Singapore - Lions and Tigers and Bears....Oh My!

Isn't it funny how your interests change with age. Nowadays, there's nothing I like more than a good museum or art gallery, or a stroll in the great outdoors with Mother Nature. So in the two days we had in Singapore, all of my boxes were well and truly ticked.

We landed in Singapore early in the evening, dumped the bags and trekked across the city by foot - the only way to really experience the fantastic juxtaposition of the many influences in this dense little city state. Gaz (aka 'the map'), had planned a great little route which took us through the unusual urban landscape of staggering skyscrapers, beautifully preserved colonial buildings, Churches, and Buddhist and Hindu temples.














We found a watering hole en route, by way of a backpackers hostel, where ironically a pint of beer cost more than a bed for a night! £7.50 a pop! So we discovered quite quickly that Singapore is NOT cheap and cheerful like the other places we had visited so far. Fabulous, yes, affordable..no!

We walked through Little India which was a labyrinth of heavily crowded back streets, perfumed with the smell of exotic spices and incense and despite being quite late by the time we arrived, the streets were buzzing with life with people buying food from the market (see the rice shop below), socializing on street corners and watching repeats of the cricket.








We found a bar just a few minutes away quite aptly named 'hookers' (as there was quite obviously a prostitute accompanying a rather drunk Australian gentleman on the next table!), although of course the name referred to rugby hookers. So we sat and chatted and watched Man City beat Bolton 3-2 (Ant insisted I put that bit in! Lol).

Singapore is a very cosmopolitan place with many strong cultural influences namely, British, Malay, Indian and Chinese, so the following day on our culinary journey, having sampled fine Indian cuisine the night before, we decided it was the turn of the Chinese chefs to tantalize our taste buds so yum-yum-dim-sum it was. I think we may have over-ordered somewhat , but we still managed to polish it all off :) Wouldn't want to upset the chef now would we. ;)




















Now, you can't go to Singapore and not visit the famous Raffles Hotel, the home of the Singapore Sling, so like the unashamed tourists that we are we made a beeline for 'Long Bar'.







Raffles, one of the World's most famous hotels, was built in 1899 and named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, who on establishing a settlement on the 26 mile wide island at the tip of the Malay peninsula, transformed the dense tangle of jungle into a thriving port for trade between the East and the West. Currently the world's busiest port in terms of total shipping tonnage, it also tranships a fifth of the world's shipping containers as the world's busiest container port, half of the world's annual supply of crude oil, and is the world's busiest transshipment. Sir Stamford's legacy consists of fine British colonial buildings, the English language, British plugs, driving on the left and much more.








I loved it here. The bar looked like it hadand been frozen in time and much of the furniture and many of the ornaments were indeed the original fixtures. I particularly liked the air conditioning; a series of woven fans on a pulley system, which were probably manually controlled when first installed.







We ate peanuts and discarded the shells on the floor as is tradition, while a few pigeons and sparrows who had flown in via the open shuttered windows, foraged amongst the debris.






After a jaw dropping £60 bill for four drinks (omg!!) we decided it was time to leave and find a less expensive way to spend our day, so we briefly stopped at an art gallery followed by the National museum. So I was happy. :)





Having only 48 hours in this vibrant city, we didn't mess about. We had things to do and see and we weren't going to miss anything. We jumped in a cab and visited the famous orchid gardens at the stunning Singapore Botanic Gardens...ok, brace yourself for LOTS of flower pics!
































































After immersing ourselves in the flora and fauna for a few hours, we headed over to the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo where we would take the little open train around the grounds. We were welcomed by a group of flame throwers from Borneo who got us into the jungle mood with their tribal drums and fiery tricks...





The park has been carefully designed to give the impression of a totally natural landscape - there are no visible cages or trenches between you and the animals and in most cases there aren't, but for the more 'bitey' beasts, such as the lions, tigers and bears, there is of course strategically positioned foliage or undulating mounds of jungle floor, discreetly camouflaging the 20ft drop which protects the visitors from the claws and teeth of the inhabitants. The illusion really works. We were on safari as far as we were concerned and it was great!
















































Naturally, no flash photography is allowed, hence the dimly lit shots, but take it from me, it was superb!

