Why only seven hours? It does seem like an awfully short amount of time to spend in a city-state, even one as small as Singapore.

The reason is simple: Singapore is expensive.

Not expensive compared to the UK (pretty similar prices in fact), but compared to the rest of SE Asia, Singapore is not designed for those with budgets on their minds. A bed in a dorm in Singapore is the equivalent to a whole day’s budget in Indonesia, prompting us to stay in the neighbouring Malaysian town of Johor Bahru and get the bus into Singapore (which takes 1 hour, and costs about 40p) for a day trip.

11am: Arrival in Singapore
Our bus dropped us off at an MRT station at the edge of town and we spent the first twenty minutes blinded by the sparkling cleanliness of the public transport. Following Indonesia, it felt like I had been transported to a cold and sterile future, where everything was shiny silver and glass.

After regaining our sight, we hopped a train to City Hall.

12pm: Chinatown

Our first port of call in Singapore was beautiful, but, unlike Chinatowns in other big cities, it was lacking in character. The disasterous redevelopment campaign by the government has ripped the soul out of Chinatown, and replaced it with (very) expensive restaurants. Luckily there are still a couple of traditional enclaves, including the Thian Hock Keng Temple and Amoy Street (with an excellent food court), that are definitely worth a visit.
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