Singapore Sling

08th Aug Arrived in Singapore (SP) and after the usual immigration rig ma role arrived without any hassle. Singapore on first impressions is a nice clean city and I liked it straight away. I checked into my hostel which was 2 km away from the bus stop. It looked near on the map, so I decided to walk it. With 20 kilos on my back it was tough going. I got to the hostel and a sign said 'sorry full' I went in anyway and was told that a group of 8 had just cancelled and there was a bed in a dorm room available. I took the room and got a cold reminder of life in dorms. It was twice the price for a bed in a dorm in Singapore than a double ensuite room in Thailand. After settling in, my first job was to call an old buddy of mine, james. He was a lad I met in the Detox in Ko Samui from SP and he had invited me to call him when I arrived in town. I met him that night and he had just returned from Malaysia too (he was on business though) he brought me and a work colleague of his to this lovely restaurant called 'Jumbo'. It is a seaside seafood restaurant and James ordered a load of stuff and we tucked in. It was delicious although he said they are often better. After that I saw into my first Sing high rise apartment when we dropped off his colleague and had a grand tour of her apartment. James dropped me back to the hostel.

09th Aug Met James at 10am today for a tour of some of the sights. First we went to see his new house which is not yet complete. It was built over 3 floors, solar heating, all ensuite etc. He had a swimming pool and all kinds of modern gadjets. It was very nice and I attempted a valuation. I reckoned $1.9million sing dollars ($2 = E1)but he told me he paid that for the site! we headed off in his nice new Mercedes and saw the opera house, the dockside, new and old colonial SP. No trip to SP would be complete without a visit to Raffles hotel (Raffles founded SP) and the long bar where the cocktail, the Singapore sling was invented. we had one of those each and lunch. James was meeting a freind for Golf so I headed off around town to buy new hiking shoes, which I found and were way cheaper than Ireland. I went to the National Museum, fort Canning park , where the British decided to evacuate SP due to a Japanese invasion. Home then for a shower and a change and meet James and his family for dinner. I had not dressed up in a long time for dinner and trying to find suitable attire for a posh SP dinner was not an easy task. Anyway, had a great time and a super chinese/sing meal and met his wife and 2 children. The meal was a huge array of everything and everyone just took what they wanted. James kindly dropped me home again.

10 Aug Went off to see a few final sights today and shopped for a few final bits and pieces. James wanted to bring me to one more place, an exclusive island off SP known as Sentosa island. SP's super rich live here and $5m is the norm for a house. We had lunch and James brought me out to the airport. Singapore is a beautiful city and was made so much more enjoyable by having a freind there to show me around and give me a real experience. James refused to let me pay for anything and met me everyday, for which I am very grateful.