Day 1

We left Sydney on Singapore Airlines at 8am in the morning. When we arrived at the airport and went through security there was a man there argueing with security staff who were about to confiscate his cigarette lighter that was shaped like a toy gun. He’s just won the idiot of the year award for sure.
We arrived in steamy Singapore and were met by our mini bus which efficiently whisked us away to our hotel. We checked in and then had a rest before being picked up for the night safari tour.
When we arrived at the night zoo we were put on little trams that take you through the various enclosures with the animals who are more active at night. There is minimal lighting and it is quite eerie as the tram winds its way slowly through the rainforest area that is almost dark, the lighting resembles moonlight so you do really feel you are wandering around in the dark.
After our tram ride we returned to the central area to watch a show which was a fire eating performance from about ½ dozen performers from Borneo. It was quite spectacular to watch these men and women twirling these lanterns of flames and the men perform extraordinary tricks with huge flames billowing up from their mouths, the heat from the flames was quite intense and you instinctively step back as these huge flames light up the sky.


Day 2
Today we had a free day to wander around Singapore at leisure. We bought a hop-on hop-off bus ticket for $6 each which entitled us to unlimited bus rides from 10 in the morning till about 8pm. We wandered around Little India and Chinatown in the morning visiting the various temples and mosques in the area and being a Sunday they were especially busy, particularly the temples, lots of worshippers with their joss sticks and incense perfuming the air all around us.
We visited the historic Raffles Hotel and thought we might have a Gin Sling in the Raffles Bar but at $29.00 a drink we thought better of it and had an iced coffee in Starbucks across the road instead.
Later in the afternoon the bus dropped us the Botanic Gardens and we wandered around there for a while. In the middle of the gardens is the Orchid Garden which was stunningly beautiful, so many different varieties of orchids, some we had seen before and many that were new to us. We spent a good hour walking around the garden and admiring the orchids.
In the evening we went to Boat Quay and Clarke Quay in search of a restaurant for dinner. There are literally thousands of restaurants lining both sides of the river festooned in millions of pretty fairy lights. We finally settled on a Caribbean restaurant as we didn’t want anything Chinese as we will have plenty of that during the next 19 days.
Day 3
Today we went on a day tour to Malacca in Malaysia. We went on a bus that took us over the causeway and into Malacca. We had a group of six people only and a great big bus We had a local guide to show us the sights of Malacca. We visited a couple of Chinese temples which were very ornate with a lot of gold and dark chinese wood. Next to the temples are shops were you can buy everything you need for your prayers, flowers, joss sticks and paper to burn. You can buy paper money, cardboard cars, cans of tiger beer, coke a cola, lemonade all made from cardboard. These are all items for the after life and you can give them, you burn them for the deceased friends and relatives.
We also visited the ruins of a church from the 16th century which overlooks the city and out over the straits of Malacca. Around town were hundreds of pedlo cycles all decorated ornately in brightly coloured plastic flowers.
It was a long day. We left at 8am this morning and returned tonight at about 8pm. Tomorrow morning we leave early for the airport and our flight to Beijing. We will arrive in China early tomorrow afternoon to begin our tour of China.