Singapore

With only 2 nights in Singapore I was keen to explore which meant reading the map wrong and getting completely lost which was how I spent the first afternoon. Singapore is considerably more expensive than Malaysia so we spent the last night of the trip having a great time on a budget. We had to head to Raffles for a Singapore Sling. There is thankfully no dress code as we sat at Long bar drinking the most expensive drink we had ever bought and throwing peanut shells on the floor. It couldn't have been more of a contrast from Raffles as we headed to a night market for some great food served on plastic plates and with plastic cups and cutlery. From there we had drinks in Starbucks before saying our good byes as Pete headed to the airport to catch a flight to Cape Town.

Thanks to Pete, Kirsten and also Rich for getting me here. It's been a great 6 months with hopefully some long term friendships made. Everyone we meet asks what was our favourite country or whats the highlight been. There has been so many great times. I will never forget the scenery in Georgia, getting stuck in mud- everywhere, crossing the Caspian Sea, being in 45 degree heat with no air con in Khiva, camping in no mans land, horse riding in Kyrgyzstan, the pandas, the great night out in Hue when Pete returned and more recently the beautiful beaches. I feel incredibly lucky to have seen some many amazing things particularly in Central Asia where few tourists venture. From no on though I'm going alone which will be an adventure in its self.

The zoo was my main reason for coming to Singapore so I planned to spend my first day of 'going alone' there. I moved from a great nights sleep in a very nice double room to myself to a more appropriately priced hostel down the road. A trip on the metro and a bus and I was at the zoo.

Classed as one of the best in the world I had a great day out taking many a photo and seeing some of the shows. With most enclosures being natural, it was great to see the animals going about daily life. I could have sat and watched the monkeys for hours. The highlight was definitely seeing a group of bats hanging randomly underneath a rain shelter and also the close encounters with lemurs just before closing time when everyone had gone.

Next door to the zoo is the night safari. One of its kind. It only opens at night and displays all sorts of nocturnal animals that you wouldn't be able to see usually. I took a tram tour and also walked all the tracks. The animals were hard to spot and a lot were sleeping (this confused me greatly). A great experience though.

I got the impression that Singapore was mostly shops and fancy hotels. I spent my final morning heading in the correct direction to Marlion park which features lots of crazy architecture and a huge lion fountain (no photos though- I ran the battery out in the zoo). The newest feature of Singapore is Marina Sands hotel and casino. This huge complex is stunning. 3 wonky tower blocks all connected by a roof top swimming pool the size of 3 football pitches which looks from the outside like a ship. It's crazy the amount of money that's around.

From Singapore I got a bus back into Malaysia which was easy until I realised that the bus terminal I was going to wasn't the one which was in the city centre next to the hotel. I was practically at the airport and had to get a taxi back to the hotel which was near enough next door to the customs office. I'm sure this will be one of the first of many annoyances of solo travel.

I was to fly to Kuching early the next day so after being told many a time that my hotel room would be ready in another half hour I set out to find the bus station which was a mission. No one had heard of the airport bus- not hotels, taxi men, people in the 7-11. With my bus mishap earlier I didn't want to waste money on a taxi for 40km so I was determined to find the bus station. I did and it got me to the airport for 6am this morning for a quid 50 and I had a great flight (due to being given an exit seat) and I'm currently in a very nice but unfinished hostel in Kuching on the island of Borneo ready for some wildlife action.