We have had three wonderful days there, filled with meals at so called hawker centres (food courts with lots of stalls where you can eat everything from veggie 'n rice to pork belly soup), walks through Chinatown, a visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum and the very large and interesting Science Centre.
At night we went to see two light shows in town. One was at the Supertrees at the Gardens by the Bay. Man-made trees extremely high, that explode in a magnificent light and sound show at night. To get to this show we had to cross a luxurious mall where you could even go on a Venice-like boat trip in an artificial canal inside the mall. On top of the mall/apartment building of 50+stories was an outdoor garden in the shape of a (space?)ship.....
Afterwards we had to hurry to the other side of the building to see the spectacular light show in the harbour of Singapore.
The most fun thing we did was a cool down in Snow City! Again, an artificial indoor snowpark, with ice and snow sculptures, where we went tubing down the slopes! As the temperature was 33 degrees outside and about minus 8 inside we had to adjust a bit (it was weird wearing gloves, waterproof pants and snow boots in Singapore).
I think the highlight of the trip for the kids was the Night Safari. In a separate part of the wonderful Singapore Zoo, you can see the animals after dark while walking around or on a tram ride (when there are no barriers, so it is important to keep hands and feet inside).
Singapore is crowded, more than 5 million people on an island of 20x50 km. So many people, but well organised.
We stayed in a lovely hostel, but with 5 people in two bunkbeds on a total of 8 m2, it felt a bit cramped at times.
From Singapore we took a bus across the border to Malaysia. Although not as exceptionally clean as Singapore (where you are not allowed to eat in the public transport, so no dustbins there....but what to do with small pieces of paper or the wrapper of a plaster, that our girls need a lot as they keep scratching the mosquito bites they got in Australia until it bleeds....), but a beautiful country indeed.
Lots of old heritage buildings here in Melaka, Portugese, Dutch and British.
A melting pot of Malay, Chinese and other cultures which as many different cuisines to enjoy.
We walked the cultural sites, ate at a range of different restaurants (yes, also the smelly (and often forbidden on planes, buses and other public transport) but tasteful durian fruit. As true travellers/tourists we had to take a trip on a trishaw. A colourfully decorated bicycle with an extra seat next to it. The girls chose Frozen and Hello Kitty as the themes.....
A Melaka River Cruise was the end of a long and exhausting day.
Of course we didn't miss the famous Jonker Night Market in Chinatown. The girls loved the baked potatoes on a stick!
Now we are in Kuala Lumpur and as happy we were yesterday with the smooth bus-ride here, so disappointed are we today about how the temple we couldn't find (and nobody seem to know where it was or could point us in the right direction) and the fact that they seem to make it very difficult to escape from the malls and find a walkway to the park. We did find it after all, but instead of a nice walkway, we had to walk along highways without proper signs where to go....
So far, KL hasn't stolen our hearts yet, but maybe tomorrow that will change.
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