"Malaysia to Singapore" a Singapore Travel Page by alvis

After a 5 hour bus ride through Malaysia and a confusing journey through customs we arrive in Singapore. I'm not sure what I expected, as Singapore tends to be well known for its cleanliness and sterile nature, it seemed nothing different to any european country. We arrived at the metro, got some currency and made our way in the direction of the harbour. Ding dong next stop Kellang, loved the sound of the metro and noticed a number of stops have English influenced names due to the former British rule.

Getting off the metro at Kellang we pulled over a taxi and gave him our destination, Hotel81 Palace. The 1st thing I noticed about the taxi was that they have credit card swipe machines which was new to me. The Hotel81's in Singapore seems to be a network of budget hotels and I was soon to find out why they are budget. The taxi driver spoke almost perfect English as did every taxi driver we met. He told me how I would like the area we were going to, Geylang 16.

The hotel was not budget because of dodgy rooms, which I thought were great for the price, but was more because of the dodgy area. Hookerville. If you are just travelling out from the hotel using taxis it's perfect. The girlfriend wanted to stay on Orchard Road which not only would cost 5 times what we paid for the Palace, it also means the girlfriend will be shopping from dusk till dawn so it is probably best to stay away from here.

Next Day is Singapores 40th National Day Celebrations so I blew some bubbles and got some well earned sleep.

Being with the girlfriend shopping was inevitible. 1st morning Orchard Road is obviously on the cards and 1st thing that morning I am waken by the girlfriend. Taxi drive takes around 5 minutes to Orchard Road which is well known for its shops and is dubbed as the Regent Street / Maddison Avenue of Singapore.

After coming from Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok we found the prices were more expensive when compared so luckily I did not have to buy much. The prices were still cheap compared to Europe etc. and the cheap mobile phones were tempting. Coming from Bangkok I think Singapore was more of a novelty to the girlfriend than to me. She was surprised when seeing me press a crossing button as these have not yet been introduced to Thailand and also found small cars to be entertaining as car owners in Bangkok buy big.

After a dissapointing shopping expedition on Orchard Road she decided we should go look for cheaper clothes and presents elsewhere and ended up getting a taxi to Little India. This was quite pointless and after meandering for 30 mins we got a taxi back to the hotel to get ready for the celebrations at night.

After putting the National Day Celebrations to the side for a while we decided to go check out Sentosa Island a resort island near the harbour. There are a number of options for getting to Sentosa, bus, taxi, boat, or the option we took,cable car. Jumped in a taxi outside the hotel to take us to the hill near the Harbour front, 5 minute drive, where cable cars leave to Sentosa. Bought us a 1 way ticket to Sentosa and spent 5 minutes listening to the girlfriend screaming as we made our way over the sea to the Sentosa island.

Plenty to do in Sentosa but being night time when we arrived we only managed to squeeze in a couple of attractions. We walked around checking out the Merlion etc. then after a lot of persuasion I got the girlfriend to wait in line for the musical fountain. This attraction was well worth the wait, as confirmed by the girlfriend, and is advised for any1 who gets the chance to go check it out. This was the last attraction we got to see that night and soon after it we got a bus back out of Sentosa and a taxi to the hotel. Was hoping to enjoy some of the celebrations but couldn't keep the girlfriend awake long enough.

Next morning we just had enough time for another quick visit to Sentosa before making our way to the airport. This time we got a taxi straight there and after resting on the artificial beaches we visited 2 attractions the Dolphin Lagoon and Waterworld. Dolphon Lagoon wasn't spectacular but was worth the money and for a bit extra we got a photo of us stroking the dolphins. Waterworld was fairly good, getting to see sharks etc. Worth going to see and is free of charge if you visit Dolphin Lagoon 1st or vice versa.

Grabbed a Subway sandwich and pizza, bounced in a taxi heading out of Sentosa. Stopped at the hotel to get luggage, went to the airport and ended our fun packed 2 days in Singapore on a flight back to Bangkok.