Day 84 – Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

6.30 alarm as I needed to be up and out to find a taxi to take me to the Golden Mile Complex as this is where my bus was leaving from at 8am. Everything went according to plan, the taxi only took about 10minutes and cost me a couple of quid, bargain. Before I arrived here everyone said Singapore is expensive and yeah my accommodation was the same price as what I was paying in Australasia but everything else is relatively cheap well compared to what I’ve been spending on a daily basis over the last couple of months.

The bus was double decker and I was on the bottom, they gave you a reclining chair with massaging facility as well as a plug socket, tv, films, water, was a pretty sweet set up! 

Within in 40minutes of leaving we were at border control where you got a stamp in your passport and then back on the bus. We then went across the bridge where on the other side you had to queue up again, another stamp and stare you down, walked around a corner put your bags through a machine and that’s it. Done, back on the bus and Hello Malaysia! Way easier than I thought it was going to be and stress free! Win win situation.

There were only two drop off points, one was at the airport and the other was in the city. I had no idea where I was but obviously I could see a McDonalds so I went and got a drink and sat in there to use their wifi to find out exactly where I was. The nearest train station was a 10minute walk and it wasn’t on the line I wanted anyway, so I decided to write down the exact address of where I’m staying and jump in a taxi. He dropped me right outside and the location is amazing. Sunshine Bedz (yes with a Z…) is a 2 minute walk to the train station, right above Mcdonalds, Starbucks and any other chain you can think of which also means I have 3 different massive shopping centres right on my doorstep!

After settling in I made my way over to the Pavilion shopping centre to have a look around, after an hour or so I turned to leave and it was raining! I remembered I walked past a Daiso, it’s a Japanese pound land, so I went back there and bought myself a cheap umbrella. If it was just a little bit of rain I wouldn’t have minded but it was pretty mental! I also thought that if it rains at the F1 tomorrow I could use it there too.

I rarely post things on Facebook but when I’m travelling it’s a good thing to do because as well as updating people at home, you discover other people you’ve met are in the same places as you. Like in Singapore, 2 of the guys I met on the Kiwi Experience bus are in KL for the F1 so I went over to Chinatown to meet them for dinner. Luckily it had mostly stopped raining by then and it was really good to catch up with them. We also have to live our lives before mobile phones and hope that the time and place you agree works. I was 15minutes late because of the train and luckily I managed to find them! We went to one of the many restaurants along the strip to have some noodles and beer.

Day 83 – Universal Studios & Singapore Slings.

The park didn’t open its doors until 10am so I got there just before. I decided to take the monorail (MONORAIL!) from Harbourfront over to Sentosa island. As soon as I got off I found a ticket booth with NO queue so I got my ticket from here and bypassed everyone else on my walk in.

You walk through Hollywood, which is mostly just shops and restaurants to the other lands. These are Madagascar, Far Far Away (Shrek), The Lost World, Ancient Egypt, Sci-FI City and New York. For the entire day the park wasn’t that busy and the longest I had to queue for was about 20 minutes but most were however long it took you to walk from the entrance to the ride itself. I went on everything and some things more than once and had a really awesome day! The best thing about going to a theme park by yourself is single rider queues. Eliminates most queuing as you just walk right to the front.

The first ride I went on was Universals version of ‘It’s a small world’ but obviously not as good without that catchy song. My favourite ride was Revenge of the Mummy, it was an indoor rollercoaster which went backwards and forwards. A close second would have to be Jurassic Park Rapids Adventure, oh boy did I get wet! Imagine the Ribena Rapids at Thorpe Park but a bit more extreme. Normally when I get wet at a theme park I’d moan and then feel damp for the rest of the day, whereas here I knew I was wet but it wasn’t cold and I was bone dry again in 10minutes! Crazy weather!

The biggest ride was a duel rollercoaster with a transformers theme that opened in 2011 but hasn’t ever really been open. They had loads of problems with it and they’ve gone as far as removing it from the map so they are clearly not opening it anytime soon!

I discovered on checking into my flight on Facebook that Steph and Lucy, who I met on the Kiwi Experience bus, are in Singapore the same time as me. When you’re in Singapore obviously the main thing you have to do is have a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel, it would be rude not too, so this is where I met the girls. I was late, they were late but some how we managed to find each other and go in. I went for the Spring Sling, which was an apple flavoured one and it was bloody lovely! Another thing they do at Raffles is to eat peanuts and throw the casing on the floor. We created a massive pile and I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that many nuts in one sitting but you just get into the swing of things. We caught up, talking about things we’ve done and found out we’re going to be in Langkawi at the same time so we’re going to get a room together for the nights they are there!

