Ahhhh ... Singapore! It is a very small, but modern country. The streets are clean, things run very efficiently here. Better than anywhere else we've been in the last 5 weeks. The travel book tries to make it sound like Singapore is trying to project itself as a modern place, but not a totally westernized place. I don't know why this is. Everything here reminds me of home, just a bit cleaner and without the bubble gum.
Shopaholics, beware! So far, all of the tourist places we've visited are mall-centered. The largest fountain in the world is at the base of a 5 tower giant mall & office complex. They have a historic hotel, "world famous", that dates from the later 1800s and it is also attached to a mall. The war memorial that we saw is across from yet another mall. Bored, Mike and I tried to hit the cinema. Unfortunately for us, they are only showing three English flicks over here. Shrek 3, Pirates 3, and Ocean's 13. We've already seen them. (2 in Bangkok and 1 yesterday in Malaka, Malaysia.) What a drag, eh? So here we are at the Internet cafe... since there is no TV at the hostel we're staying in. Unlike the hostels in Malaysia, this one is immaculate. Very clean, has locks for our stuff that are reliable, and AC at no extra charge! Yippie. It'd be perfect if there was a TV for us to sit around and veg out watching.
Ohhh ... I just realized I didn't write about yesterday in Malaka. It was fantastic fun. [I don't know if I'm in a mood today or Mike's in a mood ... perhaps both of us are? Or we're just tired?] Malaka is an older, small historic town. They have churches, which are locked up even on Sundays with signs that say "open to the public daily" and an cute little old city center. The old and historic buildings are something to look at, and they have of course, a fantasticly huge and modern mall. I did cave and buy this super cute little sweater for almost $10 USD (a small fortune!) but I'm sure I'll need it as we're going south to winter in Australia in 2 days. Totally a justified purchase. He he he. We also found Chinatown. There were a few temples we walked by (booooring ~ we've been to too many temples to care now) and some fantastic antique shops. I wish I had the space to buy some of the really amazing antiques. They have all sorts of stuff from 300 years ago. Mike is a coin collector and we stumbled upon a great old shop. He bought a VOC (Dutch East India Company) coin from 1766 along with 10 other coins for about $35 USD. The lady even tossed in a simple silver ring I was eyeing and didn't feel like paying for. Lovely lady, lovely shop. After we got the coins, we ended up at the mall and watched Ocean's 13 and went bowling. Such a lovely evening!!
Perhaps we'll get lucky tomorrow and find something non-shopping related to do ...
Either way, it's almost time for Australia! We fly there on the 13th and are spending two days in Sydney. I can't wait....
UPDATE: Met two super cool Canadians back at the hostel and spent all of Tuesday hanging out with them. Had great girl chat while the boys complained about us girls not being "team walkers." Blah. It was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon and it was a shame to say goodbye to our North American friends. :)
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