Singapore

First, Singapore isnt your average country/city so let me give you some fun facts before we begin!
1. It's a $500 fine for littering.
2. It's illegal to chew gum.
3. It's the 2nd most densely populated country in the world after Monaco.
4. Singa means lion, and pore comes from the Malay word pura, for city.
5. The Singapore Sling was first served in 1915 at the Long Bar of the Raffles Hotel. The ingredients are gin, Cointreau, cherry brandy, Dom Benedictine, pineapple juice, Grenadine, Angoustura bitters and limes.

The drive from Kuala Lumpur put us in Singapore at 11:30pm, making our journey about 6 hours. Heather and I are exhausted from sight-seeing and traveling all day, plus I hadn't slept in days due to illness (refer to my last post). The "nice bus" drops us off in the little india district which is perfect because that's where the hostel we picked out was. The Inn Crowd hostel was not a far walk but our backpacks keep getting heavier and heavier, making us loathe traveling between destinations. When we arrive, there is only one bed and Heather and I are not about to spoon so we go for option B, and go around the corner to Footprints Hostel. We check in, shower, and crash.

I cannot even express to you how fantastic it felt to finally sleep in! And till almost noon too. Haha. We once again packed out stuff, which wasn't hard cause we were only there for 12 hours and moved our stuff back to the Inn Crowd Hostel. I know some of you are confused as to why we did this, so let me explain: A hostel is a place where you not only sleep and keep your things, but it's where you meet and connect with people from all over the world. The Inn Crowd is a classic example of a great hostel. It's cheap, provides breakfast, has a common area for lounging, and sells beer! When we tried to check in the nigh before, there were tons of people talking and hanging out despite it being midnight on a Sunday. We knew we had to go back if we wanted to make the most out of our time in Singapore.

We claimed our beds in one of the hostel dormitories, arrange our things, and set off to explore the city. First mission was to walk past the Sultan Mosque to Arab street, just a 10 minute walk from little india. There are scores of different shops selling things from rugs to sheeshas to fine fabrics. It's lunchtime so after parading the small streets we stumble upon this amazing cafe.

Please note that I haven't kept any food down in the past 3 days. I was starving and needed something light and familiar. We each ordered a BLT with a salad and it was the best sammy I've had in a long time! Definitely hit the spot. Isn't it fascinating how amazing a great sandwich can make you feel? Something to ponder...

Singapore Flyer from the Marina Sands resort

Our walking tour continued past a couple malls and expensive high rise hotels to the Singapore Flyer. Basically, it's a slow moving ferris wheel similar to the London eye. Boring! And also expensive... So if were gunna spend money, lets do  it right.

Right next to the Singapore Flyer is the jaw dropping, multimillion dollar mega-complex that houses the Marina Sands Resort, casino, spa, and whatever else you can think of. So we had to check it out. Plus I knew my dad would die if I made it all the way to Singapore and didn't go here. The guy even sent me numerous links about it so I wouldn't forget.

Marina Sands!

When I die and reincarnated as a wealthy leader of a small but well respected country, I'm coming to this 8 star (or whatever) resort for vacation. This place is f@cking incredible. It just opened up about a year ago and has become a trademark on the Singapore skyline. I'm sure you've seen pictures of it somewhere. The hotel has 3 separate skyscrapers linked by what seems like a boat at the very top. Its called the skypark because its an open air platform with its very own infinity pool overlooking the entire city. There's also more prestigious spas, opulent restaurants, obnoxiously rich asian businessmen, yadda yadda yadda....

On our way to the skypark, we weave ourselves through the Marina Sands shopping mall. It's spotlessly clean and holds at least 5 different celebrity restaurants including Mario Batali and Wolfgang Puck. I stop and get a chai latte at a cafe that set me back $5 and I felt like I was back in California. Sigh.... We got lost trying to find this damn skypark but we kept seeing these monks who seemed to be going in the same direction. Despite me being the navigator of the trip, I gave up and we ended up just following the monks... And as you may have guessed, they led us the right way.

We head 57 floors up to the top where there's a sectioned off area of the skypark for the poor souls (pun intended) who can't afford a luxury room there. Apparently we all have leprosy because we are not allowed to go where the hotel guests are. For $20 sing-dollars, we only get access to a restricted area of the skypark at the far end. But we get just enough angle to see all the jovial guests bask away in what has to be the sickest pool in all of southeast Asia. I'm just being whiny and jealous but that's only because it was honestly beautiful and worth the money for the panoramic views.

Bitches in the best infinity pool in the wold

Stunning

Following our Marina Sands expedition, we walked around the river bank to the merlion statue, a famous monument and symbol of Singapore. From there we headed to the historic district where many English colonial building still exist among a few art museums.

Merlion!

Shaka at the Boat Quay

The next stop was the Boat Quay and Clark Quay (quay is pronounced "key"). I know Singapore is 80km from the equator but I felt like I was In the center of the earth it was so hot. We'd been walking around all days and I was completely drenched with salt and sweat. Not a good look. So when we got to this point of our walking tour, I insisted that Heather and I stop at a mall to cool off. We did momentarily, just so I could decrease by body temperature and regroup. We walked along the Sing River where both Quays are located. They are lined with restaurants  overlooking the water and have every sort of race and religion converging together. Pretty cool. At dinnertime we find a restaurant called the Red Dot. We order some pizza and beer and soak up the moment with all the other tourists and business people.

