Slinging' It Singapore Style

I write this from Singapore Airport. Singapore is pretty amazing and I wish I had more time here. It can bed summed up as follows:
1. May also be spelled 'F-O-O-D'
2. HOT
3. Clean. Like really clean. It probably seems more so as I have spent the last week and a half in developing nations.

A tower of beer from a local microbrewery, best known way to cool off.

Here is a quick rundown of the things that I have done:
Dined on a delightful mixture of Thai, Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and western foods that make up the Singaporean cuisine,
Visited the museum to learnt history,
Visited the Science Centre - we'll call it professional curiosity,
Strolled through Fort Canning Park hunting for 9-pound cannons,
Sipped on Singapore Slings at the Long Bar of Raffles Hotel, the bar that invented the cocktail,
Enjoyed a beer at the Skygarden of Marina Bay Casino (aka cricket stumps),
Browsed though the TinTin shop (more awesome than can be imagined),
Enjoyed a tower of beer at a local microbrewery,
Took a tour through their water recycling plant, and
Took in some live music at the Esplanade.

Tin Tin store in Singapore, this was the entire impetus behind my trip.

I came to Singapore solely to visit Isaac, but got so much more. Even better Louisa lives here too, which I do not know. A few things surprised me. Firstly that every pint I bought was at least $18. They have a huge tax on grog. Similarly, it costs locals $100 just to enter the casino (locals get in for free). Isaac lives with his parents as I gather rent is somewhat difficult and expensive. Lots of people love in public housing which I gathered was housing bought on a 99 year lease from the government. The houses are surprisingly bigger than they look. THEIR SHOWERS DON'T HAVE TAPS. It took me about 5 minutes to figure it out - damned if I was going to ask Isaac's mother how to use the shower wearing nothing but a towel. It was all buttons and dials.

Louisa and I enjoy a Singapore Sling from Raffles Hotel.

Eating out in Singapore is incredibly cheap, you can feed two people for under $15 at these massive food court type areas. Apparently they stay open until all hours of the morning. I ate some awesome food - stingray, Chilli oil crab (a Singaporean specialty), Polish sausages, half boiled eggs. We had chicken rice from a really popular food court joint that we had to wait about 15 minutes to order and pick up food. This was followed by a banana fritter, which I promptly deep throated (picture not available).

Instead here is a picture of me enjoying poo water - water from Singapore's water recycling plant.

Finally, I can tell you now, if I gather wind of a nuclear holocaust I'm heading straight to Singapore. I was wandering through their many shopping malls which are all seem connected sky bridges when I stumbled across their many underpasses. Their shopping centres are like a meerkat community. You could survive for weeks without getting bored. People rabbit on about the Singapore airport, which is indeed amazing, but they have totally missed the vast network of underground shops that seems to crisscross the city district. I was surprised when I found sunlight again.

Cricket stumps even I could hit.

The last few countries, including Australia, all had hot climates. From here I enter China, Mongolia, and Russia - some of the coldest habited places. Kinda makes me wish I was hairier.

Rudolph enjoys the view from the top.