Singapore and Malaysia

It was a short flight from Kota Kinabalu to Singapore's Changi Airport, the world's #1 rated airport. To save money we opted to take the very convenient train into the city. When we exited the station we were surprised to find that our hostel was in the heart of the very colourful Arab Quarter. We only had 4 days in Singapore, mostly due to budget constraints, so we immediately set out exploring (and eating) our way around the city. 

You can't stay in a Turkish neighbourhood without sampling delicious Turkish coffee. The best part of the Arab district was the colourful decor and the amazing smells coming from every direction. 

We went to Singapore to escape the jungles of Malaysia, but ironically our favourite places in the city were the Labrador Nature Reserve and the impressive botanical gardens. Just a 30 minute bus ride from our hostel we found ourselves in a primary rainforest. 

The Southern Ridges Trail then took us to a lovely canopy walk across the highway from the jungle. Everything in Singapore is incredibly efficient and well maintained. Best of all, access to all of these sites were free! Our favourite word. We sent the whole day walking around from park to park. In the end we walked 18 km that day. 

The next day was another busy one. We took the train to the Botanical Gardens and walked another 12 km around the park. It was a Sunday so the gardens were full of families out for a walk or a picnic. Singapore is extremely multicultural and it was beautiful to walk around and hear dozens of different languages all around.

Our favourite find was the hectic Little India district. We walked through amazed at wide food selection and settled on delicious curry and garlic naan bread. Of course this wasn't nearly enough for Aaran who eagerly searched to find the best looking samosas.

We were lucky enough to be in Singapore a couple of weeks before the Lunar New Year. Chinatown was absolutely packed with people and extravagantly decorated in preparation for the celebrations. On some streets in was actually impossible to take a full step, we just had to slowly shuffle through with the rest of the crowd. 

If it wasn't for the endless food options around Singapore we easily would have eaten these kebabs for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just around the corner from our hostel and super cheap (by Singaporean standards).

From Singapore we got on a 3 hour bus and went back into Malaysia. Our first stop was the UNESCO city of Malacca. The entire heritage district is painted in a bright red colour and has clearly undergone a lot of maintenance and conservation.  We then took another bus to the capital of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur. We only spent a day there and then we were off to Laos!

I was feeling particularly ill during our time in Malacca. I had been quite sick for about 4 days and walking around for hours every day finally got to me. Aaran went a store near our hostel and bought some traditional Chinese medicine. The man at the counter suggested it for stomach troubles. We can't be sure if it actually worked, but I did start feeling better the next day.