asia for beginners

So, we are now already 4 days in Singapore. And I know, I have been v ery lazy in not posting anything in the last months *bow my head* but it'll get better again, new stories to tell and share.

Although our flight from Perth was only 5,5 hrs  and no time difference to Oz, we were wrecked that day, probably due to the fact that the flight was leaving Perth midnight, so we haven't slept porperly on the plane. Oh, and the heat... humid 38 degrees at 5:30am... it's like running against a wall leaving the airport.

We arrived at our hostel @Little Red Dot very early, so no one was up to check us in. We just crashed on the sofas and after the free brekky, we hit the streets of Little India, which conveniently is just a stone throw away. After running around for a few hours, we had to admit, the heat was just killing us, so we headed back to the hostel and took a looong nap. Afterwards we went out to dinner to a nice little Indian restaurant, recommended by our little lonely planet or so we thought. However, as we rocked up there, it was already closed for business. Oh well, so we just went to a place next door and shared naan and a few little dishes. So yummy and for just SD $9 each. Like that.

Little India street stall

The next few days we slept in late, more or less to take full advantage of the air con in our dorm until they switch it off at 10am everyday, then we walked around the city. We took the bus into the city centre, because walking in that heat for 3km... nnaaawww. ;-) Although we had no clue where we should get off, we sort of figured it out and landed we were wanted to be in the first place. We walked along the riverbank to the impressive Marina Bay Sands building. We already seen it on our way in from the airport, the building has a huge ship on top of it. Must explore. You can actually go up there and enjoy the 360 degree view over Singapore from their oberservatory deck at level 56. Alright, so up we went just in time for dusk. Brilliant views. Very neat as well, they have a few rooftop bars up there, unfortunately we didn't fit the smart dress code with our thongs and shorts. And best of all, their infinity pool... hotel guests only though.... amazing. I would have loved to have a little swim and stare over the edge. Crazy.

Singapore skyline

"boat" building 

After our sightseeing, we walked back towards Chinatown for some tasty meal. Ironically enough, we ended up in a Thai food place, as if we wouldn't get enough of that in the next few months. Yummy though. And the Tiger bottles are huge, like 1 litre for SD $5.

Although Singapore is labelled one of Asia's expensive cities, fair enough coming form SE Asia, but for us coming from Australia, it sure is already cheap. Dorm beds for AUD $14, food for $3 and plenty of it... bring it on.

Yesterday we ended up in Singapore's main shopping street, Orchard Road. Wow. Shopping crazy they sure are. One shopping mall after the other, all the famous designer boutiques more bling than the other and all of the popular UK, US and Australian labels. We were dazzeled. Window shopping it then was, but after a few hours of that, we were almost frozen because of the chilly indoor malls and too tired. Coming from quiet Australia, this buzzing and people everywhere just did our head in. ;-) Haven't missed it though, have we?

Tomorrow we fly to Kuching in Malaysian Borneo for the next 2 weeks.

"food" street in Chinatown

More photos are here