Many people around the world exploring the idea of a trip to Southeast Asia are looking for a few things in particular. They tend to want great food, beautiful scenery, and a chance to relax. Going further, some are looking for specific things like scuba diving opportunities, casinos, watersports, or whatever else it may be. The trouble is that a lot of the most prominent destinations in the area are famous specifically for excelling in these areas, which can make it difficult for people to pick and choose vacation possibilities. When you look closely however, it becomes hard to argue with the idea that Singapore in particular excels in some…
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You know you’re back in Thailand when..
…There’s a bin of used tissues next to the toilet. I forgot that some countries have workable plumbing so that the toilet paper can actually be flushed down the toilet! This is rare in Thailand (and Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia) where you need to use the toilet paper and then put it into the bin so not to clog up the toilet. I was surprised when I got to Changi Airport in Singapore and found NO WASTEBIN WITH ACTUAL HUMAN WASTE in it! Amazing!* However Singapore has something that’s more annoying/scary in their bathrooms. Automatic flushing toilets!! Pretty much every public toilet in Singapore is automatic and I’ve been flushed out…
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Singaporean Toilets
This is a blog post about toilets. I will be writing about them after each country. Be prepared to be riveted beyond belief. So, Singaporean toilets. Was pleasantly surprised. As a kid who suffered from food poisoning every time she even looked at food in Singapore (we went every two years or so as my dad is from Singapore) I feared bathrooms in the country as my memories were mostly of squat toilets, wet floors, and automatic flushes – mostly when I was halfway through my business. But, this time around, as an adult who can hover over the toilet seat more elegantly, I was surprised by how clean most…
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Singapore to Malaysia
So being the cheapos that we are, we decided to take a bus from Singapore to Malaysia. Actually there were several reasons we didn’t want to take a flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. 1. We want to see the scenery of the country, instead of just flying in and out of major cities. 2. Flying in and out takes more time than expected due to checking in time, etc. 3. We have all of the time in the world (except when money runs out) so we’ll take it slow and travel north in our own time. So from Singapore, we took the Red MRT (train) line to Kranji. There,…
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We will always have Singapore
The reason for the slightly dramatic title is that we both did not really want to leave this place. Singapore is very charming and welcoming and we felt really at home here after just two weeks. Getting around in the MRT is very easy, safe and efficient, not to mention cheap. We felt safe the entire time (bar Little India) and people seem friendly. An old local passed me at a bus stop and wondered if I was lost, possibly because I must have beamed like a beacon as the only Gweilo in this neighbourhood. We ate some amazing, less amazing and interesting food, drank some stupendously expensive beer, enjoyed…
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Singapore Zoo
So even though we had purchased our zoo tickets the week before (bundled with our Bird Park ticket), we nearly came close to throwing away or giving away the tickets as we figured we didn’t have much time left in Singapore, and a zoo is a zoo right? Wrong. Singapore Zoo is amazing. I had been previously as a child, and had just been to the Melbourne Zoo (ok, it was four years ago – but a zoo is a zoo) so I wasn’t expecting much. However, this is a different type of zoo. There were no cages, no ugly wire contraptions stopping the animals from getting to you, or…
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Food in Singapore
Not going to lie, we’ve had some different food here. Mostly at family dinners. For big parties, celebrations, weddings, etc. there’s usually karaoke involved. During the actual dinner! Must be weirder for Lionel to experience these dinners. At least I’ve been to some traditional Chinese dinners in the past and kinda knew what to expect. (Pretty much just copy what everyone else is doing and always let the elder people eat first, and always try everything – mostly so you don’t offend the host!) Hawker Centres on the other hand are pretty amazing. Cheap and quick, just the way I like it. We’ve had 2 x Chilli Crabs for…
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Chilling on a rooftop
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Little India in Singapore
Headed to Little India with Lionel, and my sister’s bf, Sam. My lazy sisters decided to go back to the apartment to nap after a long day of shopping (ha!). After checking out the Main Street, passing a pretty cool Hindu Temple, noticing there were great bargains to be had (Sam bought some sunnies for $2.40 SGD) and also that there were very few women around, we accidentally walked down a side street. (Not so much accidentally, but more that I decided to cut across a side street to get to the train (MRT) station thinking I was a true local!) So there were we, Lionel, Sam and I walking…
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Bugis market
Very packed and busy local market. Tried some of Sam’s Durian pancake – don’t like it. The weird shop owner girl just started to fold Emma’s sleeve up, then after they had purchased some tops and we walked further down the hall, she came out of nowhere to tickle Lisa. No idea why.
