On 20 May 2014 we rose early and prepared ourselves for our longest border crossing experience ever!  First we had to strudge about 2km with our backpacks in 30 degree heat and 80% humidity (all before 09h00) to find our bus stop to the interchange bus station in Johor Bahru.  Once we got there we caught a Singapore express bus which would take us across the border.  At Malaysian immigration we had to hop off the bus with our bags and get stamped out, then climb back on the bus which would take us to Singapore Immigration and onward to Queen Street bus station.  The amount of traffic on the causeway to Singapore was staggering, with workers doing their daily commute.  Once over the border, we hopped off the bus again to get stamped into Singapore, and with the amount of people crossing the border, we stood in the Immigration queue for about an hour and a half before catching the next bus to Queen Street.  On the ride to Queen Street we saw on Rob’s fancy new mobile phone, which he bought in Melaka that we were going right past Little India where we had booked our lodgings, so we jumped off and walked the 1km to the homestay.  All in all the process took about 4 hours and was pretty intense!  To say we were disappointed with our lodgings is an understatement but we’ll get to that later.

After a bag drop we did what we always do when arriving in a new place… we went in search of food!  We were told about a huge department store called Mustafa’s just down the road which had a money changer so off we headed, dodging Indians like we were in the middle of Mumbai – who would have thought that Little India would have so many Indians actually from India, not the mixed Malay Chinese population we were expecting.  Anyway we found some supplies, and then splurged a bit on lunch in the department store restaurant as we were both starving and not willing to go searching for a food court.  It’s funny how the prices in terms of numbers are the same as Malaysia, but the exchange rate makes it so much more expensive.  For example a rice and chilli breakfast would be RM3.50 which equates to USD1 in Malaysia but the same thing in Singapore is S$3.50 which is about USD3.  After a quick siesta we headed over to trendy Orchard Rd where all the shopping malls are with the big name brands – this 2km stretch of road is a mall crawlers dream.  After a few photo opportunities it was back to the homestay for dinner and a well deserved sleep.

We were up early the next day to hit the streets for some city sightseeing.  After scoffing down a few slices of toast and hot coffee, courtesy of the homestay, we caught the underground train to Chinatown which has nothing Chinese about it.  A walk along the river front took us around Clark Quay and around the CBD to the National Theatre.  The CBD is definitely not as built up as Hong Kong and there was much less hustle-bustle, although during lunch hour one might disagree.  But the skyline is definitely impressive.  We strolled around the upmarket Marina Bay Sands area which has a gigantic hotel with a 150m infinity pool on its roof in the shape of a long boat.  Onward to the Gardens of the Bay, a large landscaped area filled with plants and trees which were very pretty and very well maintained.  A word we often used as we cruised around is “pristine”.  As we were walking back across the river we stumbled across the pit lanes and the start/finish of the Singapore F1 GP Marina Bay Street circuit which was an unexpected highlight.  The tarmac was covered with splotches of melted tyre rubber from the last race.

Once back in town our route took us past the renowned Raffles Hotel and for laughs we decided to pop into the bar.  We saw that the famous Singapore Slinger drink was only about S$27 so we gave that a miss!  After a long morning of walking, we went back to the homestay for a siesta to rest some weary feet.  That evening took us to the Harbourfront with the idea to go over to Sentosa Island to have a look at the theme park and Universal Studios.  Unfortunately we couldn’t use our tourist pass and had to pay extra so we headed back to Clark Quay for an evening drink – we arrived during Happy Hour and had the Singapore Slinger, and for a mere S$15 we indulged just to say we had one!

Of course our nature instinct kicked in, and after a day of city touring, our second morning in Singapore had us heading over to Bukit Timah nature reserve.  Here we enjoyed a walk up Singapore’s highest hill at a whopping 163m above sea level!  I could have sworn I got dizzy from lack of oxygen as we neared the summit and Rob was reaching for his altitude sickness pills – just kidding!  We took the scenic route and did a bit of a round trip as we missed the turning to get to the start point of the trail.  In the end we did about 2 hours of walking in the last remaining bit of original rainforest on the island.  You could forget you were in the city with the dense jungle vegetation surrounding you until you are reminded of your location hearing the sound of the expressway just behind you!  That afternoon we decided to visit the zoo as it is listed as one of the highlights of visiting Singapore.  We found the zoo to be a very impressive.  The definite highlight was seeing a white tiger mount his partner for a quick cuddle; the lowlight, seeing the polar bear’s coat covered in green algae.  It was a good 4 hours spent wandering around.

The day after our nature reserve excursion, we headed back to the Harbourfront and hiked up Mount Faber hill and walked partway along the Southern ridges trail.  We were promised a decent view of the harbour and the city, according to the guidebook, but all we saw was a lot of foliage obscuring the harbour view and a bunch of ugly apartment blocks on the other side of the ridge.  The best city view still has to be from Marina Bay, although we had a good vantage point to watch a storm rolling in over the city.  As it was raining in the afternoon, our time was spent indoors for the rest of the day.

We had both positives and negatives in Singapore.  Although it was wonderful wandering around the city seeing the old colonial buildings mixed with the glass and concrete skyscrapers, and enjoying the many green spaces of the parks and reserves, we are both not city people so a few days was enough for us.  Also with it being so expensive our places of accommodation was extremely limited and what we found to live in to fit within our budget was a bit of a joke.  A fan room at Ali’s Nest guesthouse where we landed up staying cost S$38 and we were in a box of a room using a bathroom shared with another 10-12 people.  There were renovations downstairs so there was a lot of noise and dust flying around.   The absolute low though was the fact that the owner’s extremely decrepit mother who looked and sounded like she was on her deathbed lived downstairs.  Every now and then during the day, and more often between 19h00 and 22h00, we found ourselves having to listen to the demented wailings and hacking coughs of that poor old woman who should have been in a frail care facility.  It’s hard not to judge a place or location by the standard of the accommodation you stay in but when the usually reasonably priced Holiday Inn Express starts at rooms for S$200, or dorm beds start at S$50 each, a backpacker needs to take the good with the bad right?  But on the other hand, the cleanliness, the efficiency and the glamour of the city made Singapore a worthwhile stopover for a few days.