Heather at the Clark Quay

Upon returning to the Inn Crowd, we showered and finally felt clean again. We wanted to make the Monday night into a Saturday night, so Heather broke out the bottle of vodka she'd won at the limbo contest in Koh Phi Phi almost 3 weeks ago. She hauled it across 3 countries and sweet talked her way through 2 customs officers to bring it here, for this moment... To bad the vodka literally tasted like gasoline and we couldn't have more then one cocktail before switching to beer. I pity the fools who took our charity bottle of vodka that we put in the fridge with "free" on it, thinking it was their lucky night. Sh!t was nasty!

The rest of the night went off without a hitch. We made new friends from Germany, India, and Ireland. Travel stories were shared, drinking games were played, and fun was had. It was an awesome night and we managed to have our "Saturday" night party until 4am.

Awful smuggled vodka from Thailand

Our alarms sounded at 11am, cause we didn't want to miss the free breakfast of eggs n toast! Oh the life of a backpacker.... After breakfast, we caught the metro to Orchard Road. Orchard Road is shopping and just that. From Gucci to Hugo Boss to knockoffs to Rayban to Forever 21. It's all here. We've seen too many shopping malls between KL and Singapore so we got bored quickly. We didn't stay long and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve located outside of the main part of the city.

The only way to get there was by bus so we hopped on the local public transport but for less then a dollar and took a half hour ride to our destination. The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve is basically a giant tropical park in the middle of the city where Singaporeans can go to hike and exercise. It was really beautiful but we were expecting something more along the line of a botanical garden judging from our Frommers guidebook. Regardless, we made the most of it and proceeded to take an hour long hike in the rainforest to the summit in our casual dresses and sandals. We could not look more out of place, but whatever. It was fun.

The bus took us back in the direction we came from where it thankfully dropped us off not too far from little india so we could get back to the Inn Crowd. We needed a snack and since being in little india, we got a chai masala and some chapati. Delish...

Singapore Skyline

Marina Sands at night

Afterwards we cleaned up and met up with Sandeep from India whom we met last night. This is one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet and he was so excited to show us around the city he had been staying in for the past couple months as an exchange program from his work back in Bangalore, India. He wanted to show us the skyline at night and also the laser show at the Marina Sands Hotel. We didn't even hear about the later until him. We took the public bus to the furthest stop and walked the rest of the way. The views at night were even more spectacular than during the day so we were pleasantly surprised. And the laser show put on a theatrical performance with powerful water jets, flashing neon lights, and music of the Frank Sinatra persuasion that reminded me of the famous water show at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. It was fun and Sandeep was beaming with pride because he showed us something cool and exciting in the city.

Next Sandeep wanted to treat us to a traditional Indian dinner down the street from our hostel. He is from the Kerala region of India so it only seemed appropriate that we get some south Indian food. He ordered us each our own vegetarian dosai that was to die for. I also got a mango lassi that melted in my mouth and brought me back to the organized chaos that is India. Our stomach were full but he insisted we try some roti and chicken tandoori (a north Indian dish) from the Muslim restaurant down the street. It was the best chicken I've had in years. Unbelievable! He paid once again and we were so grateful to him for giving us such a great evening. Though I think he might have enjoyed it more than we did. What man doesn't want two blonde California girls by their side?

Proud Sandeep

Out bellies were stuffed and we didn't feel much like going out so we returned to the hostel. There were some friends out front having some beers so we joined them.

Best chicken tandoori EVER!

Unfortunately I become I'll again, just as I did when I was in KL. I knew the feeling and the nausea was creeping up on me. I tried to hide it but before long I had to retire to my bed and pretend I felt OK. It wasn't long before I was in complete agony. I knew I needed to see a doctor but I wanted to avoid a hospital visit and see someone in the morning. At 5am I knew I couldn't wait that long and my body was shaking with cold sweats while my face grimaced with pain. I was so over being violently sick. Heather was still up partying with the others and I felt bad for being the party pooper but I had my own problems. I asked her to take me to the hospital, which she willingly obliged.

I went to Raffles hospital, and saw a doctor within 15 minutes of arriving. I was in so much pain I couldn't sit still. My blood pressure was sky high and I was sweating profusely. They gave me some drugs, which didn't do much so they recommended I see a specialist and stay overnight. I was terrified that I had either malaria or some weird parasite and I didn't want to risk being in hell any longer so I agreed.

It was my first hospital bed and I was scared. But Heather stood by me until I insisted she go home and get some sleep (it was about 8am at this point). She left and I had the room to myself. The doctor saw me and he concluded I had food poisoning that started when I was in Malaysia. He wanted to check if I had a parasite so they did blood work which came back negative. After they gave me plenty of drugs, I managed to sleep most of the day and night. I didnt eat a thing.

In the morning, I was still groggy but I felt a million times better than I did when I checked in, about 30 hours ago. The doctor recommended I stay for another 2 nights but I thought that was excessive. Plus, Heather and I had a flight to catch to Bali that afternoon that I DID NOT want to miss.

I had tremendous service from the staff at the hospital. And even though it was sh!tty for me to be there in the first place, I'm so thankful it was in Singapore. So in the end, I was discharged from the hospital, happy but weak. Heather accompanied me back to hostel to gather my things. I absolutely loved Singapore, but hopefully Bali will bring me some better luck, and some better food!