Day 129 and 130: Lizards and Leaving Singapore

Day 129

It's our last day in Singapore, oh how the time flies. We still have one more thing we want to check out in this lovely city, it's Botanical Gardens. 

It's MRT is only a few short stops from ours and when we get out we we greeted by a very luscious park. We begin in the fruit tree section, then the nut trees before Ben sees a sign which gets him pretty excited, there's wild monitor lizards in the park! Unsurprisingly at this point we head off straight away to find them. The sign said to head towards the lakes and we are very close to Symphony Lake when we hear a rustling in the bank and are so chuffed to see a baby monitor stretching about in the leaves! He was about 2 foot long with really cool markings. We watch him for a bit as he searches for food and I have to explain to Ben that we can't fit him in our rucksacks.

We carry on towards the lake when I spot something large swimming in the water, thinking it might be another dragon, we go and investigate but it turns out its full of turtles! We manage to get a video of them all squashing each other and watch them for ages before walking around the rest of the lake. We can't believe our luck when we spot another, much bigger monitor! More pictures taken, we do a bit of statue spotting before heading to the ginger garden and getting educated on what it looks like when it grows. The past few days have been very flower orientated and Ben's got really into taking some amazing snaps, I think a new hobby might be emerging. 

We wander through the park till we reach the other end and get the MRT back to the flat where Pete and Ali and their two boys pick us up for some food. We all squeeze into their car and head off to the Gardens By The Bay hawker place and get some yummy food including Sting Ray (quite nice). Pete and Ali are so lovely and it's nice to have a bit of human contact other than each other for a while. We spend the night chatting away till they drop us off and we back for Bali tomorrow!

Day 130

Once we've cleaned up the flat and eaten the rest of the supplies, we grab a taxi to the airport where I fill a whole with a Subway sandwich before we head back to the Social Media Tree for another picture.

We are only here for a couple of hours which is weirdly short wait for is. We get a little too into the airport again and only leave ourselves a few minutes to get to our gate. We rush their only to find out our flight is delayed and we haven't missed anything, phew. We watch a weird US chat show about food to fill the time before we board but it goes so quickly and before we know it we've landed in the very sunny Bali! The airport looks really cool with temple style buildings out the front and flowers everywhere, I think I'm going to like Indonesia. Our hotel is our jammiest deal (or to quote Phil, more Jam that Hartley) yet, a £140 a night room for £17 and the place is lovely. We check in, slurping out complimentary smoothie before going up to our light and airy room. The place is made all the better as it has a pool and we strip down straight away and jump in. We need to recoup some cash over the next few days so it's going to be 4 days of lounging and blogging, it's a hard life but someone has to do it.

Day 127 and 128: Food Challenges and Beautiful Plants

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. 

Day 125 and 126: Walking, Sight Seeing, Walking

Day 125 

After spending the morning planning out what we want to do for the next 5 days, we enjoy a cheese sandwich lunch (Pete and Ali, who we have borrowed the flat from bought us over a hamper of food last night and is has cheddar in, they are my new favourite people) and then head off to explore.

We haven't got a map yet so we have to wing it which doesn't go too well as I leave Ben in charge and he didn't read Google maps properly but it does mean we end up in Bugis market and we have some delicious snacks so it's not all bad. At this point, we also find an Ibis hotel and grab a map from them so we are no longer lost as its started to rain and it's not fun wandering around when you get damp. It turns out we aren't that far from where we wanted to be anyway which is the Marina Bay Area so we head off for a short walk past interesting buildings (the Raffles Hotel, I would love to stay here) and historical memorials (The WW2 one). And then suddenly in front of us a huge spaceship like building appears in the sky and Ben turns to me and says that's the Marina Bay Sands. It's huge!! We head to the waterfront next to it so we can get some snaps and we also see the Singapore Merlion, the F1 track and get to walk over the cool helix bridge.

You can't go in the hotel as its too exclusive but it does have a mall below it full of posh shops so we walk around it window shopping (Cath Kidson, swoon). We are carrying on our explorer vibe and head away from the bay, through the business district to China Town which is crazy full of bustling markets and cool shops, we grab some food at a very cheap foot market (I wasn't too impressed with my Fish Ball Soup but it was edible and Backpackers can't be choosers) before coming back to the apartment to rest out weary legs.

