Singapore
We spent the first two nights in Singapore, which was a good place to start as it seemed quite familiar. That was until I stepped outside, the heat and humidity were incredible and I just couldn’t get used to it.
Instead of taking a tour to see the sights we decided we would save some money and take the public buses instead. After an hour waiting at the bus stop outside the hotel it didn’t seem like such a good idea, but we finally managed to work out which buses we needed to take. Although we had some initial problems with fares and cash we managed to get to the zoo where we spent a few hours watching a variety of animals and laughing at the monkeys.
The next day we took a trip to Sentosa, but in the afternoon I couldn’t cope with the heat any longer and we decided to spend a few hours at the hotel pool before heading to the airport for our flight to Thailand.
Bangkok
It has taken a couple of days to adjust to Bangkok - it’s a real assault on the senses with the heat, noise and especially the smells! We decided to take a taxi ride our first day here which was an interesting experience. It’s not that there are no road rules, but they seem to be very fluid and open to interpretation. At one point the taxi broke down in the middle of an intersection, the driver got it going again then at the next intersection managed to block two lanes of traffic. I’m surprised that more vehicles aren’t dented!
Yesterday we spent the day sightseeing by tuk-tuk, it was great but I got sick of being taken to jewellery and suit shops. We visited a few temples including a 45 metre high statue of Buddha, where I bought a small cage of birds and released them for good luck.
Earlier today we took a river boat to China Town to have a look around the markets. It was so crowded and hot weaving through tiny crowded alleys and dodging scooters and tuk-tuks. I bought some clothes and jewellery, and also a pair of Louis Vuitton sun glasses. The verification tag mentioned that they were “most highof Gaulity” so I’m glad I only paid 180 Baht for them…
Our Intrepid tour starts this afternoon, with an overnight train from Bangkok to the Khao Sok National Park where I’m planning on exploring the rain forest and taking an elephant ride. The rest of the tour will mostly involve relaxing on the beaches of Koh Samui and Koh Tao, which I am really looking forward to!
If you would like to see more photos, check out my flickr page.