - Join us!

7th of October:

Quite late in the evening we arrived in Singapore where we checked in to our already pre-booked youth hostel "the inn crowd"

Have a windowless double bed room for 2 nights and stay in a dorm for the last night.

shared showers - all really clean, breakfast is also included. the hostel is situated in little india - and you really feel like being in the middle of delhi - just indians, smell of spices, very busy, indian music, etc etc... (any memories karin?)

8th of October:

Got up early(ish) and guess what: It was pissing down!!!! we both dressed up accordingly but it was impossible to go anywhere...so we ended up in a street cafe round the corner...

however after an hour or so it got better so we started to explore this beautiful city.

singapore is really amazing - both marc and i quite fancy this place - it is so diverse....

huge skyscrapers, old colonial buildings, lots of life, everybody is so friendly....

we went to see the parliament, the supreme court, the theatres, the riverside, raffles hotel, orchard road, the french quartier, china town, etc etc...

lunch was quite an experience as we went to a food hawker in order to save some money...

in the evening we went to the night safari. Well, we don't have much to say about that as we both didn't enjoy it very much. It was so crowded, a real fake Disney kind of zoo with loads of extremely overpriced merchandise at the entrance....we found it rather strange that even animals that are active during the day and meant to sleep at night were all out and about...they must have been on dope!

You sit in a little train with a "Tour guide" commenting and left and right are "wild" animals - not even bothered by the screaming kids and the loudspeakers...all animals are blinded by flood lights so that visitors can see them - how realistic! - Not our cup of tea really! We expected something different! Never mind!

after that we rushed back as there was something REALLY IMPORTANT not to be missed! ENGLAND - AUSTRIA football...
...found a nice little pub at the riverside - the prices however were not so nice! 14 Singapore Dollars (5 pounds/7 euros) for a pint of beer!

but even more shocking: austria lost!

what a sad day for Nora!

9th of October

Guess what: we woke up and it was raining again! however, this time the sky cleared and the sun came out...so we decided to visit the botanic garden. This was fantastic. Calm, beautiful and REAL! Saw lots of squirrels jumping from tree to tree, lots of exotic plants and flowers.

After that we took the bus to SENTOSA, a lovely island with beaches and other attractions. From there we took the cable car to a hill overlooking the city. My god, the cable car is so high up - really scary!

The evening we strolled around in little India, which was fantastic also due to the fact that it was Sunday, which meant it was the busiest. You really feel you are in Delhi - just Indians wherever you look....

But we couldn't leave Singapore without doing the obligatory thing:

Having a SINGAPORE SLING at the RAFFLE'S HOTEL.
So we went into the bar and threw peanut shells into the floor - just as you are meant to do....

Next time we come to Singapore we will spend a night in Raffle's - it is only 3000 singapore dollars (1500 euros or 1000 pounds)