More Singapore

After 6 nights on Langkawi we flew back to Singapore to spend the last few days there with my parents before they headed back home. We've been busying ourselves by seeing a few more of the sights that the island has to offer.

First up was the Chinese Garden which was a lovely relaxing park featuring pagodas and a bonsai trees.

Not far from the Chinese Garden is Jurong Bird Park which is home to over 8000 birds from 600 different species.

The park was excellent and featured lots of unusual birds and some huge walk in aviaries which allowed you to get really close to the feathery little fellas.

Whilst we were there we got caught in the loudest thunderstorm we've ever heard. It was absolutely immense and made the ground and air shake for the best part of an hour. The rain that accompanied it was something else too and left this bird of paradise looking like he was a bit annoyed at having such fancy feathers.

The highlight of Singapore for us has been the Night Safari which is run by the same people as the excellent Singapore Zoo. The set up is very similar to the zoo with lots of free roaming animals and very few cages. The night safari consists of 3 jungle walking trails and a 45 minute jungle tour on a tram. It was just like being at Uncle Tan's but without the inconvenience of having to wash in dirty river water.

As well as the usual suspects like lions, tigers and elephants, there were also lots of really unusual animals such as pangolins, hog badgers, sugar gliders and giant flying squirrels (which some idiot bloke was throwing sticks at!). As per usual the one animal that we really wanted to see, the tarsier, we failed to spot. If we can't see one in a 6ft cubed enclosure, god knows how we are going to spot one when we go to Sulawesi and they have the whole of the 202,000 sq km island of to hide on.

As the safari takes place at night and you can't use a flash for photography we weren't able to take any pictures of the animals. Although we did get a photo of someone having a go at a fish spa!

One of the strangest places we've ever been to must surely be Haw Par Villa. It's a kind of Chinese mythology theme park that was built by Aw Boon, the owner of the Tiger Balm ointment empire. Even though the whole park is slightly crackers, the pinnacle of the strange must be the Ten Courts of Hell. A set of gory displays that depict the punishments for various sins including gambling, prostitution, cheating at exams and creating family disruption. Punishments included having your intestines pulled out, being grilled alive and being thrown onto a hill of knives. . . which is nice!

Today we had planned to go to Sentosa Island but had to cancel as I have developed a swollen left leg that looks uncannily like one of those rotating kebabs at the chip shop. We instead entertained ourselves with cocktails and a swim at the pool at my Mom and Dad's hotel (our budget accommodation doesn't have such luxuries)

Langkawi

On Sunday we left Singapore and flew along with my parents to the Malaysian island of Langkawi. Langkawi is a fairly mountainous tropical island in the Andaman Sea, close to the where the Malay peninsular boarders with Thailand. The flight over was the worst we've had as we flew through and landed in the storm that caused the Malaysian grand prix to be cancelled.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel called Pelangi Beach Resort on Pantai Cenang. As an early birthday present my parents very kindly treated us to our room and it is by far the nicest place we've stayed on this trip.

After the cramped conditions and shared bathrooms at Sleepy Sam's we felt a little bit like impostors at first. The hotel was stunning; beautiful surroundings, great staff, 2 lovely swimming pools, there were even little golf carts for ferrying the guests around in. It's a world away from our normal standard of accommodation.

Although Pantai Cenang is the main resort on Langkawi it was still incredibly quiet. It's also a slightly odd place. There's a fantastic beach there but virtually all the restaurants in town face the road at the back rather than the sea.

After a lazy Monday around the pool, we hired a car on Tuesday to explore more of the island. In this instance the word "car" is a rather generous description for our heap of a vehicle, a Perodua Kancil. It was easily the worst car I have ever driven, and I used to own an Austin Metro! It had the handling characteristics of a pig on stilts and was so under powered that when the air-con was switched on the car would shake violently enough to dislodge your fillings.

First of all we made our way (very slowly) to Telaga Tujuh which is a 100m high waterfall in the jungle.

From there we headed to the Langkawi Cable Car, a ride to the top of the 710m peak of Gunung MaChinchang. However the top of the mountain was clouded in so we couldn't go up. Instead we made our way to Pantai Pasir Hitam, a lovely beach which has had its natural beauty enhanced with the addition of a cement factory!

We ended the day by trying to get our hire car up the 850m high peak of Gunung Raya, the tallest mountain on the island, stopping on the way to play with a troop of wild monkeys.
I'm no expert on breast feeding but I think this may hurt a little . . .
After much thrashing of the car's lumpy engine and grinding of its tiny gear box we eventually made it to the top of the mountain. The drive up and the views from the top were quite spectacular, although we only had a few minutes to enjoy them before a massive thunder storm rolled in.