Singapore is a lovely compact metropolis where the best of East and West meet. It's probably a little bit too sanitary and sterile for the average adventure hungry traveler and as we found out, it does tends to be very costly, but for a night or two it is a nice delve into the luxurious, which in my book is always welcome. So from endless air conditioning, conjoined malls, and the immaculately clean streets of Singapore, we now head to Cambodia, which I predict may differ somewhat to this little opulent island!

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Location:Singapore

Borneo - Kota Kinabalu

We arrived at the Pacific Sutera Hotel mid-afternoon after a short flight across Sabah. Our rooms weren't ready, so thanks to Claire's honed negotiation skills we were all upgraded to suites. Woo! (What was I saying about giving up 4* holidays!? It was just for one night though.) :)



As we were staying on the doorstep of the harbour, our mission while we
were here was to find some decent sea food, and find it we did! Fresh as it comes!










We ordered chili crab, grouper, prawns and lobster. Messy but yummy!







We stopped in a couple of sea front bars on the way back and ended up, as we always do, in an Irish pub. Like alcoholic missionaries, the Irish have managed to set up shop, in just about every corner of the Earth. Even here in Borneo!! Ha!

Ok, so if you're squeamish, look away now....

When we got back to the hotel, Ant asked me take a look at his sunburn from Turtle Island......and OMG, it was bad. What had been very red and sore skin the day before, had erupted into thousands of angry little blisters.....



Second degree burns according to the t'internet! You see, this is what happens when gingers sunbathe! I did warn him... ;)

I put him to bed with a cold, wet towel and then drifted off to dream of our next adventure...Singapura. Yesssss! Xx


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Location:Sabah

Borneo - Sandakan Town

After encountering an awesome, ancient ritual on Turtle Island, a wonder of the natural world, we returned to the mainland for a more relaxed day- a quick tour around Sandakan town, followed by a hop, skip and a jump to the other side of Sabah, to Kota Kinabalu.

First stop was a visit to a coastal shanty town, to see how some of the locals lived. At first glance, it was absolute squalor; Rickety wooden shacks on stilts, just meters above raw sewage and filth. We saw a child tip the contents of the bin into the water right outside his house, and we were told by the guide that the toilet consisted of a hole in the floor and a drop and a plop to shallows underneath the house.



But what surprised me was that in contrast to the disregard for their immediate surroundings, the inhabitants took great pride in the houses themselves. Each porch sported dozens of brightly colored pot plants and ornaments, some were even adorned entirely with ornate mosaic tiles. It may not have been an ideal spot for a home, but they were making the best of what they had. This made me think about how fortunate we are to live somewhere where these conditions would just not be accepted. I know it's a cliche but its so easy to take what we have for granted.

The rest if the town was obviously quite poor, although not quite as distressing as the shanties. Pollution is a problem here as well as, tragically, human trafficking.

So, my plea to you is to give up your 4* beach holiday every once in a while and visit a developing area. Spend your money there in whatever way you can in an effort to support the local community and help to create jobs, so that people can make a better life for themselves and avoid desperate measures. If you can't do that, look into other methods of supporting communities like sponsorship or charity donations. A little will go along way out here.

I do realise that in some ways tourism can be damaging. For example to the environment and sometimes even to the local culture, but if you are selective in what you do, tourism can also be very beneficial. Just look at Sepilok and Selingan Island. Without the money generated from tourism, these preservatory schemes would simply not be in place. Just think how your money can help local farmers (we've all got to eat when we're on holiday!), small businesses (hotels, shops, tour guides etc) and preservation (architectural, cultural, natural etc).

Just something to think about....

Anyway, enough of the pleading. On with the tour....

Next, we visited a small market. A bit smelly and stuffy, but in amongst the chaos we found a few little bits of beautiful....


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After that, we took a whistle stop tour around a stunning Buddhist temple in the hilltops. What a lovely, peaceful way to end the day.












