Singapore (6/6/07 - 8/6/07)

My Mum has been to Singapore many times for work. It also felt a little weird that I was entering a place so close to home but were I was still completely lost. As most people will tell you, Singapore is very clean and most people speak at least some English or as they funnily enough claim to speak, Singlish. I set myself up in the hostel and tried to oreintate myself. I managed to get my phone LCD screen fixed (when I walked into a fire hydrant in Miami).

I did my own walking tour of the island and found their national symbol, the Merlion. According to mythology, a previous king was sailing close to Singapore when he discovered the country. The weather turned bad and a sea creature wouldn't let them pass, so he offered the sea his crown. The seas returned to normal and the king founded the new country. Or something like that.

The main shopping street, Orchard Road, was rather interesting but there was nothing I needed. However, I stumbled across a place that 100% guaranteed to remove warts. I gave it a go. The treatment took almost an hour and there was a bit of pain (one of the other girls gave me a scalp massage to relief the headache) and my finger was black at the end. It would prove to be worthwhile though as the warts has successfully been killed. They only have offices in Singapore or Korea, so thoughts began running through my head of opening up franchises in Australia. I've been to the doctors around a dozen time to have warts frozen and it's only worked once. This worked the first time and the confidence in their product was evident. Would the business work in Australia?

The next day, I visited Sentosa Island. The beaches were fairly nice but different to Thailand. I visited a much bigger Merlion and got a great view of Singapore city from inside the mouth.

Even though I'd missed supposedly the best zoo in the world in San Diego, I'd also heard that Singapore zoo at night is one of the best. I'd never been to a zoo at night, so I decided it would be worth it. The Safari and animal show at the end was OK but as far as I'm concerned, if you've seen one zoo you've seen them all.

My last day in Singapore, I didn't have much time and didn't really want to do anything else. To me, Singapore is a clean and friendly place but not heaps to do.

Return rating: 3 (can only see myself going back for a business trip).