The following morning we headed back out to have another try at getting on the Langkawi Cable Car before the hire car had to go back at 12. It turned out to be a fairly eventful morning. After being shook down by the police for driving without my passport, we got to the cable car station for their opening at 10 to find that due to maintenance they weren't opening until midday. So we drove back to Pantai Cenang, extended the lease on the hire car, drove back to the cable car and 3rd time lucky, got to the top.















It was worth the effort in the end as the views over the island were really spectacular.

Also at the top was a curved suspension bridge which spanned a jungle clad 100m deep chasm.

The rest of our time on the island was spent eating too much (the breakfast at the hotel is great!) and trying to sunbathe in between the tropical storms.

A question we've all been wondering the answer to. . .

Answers on a postcard to Den-lad, 115 Wal. . .

Keeping your parents entertained in Singapore

On Friday morning (yes that's right . . . Liz got out of bed before midday!) we made our way over to Singapore Botanic Gardens. The gardens are a only located a couple of km from downtown but feel a whole world away. It's a real oasis of calm and apart from the occasional glimpse of the odd skyscraper above the trees is very easy to forget you're in the middle of one of the worlds busiest cities.

The Botanical Gardens are also home to the National Orchid Gardens which houses an absolutely stunning display of Orchids.

There's even one called Elizabeth. . .

We made our way back into town via Orchard Road which is a little bit like London's Oxford Street but on steroids. There was no sign of the credit crunch which is making things so miserable back home in the UK.

In the evening we headed out to Boat and Clarke Quay on the Singapore river for dinner and a drink.

Like in Malaysia, alcohol is ridiculously expensive in Singapore. A glass of draft larger, which must be about a half pint, costs on average $9 (£4.50). Getting tipsy, let alone drunk, is way outside of our backpacker budget.

Yesterday we headed out to Singapore Zoo. The zoo is probably the best one we've been to. Most of the animals aren't caged as in a traditional zoo but are in big open pens. In fact a lot of the primates like the orang-utans are free roaming through the trees. We've already overdosed the blog with pictures of monkeys, gibbons and urang-utans so we won't put any more primates on. Here's a flying fox and a butterfly instead!

We also got to see a Rafflasia, the worlds biggest plant . . .

. . . although this one was made of concrete!

It is hard work getting around though as the zoo is absolutely massive. Even though we spent most of the day there we ended up having to dash around a bit at the end to try and get it all in.

We ended the evening by retiring to the Long Bar at Raffles for a round of Singapore Slings and to throw peanut shells on the floor. It may have possibly been the most expensive round of 4 drinks I've ever had - $108, about £54.

It was well worth it though as we had a great time there. The hotels band were playing and did a rather strange cover of the Village People's Y.M.C.A! The last song I would expect in Raffles.

Hello Singapore, Hello Mom and Dad!

On Tuesday (31st March) we flew from Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, back over the South China Sea to the island of Singapore at the Southern tip of the Malay peninsular.

We're staying in a really quirky hostel called Sleepy Sam's which is located in the heart of the Kampong Glam district in central Singapore. Kampong Glam is the Muslim quarter and the hostel is on a really atmospheric Arabic street in the shadow of the Sultan Mosque. It's particularly atmospheric when the muezzin announces the call to prayer (at dawn!)
Sleepy Sam's is by far the nicest hostel we've ever stayed in . . . but also the most expensive! It's very smartly decorated, in a great location with lovely atmosphere, but there are a few issues. Although we have a private room it does feel a little claustrophobic here; the room is really small, barely much bigger than the bed, and the dorm area which is just outside our room feels overcrowded. Also for 89 Singapore Dollars, about 40 quid, it feels a little overpriced, particularly when you don't have a private bathroom.

We arrived quite late on Tuesday evening so didn't get much chance to explore the city. Yesterday we made a mad dash around town to try and get our bearings before meeting up with my Mom and Dad at 7am on This morning.

Say hello Mom and Dad . . .
My parents have never flown long haul before so it's all been a bit of an experience for them. Particularly Dad who had the misfortune to sit next to the most annoying woman in the world for the 13 hours of the flight (and I don't mean my mother!!!).

After a some breakfast we headed out for a bit of a whistle stop tour of some of the main sights in town; Raffles, the Esplanade and Boat Quay.
No jokes about that fat bird from Cannock . . .

A quick beer then enhanced the jet lag effects for my parents and wiped them out for the afternoon whilst Liz and I made the most of the pool at their hotel!

And please remember . . .