Singapore

Singapore is great. It's clean, modern, efficient, like a futuristic city. It is so easy getting around, its nice to have a break from the 'challenging' public transport I've come across so far. They are a bit obsessed with air conditioning though, most shops and things are so cold I had to go outside to warm up!

I managed to find what is probably the friendliest hostel in the world. Within 10 mins of getting there the bar staff treated me like I was a long lost friend, and every night was fantastic, I met so many nice people and really felt at home. It was a bit of a shock being the only female in a dormitory with 5 blokes though, especially as I had been getting used to hotels from Bali & Thailand. But I had missed the dorms, there's nothing quite like the atmosphere if you get a good one. There's nothing quite like the (smelly and noisy) atmosphere if you get a bad dorm however. Luckily this was a great one.

The hostel where I was staying was right in the middle of Little India. The area was fantastic, the smell of spices was everywhere and the shops were selling lots of delicious looking food. They also had proper Indian music blasting out from the shops, each shop's music trying to drown out its neighbours, it was so cool, I felt like I was walking down a Bollywood film set.

So, most of my time was spent in Singapore socialising, and marvelling at the efficiency of it all. I also attempted not to break one of the hundreds of laws (almost anything slightly bad for you is illegal here, chewing gum and spitting comes to mind). Its definitely a big brother society, but the locals don't seem to mind. I spent an uninteresting afternoon at Sentosa island, a holiday resort only 10 mins away from the city centre. I spent a great evening walking around the river bank, taking photos of the lights reflecting in the water, and listening to live music. One of the pubs I went into here was an English themed pub, and they had it so accurate it was exactly like being back in London. It even had lots of blokes in suits and posh English accents, obviously straight from work. Singapore is a great place to recuperate and think of home, I even got a proper cup of tea, in a teapot!! And a steak pie with chips, and McDonalds. Its amazing what you miss when you are away from home for a long time.