Welcome to Singapore

It was our last morning in Kota Kinabalu so we made the most of our time by heading to the Sunday market which was just round the corner from the hostel. It was a lot bigger than we thought it would be and sold anything you could think of (including puppies). We were good and didn't buy anything except a juice which ended up being pretty vile. It may have been because I'd just brushed my teeth but the lime juice I chose had a horrible after taste meaning I couldn't finish the drink. 

We checked out of our hostel and caught a bus to the airport after spending some time at the market. Our flight was at 2 to Singapore but the bus only took around 20 minutes. Also, when we arrived at the airport I realised the flight was actually at quarter to 3 so we were there three hours early. Matt wasn't too impressed with me. We spent the time planning Indonesia and eating some fried rice. Before we knew it it was time to go through security and then time to board the flight (the airport was tiny so we left security till quite late). I slept for the whole flight so was slightly sleepy when we arrived in Singapore at gone 5. This meant that I didn't realise we needed to fill in a form before going through passport control (we always do so I don't  know why I didn't think about it) and after waiting in line for 10 minutes we were sent to the back. Finally through, we had taken so long that our bags had been pulled off the conveyor belt and left on the floor (aren't there signs saying baggage shouldn't be left unattended?). Nevertheless, we found the metro station and caught three metros to reach Clarke Quay, the nearest station to our hostel. 

We dumped our bags at our nice new hostel (on the fourth floor with no lift) and after a quick free glass of water we headed back out for food. So far I hadn't seen the ultra modern cool Singapore that everyone talks about so was excited to explore slightly. We were going to stop in a nearby mall for tea but behind the mall we noticed lights and liveliness. Obviously we went to check it out and weren't disappointed. Clarke quay is a haven of trendy bars lined up along the quay and lucky for us there was a food festival happening on one of the bridges. The food wasn't exactly cheap but compared to restaurants it was perfectly affordable for us. The stalls were a bit cool and edgy, like the street food places you get in London. We chose a tasty noodle dish with some meaty prawns (only two so one each), special spring roll type things that needed a bit of sweet or salt flavour added in my opinion and then a carrot cake which wasn't actually carrot cake, it was like a fried omelette but I believe it's made using radishes not carrots. The carrot cake is hard to describe but seems to be a local delicacy. It doesn't have masses of flavour so some chilli sauce for example wouldn't go amiss. 

We had a short walk round the ultra modern area with its lights and music before sitting by the quay and watching a guitar player who was rather mediocre. A random guy went and joined the guitar player and sang a song ridiculously well though which was rather special. He got a crowd going and was given a decent applause at the end. Singapore may be too cool.