By now we are becoming somewhat connoisseurs of flying and with our flight to Singapore we have now sampled the last of the airlines that we are scheduled to fly with on this trip. So how does Singapore Airlines compare? Well, we were a little disappointed with their inflight entertainment which Virgin Airlines still holds the top spot for. See how we research these important things for you! It's not all one big holiday you know :)
After almost ten months down under in Australia / New Zealand, Singapore was the culture shock we expected. The first thing to hit us as we stepped off the plane was the humidity which I'm not sure we will ever get used to. Then during our taxi ride to our hostel the heavens opened and the torrential downpour began. In just a few short seconds whilst running from the taxi into the door of our hostel we were drenched. Guess we will have to get used to this since we have come to this part of the world during monsoon season!
Our hostel is in the Little India area of town which as you can imagine has lots of character. But I'll get to that in a minute, first: the hostel. We chose it because it had good reviews and I can see why, it is clean and in a good location. However, the best way to describe our room would be bijou! There are two single mattresses on the floor and then just the tiniest space beside them to prop up our rucksacks. The toilet / shower combo is described as a Singapore special. Just imagine a toilet cubicle on an airplane, complete with the concertina door plus a shower over the toilet. Hindsight may be playing tricks on me but I'd almost say the shower toilet in our first NZ campervan was bigger. However small room and toilet aside, all is forgiven because our room has air-conditioning. Bliss.
We collapsed on our beds for awhile waiting for the rain to stop. When it soon became apparent that it had no intention of stopping, we braved an outing. We managed to duck and dive under shop awnings until we found an umbrella stand and then we ventured off towards Mustapha's, a famous shopping centre in Little India, known for stocking everything you can possibly think of at bargain prices. We managed to dodge the crowds and buy a few bits and pieces, the most exciting being Tiger balm (just in case we ever get a headache or an insect bite - hopefully not!)
My aunt had advised us to go in search of a banana leaf curry in Little India but unfortunately we failed on that mission. Although not for the lack of trying, in fact I think some of the restaurantuers that we asked if they had banana leaf currys were quite offended. One response was; No banana leafs, we have plates!! To absolve him of his indignation we felt obliged to eat at his restaurant and it was very yummy even if there was not a banana leaf in sight.