We arrived in Singapore at about 6pm local time and, as Gareth had visited before & knew the area, decided to use the subway to get us from the airport to the city centre. This was simple enough as we lugged all our bags on but then at the next stop it completely filled up, this leaving us rammed into the middle of the carriage trying to hold all our bags next to a German couple in the same situation, so this became quite funny as we chatted. Once off the tube, we headed up to ground level and set off in what Gareth assured us was the right direction for our hostel. This was only the second time we had had to carry our bags any distance (the first being in Brunei which wasn't too far!) and we only agreed to that rather than getting a taxi as Gareth had promised it was no further than the time in Brunei. He was right, it wouldn't have been very far at all if we had been walking in the right direction and not the complete opposite way! This turning a 10 minute walk into a 20-25min walk. With our bags weighing so much this was probably the longest 25 minutes of our trip. With every corner Gareth having to look at the map the tension was growing fast as our shoulders felt like they were going to break! Eventually we made it to our hostel, 'The Inn Crowd', where we dropped off our bags and freshened up, as we were now soaked with sweat, before heading out for dinner. We were staying in the heart of Little India so it made sense to find an Indian restaurant and now knowing the trick of going where the locals go we chose the busiest one we could find where we were ushered in among stares from the locals who obviously weren't used to their favourite restaurant being invaded by tourists! The menu was quite complicated and, as it was now getting late, many of their dishes had sold out so the waiter suggested he chose some meals and sides for us and just brought them over! This was a huge gamble but one which paid off as the meals he chose were delicious and things we probably never would have chosen ourselves!

The next morning we all made our way to the bus stop to wait for the 'Hop on, Hop off' tour bus so we could see the whole city . We instantly got a good feeling about Singapore as everything seemed well organised and cared for and the scenery was spectacular! We stayed on the bus for a whole lap to ensure we saw everything and then jumped off at the Singapore flyer (their version of the London Eye!) and walked along the Double Helix bridge to the Marina Bay shopping centre. Everything here is so carefully planned and designed to ensure it fits in with the other structures in the area, it really is beautiful! With the centre piece of the area being the Marina Bay Sands hotel. This is a stunning 5 star hotel with a ship on the top. Once we had finished exploring, we made our way back to the hostel, stopping on the way at an Australian bar called The Prince of Wales for dinner before venturing back out into the city to go on the Red Lantern tour. Unfortunately, it was further than we thought to get to the meeting point and after dashing through the streets for 30 minutes we missed the tour! So instead, Gareth went on a night cruise along the river while Matt & I went up to the observation deck at the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel . It was such an impressive view as the sun set for the day and the lights of the city came on. We could see for miles as all the streets and buildings were perfectly lit up. As an even bigger treat, a light and fountain show suddenly started on the river below us and we had an excellent view! When we got back to the hostel and met up with Gareth again, he too had watched the show albeit from the other side and had had front row seats! A perfect end to a perfect day!

The next morning, Matt & I got on back on the Hop on Hop off bus but on a different route and explored the northern end of the city whilst Gareth went on a walking tour. We had arranged to meet in Chinatown for a walking tour there at 2pm but of course we got caught up shopping and were running late. Suddenly realising we had 5 minutes to do a 30 minute walk, we had to dash across the city, enlisting a local girl's help to show us a few shortcuts, only to arrive at our meeting point and discover that not only was Gareth running late too & hadn't yet arrived but the walking tour had been cancelled! By way of an apology, the company offered us reduced rate tickets to the museum which we accepted but decided to go for lunch first!

As we walked past a Chinese restaurant, the owner practically dragged us in and sat us down so we dutifully chose something to eat! When they served our meals they automatically gave us chopsticks so we decided this was the ideal opportunity to improve our skills! It took us quite a while to finish our meal & if I'm honest we did cheat occasionally and use standard cutlery but only because we were so hungry!! After we had eaten, we made our way back to the museum, which was actually very interesting! We had learnt by now that Gareth likes to photograph absolutely everything in each museum, he says it is so he can write up his own blog when he gets back to England as the photos will help him remember but I'm convinced he is actually planning on setting up his own version of each of these museums back home for those who can't travel that far!! This, of course, means he takes forever to walk round the museum and we were getting a bit bored waiting for him so we decided to have a look around the shops outside while he finished off . This turned out to be a big mistake... by the time we had finished our little look about and gone back to the museum entrance we couldn't believe he still wasn't out and we became even more annoyed when Matt when in to look for him and he was nowhere to be seen! Assuming he must have come out and gone for his own look about the shops, we waited for a while before making the decision that if we were going to make it back to the bus depot in time for our trip to the Night Safari, we were going to have to leave, after all Gareth had a map and knew what time he needed to meet for the trip so we would see him there! We had walked for about 5 minutes when I suddenly realised that actually, no Gareth didn't have any maps as he had put them in my bag! Matt dashed back for one final check but still couldn't see him and it was silly for all of us to miss the trip so we went in ahead and hoped Gareth would have the sense to pick up a new map from the museum entrance! We got to the bus depot with about 15 minutes to spare and those next 15 minutes felt more like an hour as we waited to see whether Gareth would make it! I explained to the guide what had happened and he said they would wait as long as possible but really did need to be on the road at 6pm! Gareth finally came dashing up the road at 5:58pm! Talk about cutting it fine! As it turns out, there was actually a whole extra level to the museum which Matt & I had missed and so, when he went back in to look for Gareth, he was in fact still there just hidden! Oops!!