We eventually left and went over to Clarke Quay for dinner. It’s a busy area by the river with loads of places to eat and drink. As none of us ever have, we chose to eat in Hooters as we only wanted something small and it seemed the place to do it. Ticking more things off the bucket list, you know how it is. It was a lovely evening catching up with them and I’m excited to see them again!

Day 82 – Tourist day in Singapore.

I only had 2 days in Singapore so I needed to make the most of every minute to see as much as I could! This hostel comes with free breakfast which is actually just toast but that’s alright, so I had a couple of slices with the most artificial strawberry jam I have ever tasted, it didn’t want me to come back for more that’s for sure!

I walked through Chinatown and had a look around there for a little bit before heading to the MRT, or tube as we’d call it, which was about a 5minute walk and super easy to use. Each journey was about 50p and the signage and stuff just reminded me of Dubai as it’s exactly the same. I made my way over to Orchard Road as it’s the longest shopping road in Singapore, it’s 2.2km if you wanted to know. I hate to say it but after walking up and down it, I think there might be too many shopping malls, I know, it’s a terrible thing to say but there were about 100. Obviously out of all of them I managed to find myself a Forever 21 and couldn’t leave without buying at least one new thing. Something is always calling my name! The dress was like £10 so you can’t shout at me! OK?!

So I wandered up and down here for a while then popped to see Raffles Hotel.

Last stop of the day was to look around Marina Bay. Marina Bay Sands hotel is probably one of the most famous buildings here and to be honest, it wasn’t that spectacular, well not how I imagined it anyway. I looked outside and saw the science museum, I was too late to look in but the building was cool! There were then cargo cafes and bars, like the ones I saw in Christchurch, I seriously think these things need to pop up more often! I made my way inside and stumbled upon The Amazing Spider Man 2 premiere or something, anyway I got to see the director Marc Webb, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Andrew Garfield in the flesh, which was cool!

After here I made my way up to the top of the hotel to the Ku De Ta Bar/Restaurant, obviously I can afford a drink in here… I went up there for a free view of the city and to see the light show, which was a disappointment so I’m glad I didn’t pay to go to the Sky view or something along those lines. You’ve got to save the pennies where you can!

Day 81 – Darwin to Singapore.

My final day in Darwin, I checked out just before 10am and put my bag in the storage room. I had 5 hours to fill before I got the airport shuttle at 3pm so first things first, was some breakfast. I walked over the road to Gloria Jeans and got myself some raisin toast (amazing) and some iced tea. The thing I’ve come away loving the most this time from Australia, ok I mean chocolate, is a Cherry Ripe. The packaging describes it as ‘ripe juicy cherries and coconut in old gold rich dark chocolate’ it’s just awesome. I like that and all of the Cadburys Marvellous Creations, the thing with them being new over here is that they are always on offer! Obviously I’ve loved other things but what is more important than chocolate aye? I then popped round the corner to book myself on the airport shuttle.

The weather wasn’t that good but it was still humid so I decided to pop to the Darwin Library to use their free wifi. It upsets me I’ve become one of those people. I finally managed to book my bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur; I researched some more on Asia and checked in online for my flight.

I slowly made my way back to Melaleuca to get my bag and made my way over to the transit centre to get my bus. On the way to the airport it started to rain, I think I got the best out of the weather whilst I was in Darwin, which was lucky!

On arrival the queue for check in was a little long and although I checked in online the woman wanted to see my onward flights, I wasn’t quite sure why but I had them on me so it made no difference. I then went through 1 security desk where I was ‘randomly’ chosen to have my bag swabbed, obviously nothing came up so I went through, I then went through another security desk and eventually got to border control, seems like a right nightmare for such a small airport. On the other side there was 1 café/shop, that was it. Finally boarded the plane, which took off on time. Landing in Singapore I gained an hour and a half back, so now I’m only 8 hours different from the UK, which I guess will become 7 on Sunday when the clocks change.

I got the airport shuttle, which dropped me right outside my hostel ‘Matchbox’ in Chinatown which was lovely for £4! I arrived there about half 10 and the room was pretty cool. So I was in a dorm but you get your own little pod to sleep in, even got a towel and the best thing is Singapore has UK plug sockets! YAY! It just means less adapters and also the wifi was pretty quick! I’ll put a photo of the pod below so you can see what I’m talking about, easier than trying to explain it.