Day 126

With so much of the city to explore, we head off again today to see what we can find. First stop today is the amazingly fabulous Haw Par Villa, a park themed all around Chinese folk law. It was built by the brothers who invented Tiger Balm, the Asian equivalent of Savlon that you wouldn't want anywhere near a cut, and it's crazy. It's also perfect for Julian with all its little models and he has a field day. The first bit we go into is the 10 Courts of Hell which was just so odd and definitely not appropriate for children. Next we wander though the folk law stories and memorials which just got stranger as we wandered around. It also got incredible hot as the sun got more powerful and even my knees began to sweat, urg. 

We give in after an hour and we drag our sweaty bodies back to the MRT and go and check out Little India which really lives up to its name. Our trip to India, all those months ago now, was so crammed and so much of a culture shock that it overwhelmed me and I  although I'm glad we went , I haven't wanted to go back to revisit. Until now. The streets here are full of brightly coloured fruit and veg stalls, next to shops selling any manner of spices who's smell spill out into the street. The air is filled with bad recordings of Bollywood songs and it's all set in the traditional Singapore buildings that are so brightly coloured. I want to go back! Although, I do think I preference the tamer, cleaner version that Singapore has to offer.

We walk up and down the street taking it all in before going into the Indian Heritage Centre which has just opened near the MRT. It was really interesting to learn about the history of Indians in Singapore, including there part in WW2 and I would really recommend going in if you get the chance whilst you are there. After this we grab some incredibly good and cheap roti and curry from a stall Ben heard was good and take our full and again tired bodies back to the apartment. 

Day 123 and 124: My Birthday! and Leaving Malaysia

Day 123

It's my birthday, it's my birthday! I get woken up by Keo the bear singing me happy birthday with a very excited Ben behind me. Turns out he got some of my friends to send my little birthday message videos which were really lovely and make me miss home.

My tummy starts to rumble and then I remember we have got a unlimited buffet breakfast included in the room and I'm out of bed and dressed in a shot. The selection is incredible, we have cereals, fruit, pancakes, omelettes, toast, cheese, salad, ham, curries, fried breakfast and pastries, I'm in heaven. We eat till we are full to bursting then head to the pool to sun bathe. The layout of the hotel is so good and the pool even has a waterfall. We lounge here for a bit then head down to the beach which is about a 30 second walk and lounge and swim a little more. From here you can see the sky cab, which is a cable car that goes up into the Langkawi hills and it's one of the things I'm most excited about doing today.

Once we are bored of the water, we get ourselves dressed up and grab a free shuttle to the sky cab from the hotel entrance. We had heard rumours that you can queue for hours to get on but we went straight through, it must be my birthday good luck. The first thing you do is a 3D simulator ride thing on Mars weirdly then you grab a cab. Oh my god, it's beautiful. They have done it so there's no mechanical noise so all you can hear is the rainforest beneath you and you don't get distracted from the incredible view. You can get off at a middle stop and get some pictures which we did then you grab another cab up to the top section which gives amazing views of the island. There is also a sky bridge here that links two peaks so we pay our £1 and head to it. They are still constructing it so the path is a little rocky and muddy but it's worth the walk. The views again are amazing even if I was a little scared as I swear the bridge was moving. You can also stand on glass sections so you can see beneath you,

 another thing I wasn't that keen on. 

We walked back and got hot and sweaty so treated ourselves to an ice cream before heading back down on the cabs to the shopping village beneath the cable car. It's only a short walk back to the hotel so we meander back and grab our free welcome fruit punch from the sports bar. At this point Ben slinked off to reception which I couldn't work out why until at 8pm there's a knock on the door and a chocolate cake and a fruit hamper turns up for me, all complimentary of the hotel, so lovely and so lovely of Ben to organise it :) It's my choice of what we do tonight so we watch Les Miserable and I cry and eat cake, what more could a girl want from her birthday.

Day 124

I don't want to leaved here, it's all just too nice but Singapore calls. We fill our faces at the breakfast buffet then spend the morning working out how to smuggle the rest of the gin back (complimentary toiletry bottles if you're curious). We grab a taxi back to the airport at about lunch time and it's all a bit uneventful apart from the immigration can't decide if I look more like Katy Perry or Miley Cryus. 

We are flying back to Singapore with Tiger air and it's a smooth flight. We are staying in Singapore with some friends of friends and after a little bit of a kerfuffle with finding the place, we only had one line of the address and we could get hold of them straight away, we arrive at the apartment and Pete, who is meeting us, arrives a few minutes after. The place is an old 1950's army quarters so the rooms are airy and big but basic which is perfect for us, it's even got a washing machine, heaven. We go out for a quick drink and snack before unpacking and crashing ready to explore tomorrow.