Touchdown In The Land Of The Lion

'Singapura' aka The Lion City.

Singapore doesn't have any early history records really. Originally it was a basic sea town that acted as a go between for its bigger neighbours: Sumatra and Melaka. According to Malay legend, a Sumatran prince spotted a lion while visiting the island of Temasek. On this good omen he founded a city where he saw the lion (Singapura).

On the initial flight to Dubai I had the joyous luck of sitting next to a fat, full blown alcoholic who not only took up most of my seat as well as his own, but also reeked of booze (it was 14:15). Nevertheless, despite ordering a further 6 vodkas he was completely harmless, however, the 3 lager louts who were so loud they should have been arrested sitting a few rows in front of us were not harmless to my ears.

Dubai airport was phenomonally large and bustling considering it was after midnight when we arrived. As the airport acts as a midway point for multiple destinations, not to mention being one of the largest in the world, there was a great mix of people from all around the globe. Naturally with my final destination on my mind I started to get giddy at the sight of groups of Asian people knowing that for the next 3 months I would be accepting many of them as my brethren. As quickly as we arrived in Dubai we were leaving again on another 7 hour flight, this time destined for the Lion City itself. The plane wasn't as fancy as the previous one, but it had all the functions, gadgets and private screens a passenger could ever need or want.

No sleep and questionable airplane food got old quickly, especially with deep in sleep passengers all around me, however, 'Lost In Translation' 'The Men Who Stare At Goats' 'Invictus' 'Family Guy' and Jimi Hendrix aided the time passing.

Eventually we touched down - Singapore at long last, we breezed through customs, our bags were collected in under 1 minute, we quickly found and made a break for the exit and just before breathing something other than plane air we were pulled aside for a 'random' full bag security check (thanks Matt's beard). The taxi journey to the hotel was grand, not much to see and not much energy to open my eyes. I was also not hesitant to arrive at a bed so had no qualms with the drivers 110kph average speed on a 70kph.

The hotel was pleasant enough, the street walkers that surrounded looked to be worth a hard earned 50pence or around 1 Singapore Dollar, it was though, clean and amenity friendly featuring its very own 'Shar' television.

A walk around downtown and the sinking of a '40' lager confirms that I like Singapore. The choice of foodstuffs and range of restaurants and stalls is extrordinary, although it does beg the question if any of these business owners know about competition after seeing 5-6 Chinese restaurants next to each other.

After some tasty chicken (including head) and rice we decided to retire to bed. Being awake for 30 hours i was fairly tired and drifted into a coma fairly fast. Alas this was not to last as we were both wide awake watching baseball at 2am Singapore time.

'Zoo Day'
The Singapore zoo had my greatest expectations due in part to it being the biggest zoo in the world and the only one to feature a night safari for nocturnal animals. It was mainly due to Matt's boysih excitement that my expectations rose so high...and it did not disappoint. This is easily Singapores biggest pull as a tourist destination because of the range of animals, the space it covers, layout and man made beauty. Also included are several animal shows which usually turn me off as it always seems like the animal has been a little too forced to participate but with the few we saw the strong bond between the animals and the trainers made them highly enjoyable.

To top this day off was the night. We walked around the additional section of the zoo firstly which due to the lack of cages for the majority of animals felt like a walk through the jungle. Next was a 40 minute tram journey around the rest of the park. This was a little too serene and relaxing, causing us both to catch up with some brief napping.

Our train the next day was fully booked but we managed to get a 'luxury' bus from 'Konsortium' for the same price. The bus journey was good as the part of the bus that was luxurious was the seats (I am currently writing this with my body almost entirely horizontal). It was delayed by an hour and a half, with check in time we were waiting outside for 3 hours and after hitting some rain in Malaysia the windows leaked into the bus and also the luggage compartment turned into a swimming pool.

I will hopefully arrive in Kuala Lumpur later tonight and am looking forward to some more jungle, less city and less english, or should i say 'Engrish'?