Sleepless in Singapore

The combination of a still sore tailbone and a chap snoring loudly meant that neither Frank nor I got much sleep on the flight from Melbourne to Singapore. The plane was scheduled to arrive at 6am local time but for some unknown reason touched down just after 5am - an hour before the MRT starts running. That gave us plenty of time to get cash from the ATM and figure out where we were going and what we would do to try and stay awake.

We caught the MRT to what we thought was the closest station and only a ten minute walk to the hotel we had booked. After a hot and steamy 45 minute walk we finally found the place, which wasn't on the tourist map of Singapore as it was too far from the city. Unfortunately the map on Frank's GPS had the street numbers exactly the wrong way around. We dropped our bags at the hotel and I had a quick shower and then we set off back to the MRT a leisurely 10 minute walk it turns out - once you know where you are going :-)

We decided to visit a nature reserve north-west of Singapore working on the assumption that fresh air and exercise would help avoid any possible jet lag. Oh and the bus goes right to the gate on a Sunday. We spent a couple of hours walking around looking for local wildlife but the birds all appeared to be in hiding bar one or two. Frank did spot a crocodile in the mangroves and we saw a few water monitors, lots of mangrove crabs who build enormous mud homes and a speedy little critter like a squirrel.

We headed back to the hotel and around 4pm agreed there was no way we could stay awake until bed time so we went to sleep for a couple of hours. Then back out into the heat to find somewhere to have dinner. There was a place right under the hotel but it was under cover and not air-conditioned i.e. hot as hell. We finally ended up almost back at the hotel and across the road on the edge of the Malay Village. Had yummy satays and some sort of fried rice dish We ended up eating there three nights running and the food never disappointed especially after we asked the waiter to recommend something off the non Western menu (no English translation) and they also made the best lime juice drinks.