Singapore - 04/06/08 - 08/06/08

First things first, Singapore is one humid city - situated less than 100 miles above the equator it's pretty much permanently hot and humid, even when it's raining...

We'd booked the hotel online a week or two before arriving and were pleasantly surprised when we arrived an hour or so after landing.

No one will ever call it the prettiest hotel in the world, but its location was great for exploring the city and inside the hotel was actaully rather nice!

They did a damn good breakfast and had a nice pool on the 7th floor!

Clarke Quay, where it was located, was a bit like Gunwhalf Quays in Portsmouth! Ministry of sound and a Hooters located there did suprise us quite a bit but there were plenty of places to eat so we certainly didn't go hungry.

We had five full days to spend in Singapore and whilst we never planned to cram a massive amount in we wanted to make sure we saw and did as much as possible.

We very quickly realised that the main past time for Singaporians (?) is shopping - they have a ridiculous amount of shopping malls but sadly the prices weren't as impressive. We spent most of our time in them just trying to cool off.

We visited Raffles along Orchard road...

Raffles

.....the Botanical Gardens, which were lovely and had the most beautiful Orchid centre to look round. The guide book said you should try to go in the morning or evening, so when did we go?..... Middle of the day!! What's that saying...mad dogs and Englishman etc etc : )

Botanical Gardens

The Siong Lim temple towards the north of the city was a nice visit and very interesting to see.

Chinese Temple - China Town

Temple - Little India

Overall impression...generally a really nice city, but ultimately just another city...wouldn't necessarily rush back but wouldn't avoid it either!

Next stop Cairns and the start of the Aussie adventure!