Day 127
Today is food challenge day. Whilst doing s bit of research into places we wanted to go in Singapore a number of food challenges came up and Ben is determined to try one. We mean to go to the Gardens By The Bay before he takes it one but we sleep in so its another lazy morning before we set off. The restaurant we have chosen is about an hour walk from our apartment and not near any public transport so we are using our legs today. The walks simple but hot and we both are so thirsty when we finally arrive at the restaurant and I think this might have been a contributing factor to the final outcome.
You have to pre book these so the waiter knows we are here for the Terminator Challenge as soon as we walk through the door. This looked like the easiest of the challenges but it does consist of 6 burgers covered in cheese with a combined weight of 1kg, 6 rashers of bacon, a family sized pot of coleslaw and I swear, a whole bag of oven chips. It's most definitely bigger than the picture online and Ben's starting to look a little nervous. The guy comes over with a jug of water and a stop clock and then suddenly, we're off.
Ben goes straight for the slaw as the chips are too hot but he takes too bites and he already gags, this is not looking good. I photograph him at each minute and he looks sicker and sadder in each one. There is just so much food and it's piping hot. By the 17th minute, it's obvious he's not going to make it but he sticks it out to the end and it makes me perversely proud. Though I wouldn't have been half as impressive if he had vomited on the table with I'm sure, at points, he wanted to do.
He fails but looks full which is good as its cost us £34, whoops. My food comes out now, some corn on the cob, and I eat up quick, knowing that Ben needs to leave. The walk back is very slow but Ben perks up as he starts to digest. We spend the rest of the afternoon evening with him recovering and we watch A Theory of Everything. Another good film.
Day 128
At about 2am this morning we get woken up by an epic thunderstorm and it felt like it shook the flat. It's still thundering away as we wake up so we stay in bed and try to book tickets and trips for Indonesia, our next country to explore. Urg, I won't miss this, it's just so time consuming and you never feel like your getting anywhere :( But just before lunch, we finally work out a plan and it's also stopped raining, horray so we head out.
We are finally going to Gardens By The Bay today which is a cool looking Eden Project style place. We jump on the MRT and are instantly impressed as we turn up. Outside there are some huge flower like structures which actually act as heating and cooling things for the whole place. There are surrounded by beautiful themed gardens but it's the domes that we are most excited about.
We grab our tickets at the counter and then head straight for the Cloud Forest dome first. It's based in areas of forests that are high up on mountains, that are, you guessed it covered in cloud. The dome is centre around a large plant covered block that has orchids and other beautiful flowers growing out of it. You start at the top of it and encounter all the plants you see at the higher parts of cloud forests and then make your way down, through all the different levels. It's really cool and made even cooler by the fact we have already seen so many of these plants in their natural habitats on our visits to Mount Kinabula and Hibok.
Ben gets very picture happy here and we get loads of snaps and spend the time oohing and aahing, getting ideas for our imaginary garden at home. Next up is the Flower Dome which is set out like a mild, dry climate like the Mediterranean and Australia. It's mainly cacti and desert plants and I don't enjoy this one as much and worryingly I feel cold walk oh around its 23-25C, how am I going to survive at home?
Tonight we are meeting Tineke, the Dutch girl who we meet at Jungle Jacks and head over now to meet her. We are going to check out the Arab Street which we have yet to do. It's full of brightly coloured rugs and all manor of fabric but we can't find any food in our tiny budgets so Tineke suggests Little India and me and Ben decide to take her to our cheap but yummy place we went the other day, she loves it! She returns the favour by taking us around Mustafa Shopping Centre which is famous in the area. Oh my, it's amazing, it's your one stop shop for everything, including tacky London merchandise, I love it. We wander around here for a bit till we all get tired legs and we go our separate ways, wishing Tineke luck as she heads home tomorrow.
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