Safely on the bus to the night safari, the dramas of the afternoon were soon forgotten and excitement took over! It took about an hour to get to the zoo and we were advised that, once inside, it was best for us to head straight to the show then take the safari afterwards as the later show may mean you miss the bus home! Not wanting to have another mad dash today, we decided to follow the advice and went straight to the outdoor amphitheatre where the show took place . The show was really good fun and different to other shows we have previously seen at zoos due to the animals taking part! There were hyenas & wolves as well as some of the more usual creatures such as snakes (one poor man had a huge one wrapped around him just before they turned off all the lights!) and otters (who sorted through rubbish putting it into recyclable categories!)

Once the show had finished, we made our way to the bus station to get on the tram. This was excellent as it took you round all the enclosures of the nocturnal animals so you could see animals awake and active that are usually asleep during normal zoo opening hours! We drove really close to them to so it was a little scary at times but really exciting! It almost felt like we were riding around Jurassic Park as it was so dark and not knowing what was round each corner as the animals weren't in cages. After the safari, we made our way back to the entrance where some fire breathing performers were about to take to the stage . They were phenomenal and had us all transfixed on what they were doing. Sadly, it was then time to leave the zoo, head back to the bus & make our way back to the city.

The following morning, Matt & I were up bright & early as we had an important appointment to keep! After the disappointment of not seeing any orangutans in Borneo, we had decided to book onto a trip back to Singapore zoo, this time to have breakfast with the orangutans! We entered the zoo through a different entrance this time and were taken down to the restaurant where they had the most incredible array of breakfast foods! I wasn't interested in eating though, I wanted to spend as long as possible with the beautiful orangutans! Now you may think its some clever advertising and that you can't possibly actually have breakfast with them but no it's not, you sit at your table & they sit at theirs just a few metres away and you all eat together! With the older ones sitting calmly eating and the young cheeky ones playing about . Then you can go and stand with them and have your photo taken! It was brilliant and I was just like a child going up more than once to have my photo taken! Matt even going to have his photo holding a snake. Once breakfast was over and the orangutans had gone back to their enclosure, we were free to explore the park for a couple of hours so we whizzed round trying to see as much as possible before we had to get back on the coach & return to the city which left at around 11:45.

Whilst we were out having fun, Gareth was left with the task of carrying a huge bag of our souvenirs & belongings to the Post Office and sending them home! We met him back at the hostel at around 12 and got ourselves ready to go out for lunch. The reason we had to make an effort for today's lunch was that we were going to Raffles Hotel! This had been on our must do list right from the start if the trip and we had all been looking forward to our Singapore Sling cocktails! They were delicious, despite containing gin (I'm not normally a fan!), and if it wasn't for the price we could have happily spent the afternoon there sipping on more than a couple of those! It was a lovely looking restaurant but they have a funny tradition of giving each table a bowl of monkey nuts and they encourage you to throw the shells on the floor when you are finished, so the whole restaurant floor is scattered with nut shells . Once our glasses & plates were empty, we had a quick look in the Raffles museum before heading off to the bus depot to go on our final tour of our stay, the Red Lantern Night Tour!

This tour was led by a very entertaining lady who clearly loved her job! The tour took us around some of the lesser known streets in the main city and to a shopping centre on the outskirts. We'd made the mistake of sitting outside of the bus so it turned out we couldn't actually hardly hear the start of her tour, but it looked very interesting! We then went to the red light district, or red lantern as they call it, and our guide loved pointing out all the prostitutes for us! Our final stop was Clarkes Quay which is where all the nightlife happens before returning us to the city centre. It was a fun trip because of the guide but we didn't really get to see much more than we had already seen during our daytime exploring!

For our last day in Singapore, Matt & I decided to visit the shopping district, Orchard road, and have a look in some of the giant malls they have there. There seemed like a never ending supply of shops, it was incredible! Matt has been shopping in New York and he seemed to think there it was better shopping here than there. We didn't buy very much, just a few essential items of clothing as our last chance to stock up on cheap T-shirts and things before we hit expensive Australia. Then we made our way back to the hostel to collect our bags with our legs and feet feeling so tired from 4 days of relentless walking, before heading to the airport at around 7pm ready for our 21:30 flight! We really loved Singapore wishing we could of had another day or 2, it was clean, tidy, beautifully built, well organised and the people were so friendly and helpful! It definitely deserves the reputation it has for being a wonderful place to visit and I really don't think this is the last time we will be there!