Singapore - the America of Southeast Asia

After landing at the Singapore airport at 1:24am local time, we thought it would be stupid to spend money on a hostel for the night, so we instead decided to sleep on the floor of the airport. Ok, maybe plenty of people have done that, but seating is usually reserved for the inside of the airport, not once you've gone through baggage claim and you're on the way out. We had to sleep on the hard tile floor in the corner of the busy ticketing area. It was about the worst nights sleep we've ever had. Everyone woke up grumpy, sore and exhausted. We hopped on the MRT and rode to our hostel. After a little breakfast at the local McDonalds, we headed over to the Orchard Road area, which is famous for its shopping. There's literally a shopping mall on every block of Orchard Road, if not more. These people love to shop. I guess people come from all over to shop here. But seeing as we're on a backpacking trip we're too poor for any of that. We just walked around and enjoyed the food courts, which are insane. The food looks like works of art. Next we went for a little walk around the Chinatown area.

Oh, I don't want to forget Jamie's little mistake. While we were walking around we noticed how clean Singapore is. There's not a speck of trash anywhere. Jamie was looking for somewhere to throw away her coffee cup and saw what looked like a burned out red trash bin. As she was throwing it away, a woman started gesturing wildly at her and yelling "noooooo!" She had accidentally thrown her garbage in a prayer bin, not a garbage can. A little embarrassing, and perhaps a little bit of bad karma for Jamie. But pretty funny for the rest of us. :)

Ok so back to Chinatown. We walked around the little shops and had some dinner. Fish ball soup for Jamie and Ianne, black pepper beef for Kasey and I. After dinner we went out in the Clarke Quay area. It's a touristy little area by the river. We went down looking for a bar called The Clinic, but found out that drinks are $50 singapore dollars. Too rich for our blood. The bar itself is a little morbid. You sit in wheelchairs and drink your drink out of IV bags. We settled in an Irish bar called Mulligans for $15 pints.

The next day we saw Little India, which really isn't that exciting. It's mostly just a neighborhood of Indian people going about their day. We had PB&J sandwiches in a park and split off. Ianne & Jamie went to an art museum and Kasey and I wandered around the marina, where we saw the "boat on a building" up close. We also saw the famous Merlion. At night we met up with a friend of Ianne's who showed us a good time at a "lady club". Mostly it's a club with a few different male singers, and then at the end of the night a bunch of guys parade up on the stage and girls bid on them. Use your imagination for what they're bidding for. The guy who gets the highest amount is crowned. Pretty weird night, but definitely fun.






















Our last day we visited the Botanic Gardens, then headed off to the airport. Last big flight of the trip - on to Bali!