Flight 5: Kuching - Singapore (Tiger Airways)
Country 2: Singapore

Having walked most of Kuching, I decided to have a leisurely morning before my flight to Singapore in the afternoon. After smashing down more vegemite toast and packing my bag, I walked down to the riverfront and took a boat cruise for an hour. Very nice and relaxing and gave a different perspective of the town. With a few hours still remaining before I needed to head to the airport, I called in at a beauty salon to treat my nails to some TLC, before returning to the hostel.

I shared a ride to the airport with my roommate and was very excited to board the flight to Singapore, a country in which I had never stepped outside of the airport. (The airport is so nice though there's almost no need!) I took a taxi to Amy and Owen's place and the friendly taxi driver gave me a great tour of the city on the way, pointing out the Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands, etc. He also gave me an overview of the politics and economics of the country, comparing those in Australia to those in Singapore. The inaugral Youth Olympic Games are currently being held in Singapore and there were many flags and signs out for this - I also saw the village and Olympic torch on my way.

On arrival at Tiong Bahru and reuniting with Amy, Owen, and Carmen, my hosts took me down to the local hawker market to introduce me to Singaporean food. Now, everyone that knows me knows that I'm not much of an eater (American scientists have recently stated that fussy eating is actually a medical, psychological condition, so it's not just me being annoying!) and food is not a big part of my travels. But oh my goodness, Singapore has changed the way I look at food! For dinner, I tried out chee khue (sp?), which was like rice patties topped with radish and chilli; and 'carrot cake' (chai tow kway), which is like an omelette made with radish and spring onion; washed down my iced milo. Delicious!! If this is Singaporean food, bring it on, especially when it's only a couple of dollars.

Singapore is absolutely striking as a country. It almost seems like a perfect nation - perfect tourist attractions everywhere you look; polite people (you don't have to worry about walking after dark here), perfect green grass next to new apartments; great food ..... I was instantly thinking, 'I could really live here!' I couldn't wait for Saturday, as it felt like my first day of being a tourist since I left Australia. Everyone in Borneo was of the cool backpacker type - it was like an unwritten competition who could be the most untouristy and stay at the cheapest place - taking a photo was unheard of! Here, there were heaps of tourist attractions and heaps of tourist, especially with the Youth Olympic Games on.

Before we headed out to Sentosa Island for Universal Studios, we stopped by Tiong Bahru Plaza to have breakfast. NOBODY eats at home here since eating out is so cheap. I am love love loving the breakfasts here, there are so many 'Toast' places! I had french toast with kaya and an iced milo ... the first of many french toast/kaya toasts, and not limited to breakfast!

From there we MRT'ed and monorail'ed it over to Sentosa Island. The tickets were all sold out for the day, but luckily we had pre-purchased ours as we were expecting it to be a busy day. We were one of the first in the park, taking a few souvenir photos before the rides opened. We managed to go on just about every single ride and take in every show, even the ones aimed at the littlies like a carousel! The Battlestar Galactic rollercoasters were closed though, as on a recent test run a seat had fallen off! The second ride of the day was the Jurassic Park water ride and right at the end I was absolutely soaked - it was just like I'd taken a shower in my clothes! Having worn my jelly shoes my feet dried quickly, but the denim shorts I was wearing took forever to dry!

By 4pm we had finished the park, and we monorail'ed back to Vivocity mall, where I had my first experience of shopping centres in Singapore. It was massive! Having been on our feet all day we weren't reallly up for shopping, but the one place I did want to check out was Cold Storage, which is basically a supermarket for ex-pats. After all the vegemite toast in Kuching, I was running low so I picked up a tube. Also within the mall was 'Candy Emporium', which had lollies from all over the world. I was stoked to find Clinkers and Bertie Beetles among the Aussie section.

Back at Amy and Owens we remembered the election results should be in, and switched on the news to see what was happening. As expected, the result was too close to call. I also checked the footy scores and was devastated to find that the Crows lost to Collingwood by less than a goal after winning the whole match - this happens in every single match! We finished the night watching 'Melissa and Joey', the new American tv show featuring Joey Lawrence from Blossom and Melissa Joan Hart from Sabrina, which I loved!!