Singapore: In and Out

I’ve been putting Singapore on a pedestal for a while now. It seemed so cool with it’s stiff rules and clean streets. And the canings. Anyway, a big city with Starbucks and the like has got to be fine with me. But, with it comes the big price tag. For $56 USD our hostel came with a mattress on the floor, in a room only 2 feet bigger on 2 sides of the bed. We also got to enjoy a shared bathroom and kitchen that consisted of a refrigerator and sink. All clean, of course. Everything is clean.

With costs adding up quickly already, we spent a day walking around. That’s free. That’s about all we could afford. A little pointless to walk down Orchard St., the infamous shopping street of Singapore, but, seeing the Christmas shoppers and decorations was fun.

We also spent some time in Little India and shopped around for a better hostel or hotel. We needed somewhere to call home for a while and it wasn’t going to be a mattress on the floor. An apartment or hostel with a kitchen would be nice since we wanted to stay in Singapore for several weeks. Somewhere to chill and get to know the place. We weren’t getting very far as most places were either booked, too expensive or only had bunks available.

Nevertheless, we pressed on, visiting the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It’s free, folks! It’s also a great place for those carrying big lenses.

With no luck on finding a place to stay and visions of dollar bills flowing out of our pockets, we did the only thing we could think of….bought plane tickets to Bali.

I know, I know. What was all that talk about not wanting to jump around so much and settling in. Well, it couldn’t be in Singapore. Bali was the right place with it’s cheap food, accommodations and let’s face it…the beach was calling. We left the next day. That’s the beauty of not having an itinerary or return flights. You make it up as you go!

There are a bunch more fantastic photos of the gardens Especially good if you are an orchid lover!