me so sorry...

Hello again,

Namaste (hello in Hindi) from Singapore! Much apologies for not updating this cyber-thingy! Apparently people have been reading this blog, so I'm very sorry for leaving you on the edge of your seats for so long.

We finished out our month in India with few problems and made it onto our budget flight to Singapore after much hassle! in the airport in Kolkata we had to wait in line for our bags (checked) to be scanned before we could check-in and then once we checked in there was no food or anything to buy!

We have been in Singapore for about a week blowing massive amounts of money compared to what we spent in India. I've spent in one week what I spent in the entire month in India! yikes! We should have moved on earlier but it would have cost $50 to change a $100 flight so we decided to just stay in Singapore. I am enjoying sleeping in and eating relatively cheap stall food ($3-5) and enjoying first world amenities. Our hostel is pretty good. It's called "The Inn-Crowd" and is in Little India. We get free breakfast, 30 mins of internet, pool table, fooz, cheap beer in-house, laundry service, etc, for $20/night for dorm beds!

I will be happy to be out of Singapore and back to cheap food and drinks. Next is Kuala Lumpur for about 3 nights and then a little more Malaysia. Then Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam! About one more month to go I think.

Yesterday we went to the Singapore Zoo. It is a fabulous zoo that I recommend everyone to visit. You walk around on rainforest-lined pathways and watch orangutans climb and walk over you on long vines, touch glass that tigers are sleeping against, stand within 10 metres of zebras in the open air, etc. Then, we went to the Night Safari next door. It's the same deal but it's dark outside and the nocturnal animals are out wandering around (and there are less animal exhibits of course). There was a bat pavilion that you walk through (similar to a free-flying butterfly building if you've ever been in one). You have to walk through two sets of doors with chains hanging down which are to stop bats from escaping. Then you walk through the building and look at bats munching on the pieces of fruit hung in the trees. Oh, and there are flying foxes there, too, which are basically REALLY LARGE F*&%#N BATS!!! I had my pashmina wrapped around my head (also to help with the rain) and walked through briskly, shivering for a spine-shattering minute after emerging through the chain-link door!!! The warning on the door "If you are afraid of bats you may not want to enter" should have been a deterrent for me but apparently I'm illiterate or at least ignorant. I'm much better with bats ever since we went into the pit of a basement of a castle in Gwalior and had literally hundreds of bats hanging overhead!

Anyways, so much has transpired since I last posted that I'll have to tell you all in person about each of the many cities that I have seen. If you are thinking of going to Asia but are not willing to rough it and not sure how much you are into Asian culture then Singapore would be for you because it is basically Disney Land for grown-ups. It is SO clean here! The city is so clean and perfect looking in many ways that it is seemingly unreal. You can still get a taste of Asia while having all of the comforts of back home, as well as a lot of posh pampering! Imagine all of the fancy, ritzy parts of Toronto combined and that is Singapore.

Working on some more pics now. Just bought more memory and burnable DVD's so hopefully you will get ot see some of India and at least some of Singapore!