Friday 25th January 2008

Because of our reservation for 'Afternoon Tea' at Raffles later today, we didn't want to go too far away from our hostel. We wanted to be able to get back, get changed and then back out again in plenty of time - and get to Raffles at exactly 3.30pm (yeah right, we could've set off at 9am and we'd have still found a way of being late). So, the day got off to a great start when Nikki went for a shower. I was led in bed (and our room is the furthest from the bathrooms on our floor) when all of a sudden I could hear some sort of bird screeching outside. I tried to ignore it, until it sounded like it was calling my name. I went to investigate and it was a good job I did, because I found Nikki trapped in one of the shower cubicles. She'd gone in and locked the door only for the handle to fall off (ha ha). The funny thing was, the shower was also broken - so she couldn't even wash while she waited to be rescued!

After Nikki had finally escaped and we'd eaten breakfast we caught the MRT out to Orchard Road, which is Singapore's main shopping strip - but instead of shop after shop, its shopping mall after shopping mall! It's no fun shopping when you're not buying anything (we can't be bothered to carry anymore things) and so we came back to our hostel at about 1pm to chill out before getting changed. We left our hostel at just before 3pm and crossed over to the Clarke Quay MRT station, which is dead opposite where we're staying. Raffles was only two stops away so we were definitely gonna be on time...

Wrong! Somehow we managed to travel almost the whole of the Singapore underground circuit. We got off at 3.25pm and quickly walked round - we weren't too late - I think we got there at about 3.35pm.

Afternoon Tea was all very la-de-da and when we walked to the Tiffin Room where it was held we were told our table was ready... only to be told it was outside (almost in the hotel lobby). Now, I wasn't having that! I don't buy a ticket for the football and listen from the car park - so I was definitely having tea in the same room as everybody else. I think they thought we were riff-raff, but causing a fuss worked, and we were sat right at the front - right next to all the food... yippee! We hadn't eaten all day and managed to scoff ourselves stupid. I've never drank so much tea in my life (in the two hours we were there, I think I would've given June a run for her money). We made sure we were there for the maximum time and I visited the buffet table about 4 or 5 times... well, you have to - don't you? Before leaving, we went up to the Long Bar, which is where the Singapore Sling was invented, but we didn't stop because it was packed.

When we finally rolled out of Raffles we caught a bus to the Singapore Night Safari which, as the name suggests, is a safari... at night. It was brilliant! First we did the walk around the park and because the place only uses soft light, the animals don't seem to notice anyone. Another good thing was that the animals were behind glass and not bars, so they could walk up to just a few feet away. Next we caught a tram which took us right into their habitats - some of the animals were crossing the tracks - but luckily it was only deer and not the hippos or elephants. We had an amazing time and at about 11.30pm we caught the bus back to the city and walked back to our hostel.

Afternoon Tea at Raffles don't you know... what, what, what, what, what!