Next stop....Kota Kinabalu!

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Location:Sabah

Borneo - Turtle Island

We were up and out early the next day to head back to Sandakan, so we waved good bye to the jungle and weaved our way through the palm plantations and small shanty towns to the port.

We took a speed boat to Selingan Island, one of the three turtle islands about forty kilometers off the North East coast of Sabah, nestled in amongst several larger Filipino Isles. It was your typical tropical paradise; white sand a dense cluster of emerald palms and an aqua marine sea and sky. Ahhh :). Absolute heaven!




We had the day to ourselves so hit the beach for some much needed relaxation :)









We basked in the sun for all of about thirty seconds, before deciding it was too hot so we hired some snorkel gear and skiddled about above the nearby coral reef where we spotted sting rays, sea snakes, angel fish, clown fish and swathes of gorgeous coral.














We had been told in advance to try and get some sleep during the day as the Sea Turtles could land on the island any time between 8pm and 6am so we could be looking at a very loooooong night ahead of us.



So forty winks later we returned to the beach to watch the sun set but ended up watching a spectacular thunder storm in the distance instead while polishing off a bottle of £5 vodka between, supping from a recycled plastic bottle. You can take the girl out of Manchester... ;)


We played a few rounds of cards then low and behold, the warden announced the first turtle landing at 7.40pm. We were in luck! We were called to the beach at 8.45pm where the first nesting had taken place. Giddy with excitement when we arrived, we found a mature mother turtle popping out eggs like it was going out of fashion!



She had managed to laboriously drag to herself over the shale to the shelter of a small bush on the edge of the beach, and using her strong shovel like front flippers, had dug a hole large enough for her to nest within. After yielding EIGHTY-SIX leathery ping pong ball sized eggs (good work, lass!) the mother turtle immediately slipped out of her natal trance and began to bury the eggs by scraping the loose sand over the hatchling hole with her hind legs.... Or at least she thought she was! The eggs had already been sneakily removed one by one by one of the island's rangers so that they could be transferred to the 'hatchery' where they would stand a much better chance of survival, away from the claws and beaks of beach combing predators.




The sea turtle, exhausted by her maternal purge, needed to rest a while before embarking on the long journey back to the sea so we left her to it and moved on to the hatchery to witness her eggs being reburied in the island's artificial beach further inland.




Each clutch usually takes about sixty days to mature, and when ready, the baby turtles push their way through the sand to the surface which can sometimes take up to four days! Next, they are returned to the beach and released directly into the sea ready to begin their life in the deep blue, which can be anything up to one hundred years long!

Naturally, when left to their own devices the majority of baby turtles perish on their journey back to the waves, either by dehydrating in the sun or becoming prey to birds or crabs and sometimes even humans :( so the program at Selingan is an excellent effort to give them a fighting chance. It also allows the species to be studied and tagged as little is known about the turtle, particularly the 'missing years' period - the time between the turtle entering the sea and reaching sexual maturity, which is usually about fifteen years.






So, we watched ranger release the frantically flapping little creatures on the shore and laughed as they desperately flopped around waiting for the tide to take them. It was like watching a cartoon with their fins moving so fast you could barely see them.

We were in a group of about thirty so it was a struggle to actually get close to the action, but by a stroke of luck on our way back to the accommodation we came across (well, nearly stepped on) a number of disorientated hatchlings who had either returned to their nest or had managed to escape the confines of the hatchery mesh. We notified the ranger and were advised to pick them up and return them to the hatchery. So we did....after a quick photo shoot of course :)



Birth is an amazing thing to witness, wether it be turtles, humans or indeed any species. Such struggle and sacrifice, but a beautifully selfless and natural wonder. And despite the fact she would probably never encounter her offspring after this night, the mother turtle will go on and repeat the process again and again in her life time in the hope that her kin will go on to do the same. And so the circle of life continues....

This was a night we won't be forgetting in a hurry. Good luck, turtle babies! Love you!


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Location:Tropical Paradise