First few days in Singapore

P.P.P.P.P.P. - Prior Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

I think we had gotten lazy from having such a relaxed time at Fevrier Resort in Ko Lanta. We completely forgot to organise a hotel in Singapore, and our hotel in Phuket didn't have wifi or a computer with internet meaning we didn't even look into the best areas in Singapore to stay. Our hope was that the Airport would have internet or that the Tourist Information would help us. I got my bag back from the luggage claims, only to open it and find a nice cockroach waiting for me... This is the second time I've had a cockroach on this trip!
At Tourist Information they told us to go to the hotel booking desk, who told us to go to the visitors help desk, who eventually told us that the cheap hotels were in either Chinatown or Little India. Our bags are pretty heavy so we wanted to avoid carrying them around for too long. The first hotel was Chinatown Hotel 81, which looked really nice but was expensive... $139 (about £70), the second looked average and was still well over $100. Finally we found a fairly average looking hotel which was still $90! We couldn't be bothered to keep carrying our luggage around any further so took it, with the plan on finding somewhere cheaper for the next night. We got to our room and it was pretty gross, really dirty walls, fag end in the bin and baby cockroaches in the bathroom.

After leaving our bags in the room we went for another walk further south to see what we could find. It was the same situation, they were all still out of our price range. We did find a really nice looking place that was only a touch more expensive, but gave us free wifi. So we have booked that for tonight. Next, we took a train a bit further east out of town to Geylang (red light district) to find a really budget hotel for our last few nights, but still no luck. One hotel we went into had more expensive prices at the weekends because they allowed prostitutes into the premises. It was proving difficult to find somewhere that's good value without the internet, and wifi is hard to come across too! The government control it, so you have to have a Singapore telephone number and register online to get a username and password. Sounds simple, but to buy a phone/sim card you have to have your passport, and then have to find an internet cafe to register. Eventually we got this sorted so went to Mcdonalds for breakfast to use the (government's) wifi.

Today we went to Vivo City Shopping Centre, which is only one stop away on the train. It was pretty large, with maybe 200 shops or so. I didn't buy anything, but Izzy bought a few things. I want to see if I can get a good deal on a Nikon 18-200mm lens while I'm here, so I can have the Vibration Reduction, and the extra zoom. Most of the shops want to know what price you have been quoted before they give you theirs, it really is that competitive here!

After having got internet access, we have found a few backpackers hostels near us so this evening went to check them out. The first one, Beary Nice Hostel was really nice and clean with friendly staff (and hundreds of cuddly toys everywhere) although they are full for the next five days. The guy on the reception there helped us by ringing and recommended some other local hostels, but when we got to them they only had female and male seperate shared dorms which didn't really suit us. Well, I will let you know how that goes but looks like it will be an expensive few days!

A building was on fire near our hotel!