Singapore part II + Journey to Kuala Lumpur

So after drinking till the early hours of the morning after the pub quiz on Wednesday, Thursday was a slow burner. It took us some time to get up and going in the morning. Once we did finally get our arses in gear we decided to wander out to a place called Orchard Road. It was about a 30-minute walk and the weather was a little rainy, but due to the sore heads, it was very refreshing. The Orchard Centre was really no more than a big shopping complex, yet this timeless upmarket than the shops and the Marina Bay shopping centre. After having a wander round we got some food. I had some sticky rice dish and salmon which was served on a red-hot iron plate to cook the fish on. Here it was a little more expensive than the food centres with the dish costing about 8 S$. Once we had some food we headed back to the hostel via a taxi which we booked via the app Grab. Essentially it is the Asian version of Uber, but very reasonably priced considering we can split it 4 ways. By the time we were heading back to the hostel, the rain had cleared so we were optimistic about going on the scooter tour.

Thankfully the rain had cleared enough and stopped for the tour to go ahead and I’m so glad it did as it was one of the best parts about our stay in Singapore. The scooter tour was laid on by our hostel itself “The Inn Crowd Hostel” and it was one of the reasons we decided to stay here. It was also free of charge. About 20-25 of us from the hostel set off on scooters from the hostel at 6 pm. It must have been quite a sight seeing all these people on push scooters riding around the streets of Singapore. The tour set off heading towards the Marina Bay area again but our journey to get there was far from boring. We rode the wrong way down one-way streets, headed through shopping centres and beautiful bar lined streets, we even rode through underground tunnels and stations to get around the cities. It offered such a unique perspective of the city and was also great to start the tour in daylight before it transitioned to night time. At around 7 pm we stop at another food centre marketplace like the Tekka and Maxwell centre we had been to previously. This place was right in the heart of the finical district and was called Telok Ayer Market. We were instructed by the guide we had 20 minutes to get food to take away otherwise we would be left behind, the guy took no prisoners. Fortunately, me, Fred and Ollie had no cash so had to quickly head to a cash point out the opposite side (all these little stalls take cash only). I say fortunately as if it hadn’t been for this I would most likely not of ventured out the opposite side of the food hall. Here we were greeted with loads of sellers cooking sauté chicken, lamb and beef skewers on open coal fires. I paid 7 S$ for 10 skewers of all 3 types of meat and it came with a bag of sauté sauce. With my dinner selected we got back on the scooters and headed to the waterfront bay in front of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. Here there was a light show from the fountain within the bay which was scheduled to start at 8 pm. This gave us a good 25 minutes to eat the food we had brought for dinner. For me, it was my sauté skewers and they were delicious, it is the best sauté sauce I have ever eaten, and I recommend anyone who is ever in Singapore to go to the food stalls outside Telok Ayer Market to get some. I sat enjoying my dinner overlooking the illuminated Singapore skyline. Once dinner had been eaten it was time for the light show. This comprised of water fountains spurting up into the sky, music, lasers and even graphic imaged projected onto the spraying water, which acted as a screen. It was an inspiring 15 minutes of entertainment and once again well worth seeing if in Singapore. I can only imagine what the show must have looked like from the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel infinity pool which looks down on the light show from above. (I will have to stay here one day when I have more money to spend). Once the marina light show had ended we resumed the scooter tour by heading to the Gardens By The Bay, where the Supertrees also had their own unique light show. When we arrived, it was amazing to see the massive structures lit up in all their glory. We all took up positions lying on the floor looking up at the trees waiting for the light show to commence. Although the show took on a slightly different vibe to the Marina light show it was equally as impressive. I believe the show’s theme changes every night on a rotating basis, the theme for our show was funk soul disco so it was instantly going to be a hit with me. The music was all the classics you would expect from this genre of music and the colourful composition of the trees lighting up like a LED dance floor in beat with the music made for a really unique experience. It would be amazing to hire out the area and have a real-life funk soul disco under the disco lights of the Supertrees. Once the light show had finished it was time to head back to the hostel but not before scootering down a straight of the Singapore Grand Prix race track and stopping off for a refreshing beer overlooking the water. The beer went down so well as we were all incredibly sweaty due to the exertive nature of the tour. We made it back to the hostel around 10.30 pm after coving a total of 14 km. All in all, the scooter tour was incredible, even if very hot and a bit of a workout. I wore my GoPro so I’m hoping to put together a short video to capture the essence of the tour.

Friday we all fancied just chilling out and not really doing much so decided to head to Sentosa Island which is situated just next to the main city of Singapore. The island is very much a tourist resort, home to attractions such as Universal Studios, the aquarium and also a larger golf course. We headed here for the beach. It was nice to chill and take a swim in the water, but the beach did feel very man-made. The highlight really was seeing all the ships waiting to come into Singapore port, although it did give you a feeling of how clean is the water here? We spent a good hour on the beach before the heavens opened but, to be honest, it was enough. It was nice to chill and get some sun but I’m confident this will be the worst beach we visit during our time in Asia and I wouldn’t really recommend giving it a visit unless you are really stuck on something to do. Friday night we just had some dinner by the hostel and headed to bed early.

I awoke at 3 am Saturday morning and regrettably awake I stayed. It appears the jet lag still hasn’t fully cleared and after doing some research it could take several weeks to truly get over. Supposedly a day of recovery is needed for every hour of time zone you pass through. The matter of trying to sleep wasn’t helped by the fact a new person was sleeping in our dorm that night who had checked in that day. It was a young Asian man and my god could he snore! As an added bonus his bed was directly next to mine. He honestly sounded like Godzilla ready to cause terror to the city of Singapore! I even attempted to quickly shake his bed a few times to get him to roll over or ease the pain to my ears. It worked slightly giving us some respite but alas it was mainly in vain. I, therefore, sat reading my kindle for the rest of the night. Come 6 am it had even woken Connor, Fred and Ollie up along with two other girls next to us in our dorm. We all had a good joke about it over a cup of tea at breakfast which we headed down for at 6 am (we all couldn’t bare it any longer). Why does there always seem to be an Asian man tormenting us with snoring when we are unable to sleep. Luckily in Kuala Lumpur, we have a 4 person dorm so if one of the lads is snoring I shall have no hesitation in throwing a shoe at them. (Boys feel free to do the same)

Thankfully we checked out of the hostel this morning, so we only had to put up with it for one night. That brings us to now where we are currently on the bus (probably won’t be currently when this is published as I need Wi-Fi) in Malaysia heading to Kuala Lumpur for a few days. We even have a new travel buddy Jules from Belgium who has joined us for the journey seeing as he was heading the same way and after he was made an honorary member of the “Essex on Tour” quiz team. I must admit for me getting the bus this morning was a little stressful. It was due to leave at 12.45 but didn’t show up until 13.20, however, the company did call me to say it was on its way, it really wasn’t a big deal and I’m not sure why I was bothered but I guess the lack of sleep added to the edge. However, once the bus did arrive it has been nothing but plain sailing. We first left Singapore by going through passport control, before crossing the water and into Malaysia before going through their passport control. We are now on the open road to Kuala Lumpur where we shall stay for a few nights.