Apr 2006

Yipee - normality!!! We arrived in the haven of Singapore yesterday. We are staying with Emma's friend Carrie's parents who live here. It's a damn good job too as it's pricey here! Not as much at the UK but pricey compared with Malaysia.

I only managed to spend 600 quid in Malaysia AND I bought a new digiatl camera. In Thailand i spent 800 - the lonely planet lies. Thailand was not cheap for us!! The 3 quid per night dorm rooms do not exist.

Also, for anyone entering Singapore from Malaysia by coach, as we were, beware that the queue for immigration is huge for none Malay passports. The bus will stop at the border where you have to get off with your backpack and fill out some forms blah blah blah. Then you get back onto the bus to be taken to the bus terminal ....... Wrong! Because your bus driver is Malaysian he waits only for the Malaysians to get back on the bus!!! So we were stranded at the border!! We could take 2 regular city buses to get to our desintation, but what a nightmare when you first arrive in a new country!! We ended up hailing a cab but that cost us more than the bus ticket itself from Malaysia!! Not a great start.

We eventually met up with Carries parents, Rachel and Joe - they are lovely, lively and very generous people. To let 2 strangers stay in your home for a week is a wonderful thing to do - especially for backpackers like us.

Anyway, moan over! Today we went to Sentosa Island which is at the very bottom of Singapore and is connected by a causeway. You pay an entrance fee to get in but that gives you unlimited acess to the buses around the island. Unfortunately the cable car was out for maintenance from today til the end of April, otherwise we could have taken the cable car across the sea instead of walk over the causeway :-(

We went to an Aquarium and a Dolphin Lagoon where they have pink, yes pink dolphins!! We went on a bizarre cinema ride thing where you watch a screen and the car moves around trying it's hardest to make you throw up or break your back. Finally we took a trip to the Merlion a giant lion / mermaid creature constructed from concrete which is supposed to guard the waters round Singapore - the view was ok but there was a mammoth storm overhead so we couldn't stay up there long because of the lightening!!\

We have not been so lucky with weather recently, ever since Cameron Highlands we seem to have brought the rain everywhere with us. It's too humid to put the rain mac's on so we just get wet - it's not fun, rain combined with sweat is just gross.

Tomorrow we are going to the Singapore Zoo which is supposed to be mega, so that should be fun.

That's all my news for now - hope you are all well.

xx

To sum up Malaysia as a female traveller, in 3 words - Get A Headscarf. Simple as that.

I didn't enjoy Malaysia as we were constantly being stared at by Muslim men - it was awful. The only place we felt safe was in Penang as it was a former British colony. Cameron Highlands was pretty much run by Scots to begin with so it was safe there too - but that was it!

Melaka was so boring - it's not worth more than 1 day of precious travelling time.

So Borneo was a complete waste of time - what a let down!! After we landed we checked into a hotel as we were fed up of slumming it - it turned out that we were the only two white prople staying there!!

We visited a cat museum which was cool but after we left i managed to fall into a drain and rip my trousers and cut my leg - ouch! In fact the real reason i fell over was that i was ogling a group of male runners.... very embarrasing.

We went to the Orangutan Sanctuary to see how the rehab program works - hmmm all they have are 3 orangutans and big open confinements with a platform and a jungle gym type swingy thing - not at all like the wild! There were poor little monkeys who looked like they were in jail - absolutly no toys to play with or bars to swing from. They had 3 mad sun bears who kept walking back and forth, they had nothing to occupy them. Also, I managed to fall over AGAIN on a patch of soggy wet moss - I banged my bad knee and scraped the side of my leg - the guide showing us round didn't even bother to ask me if i was ok - cheeky monkey!

So now i have a bruise on my knee, a chunk missing from my ankle and a giant bruise on my calf - it hurts like hell!!

Other than those two places we visted a Cultural Village which was really cool - we got to learn about all the tribes who live in Borneo.

Now we are in Melaka - it's horrible! It's by the sea but constantly smells like sewage - nice!

We are taking the bus to Singapore tomorrow and I can't wait!!! I am fed up of being stared at like i am some celebrity!

I will update again soon! Can't wait to get to OZ!!! Yipee!!