|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| Today was busy, but I feel like I saw most of Singapore (except Sentosa Island...). Woke up early, about 8am. I was sleeping below the aircon, and although I wasn't cold, it was so incredibly noisy that it kept waking me up throughout the night. I went down to have FREE breakfast (always a novelty when travelling!) and met a lovely girl from England, Kerri, who I proceeded to spend the rest of the day with. She was on her way home after spending 2 years in Oz, the last 12 months in Brisbane actually! We caught the public bus into town (turns out Joo Chiat is a fair way out!) and started in Chinatown. Walked from there (through the pouring rain mind you - will I ever see sunshine again?!?) through the colonial district and across to Orchand road, where I tried this thing called a Carrot K8, but it didn't taste like there was any carrot, only oil, and was quite disgusting... I couldn't finish it, and quite frankly, I don't think I want to know what was in it! From there we headed back to Raffles, stopping for lunch on the way (Singaporean Noodles - or the closest thing we could find to it!). We spent a good 15 minutes trying to find the famous Long Bar, and I still don't know where the actual hotel lobby was amongst all the stops and cafes! I actually loved the Singapore Sling (had to be done...); I was afraid I'd hate it cause of the gin. They have them all lined up and ready to go, and are made in a group from the blender, which was a bit disappointing. It was easily forgiven though as the fun of throwing peanut shells on the floor kicked in! After there we headed over to Little India, then into Kompong Glam (historical district) to see the Sultan Palace and Sultan Mosque. Found our way back to the bus stop (well, I did - Kerri apparently has absolutely no sense of direction, kinda like Sam) and caught the bus back to Joo Chiat. Had a bit of a wander around there, and then we headed back to the hostel to grab my luggage. I managed to successfully find my way to the MRT station (figured I should try it while I was here!) and even managed to change trains successfully. I couldn't really understand the concept of the $1 security fee on the ticket (which is refunded at the other end) until I saw the ticket, which is like a card, not paper. It's a good idea - I bet it helps to reduce pollution/litter. Got to the airport only to discover my flight had been moved to Terminal 3 (was Terminal 2), so hiked up to the skytrain, squeezed on, the walked all the way to the other side of the terminal to check in. The flight's pretty full, as expected (tried again to check in online ahead of time but didn't work!) so I'm in seat E, which really sucks but hopefully I'll be able to sleep! Now I have a good 2 hours to kill before I board... | | |
| So nothing very exciting has happened... We got the taxi to the airport, waited around for about an hour to check in, checked in, made it through immigration, caught the flight (watched Juno), arrived at Singapore airport... I thought I'd lost my bag though cause by the time I made it to the conveyor belt, there were no more bags coming out and the screen said the last bag had been sent... So I walked off to find information to track my bag, and it was sitting on the ground on the other side. So that was good. Got the bus to my hostel, which was interesting... It was peak hour, and the bus driver was less than helpful! I was the only non-Singaporean on the very crowded bus, and I was trying to pick when we reached Joo Chiat Complex (where I was supposed to get off). I noticed it as I went past the street... so got off at the next stop and walked back. Found the hostel fine, which is lovely. I kinda wish I was staying longer, although we are on the south west part of Singapore - not very central. The hostel owner is absolutely adorable, and extremely helpful. He helped me plan a day for tomorrow - although I'm not going to do much. Basically just walk around, get my Singapore Sling at Raffels, then head back to the airport. So I went for a bit of a walk around this area, which is called Joo Chiat. It's mainly food places and shopping from what I can gather, but nice. I'll be able to see more in daylight tomorrow. I'm going to have an early night I think, perhaps I'm still a bit hungover from last night... | | |
| We crazily decided to go kyaking yesterday morning in Halong Bay, which was actually quite nice and no where near as cold as I was expecting! I didn't want to risk my camera so I left it behind, which was a shame cause the scenery was absolutely beautiful! The motorbike ride down to the harbour was an experience, we'll just say that... After kyaking we checked out, cause the high-speed boat back to Halong City and the bus back to Hanoi, all fairly uneventful. Just after we got back, went to see the water puppets, which I actually quite enjoyed. Went out to dinner, drank probably too much (was trying to use up my money) and now I think I need a greasy breakfast before we head to the airport to fly to Singapore. | | |
| I made it back okay last night - took a 'shortcut' (ie a wrong turn!) but ended up being better cause I recognised immediately where I was! We left for Halong Bay today. It took about 4 hours by bus to Halong City, which was so ugly we just got straight on the boat to Cat Ba Island! Took a few detours through the limestone islands (which look amazing!) including one to a cave which is gorgeous. The whole area is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so no one is allowed to live on the islands - they must all living in little villages on the water! We arrived on Cat Ba Island at about 5ish, and Gemma and I just went for a walk around the town. It's quite cute, although cold (but not freezing, which is what I thought it would be!). It'd be lovely in the summer, although apparenly 8-10 times more expensive and absolutely crowded! | | |
| Didn't do much yesterday to be honest... headed back to the hotel and then a group of us went out for breakfast (well, lunch really, it was after midday!), walked around a bit, then headed to the train station for our long journey to Hanoi! It wasn't too bad really - Janet had these cute minature cards so we played a game called 'switch' (quite like uno actually) and the others drank a significant amount of vodka and rum! The train was a little delayed getting into Hanoi, which worked out well (we arrived at 6:30am instead of 4:30am!) and headed to the hotel. Naturally we couldn't check in, so we did a city tour, which was fabulous - went all the places I wanted to go! We started at the Ho Chi Minh Complex, started to enter the Mausoleum, but the Singaporean President was visiting so it was closed for about 30 minutes. Went to the museum instead, then to the mausoleum, which was freaky... They've preserved the body of Ho Chi Minh, despite his obvious wishes to be cremated... then visited his old house and the place that was built for him, but he refused to live in (wanted to be near the people). We then went to the Temple of Literature, which also used to have a university out the back. We had lunch at Koto, which is a restaurant run by street kids, who learn hospitality skills (to be a chef or a waiter etc) and then have more chance to get a job in the real world. After that we went to the Museum of Ethnicology, which I naturally found fascinating but I think everyone else was bored. After that we headed back to the hotel where I think everyone had a nap (I'm exhausted, only had 4 hours sleep again!) but Gemma, Norma, Janet and I went out for a 'walking tour' of the old quarter, which was the business part of the citadel. The others went back to the hotel after that and I just did a bit of walking around, bought a couple of presents (don't expect much! :p) and found this cute little internet cafe. No idea how to get back though; it's like a rabbit warren here!! I should be right though - I'll just backtrack and go the long way... We head early to Halong Bay tomorrow - I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! | | |
|
