After 15 countries and 15 different visa requirements we finally mucked up one country and realised our Thai visa would not be long enough for our planned time there, so a visa run would be needed. Our choice was Burma or Singapore. Singapore won for the sheer novelty and less of the cultural interest. Perhaps south east Asia was starting to look similar.

So a day after my birthday we rose early to catch a short flight across. Immediately we were welcomed with air conditioned trains and shaded walk ways, and the cleanest metro stations I had ever seen. We were staying the in the slightly touristy but still tidy Chinatown, so as we left the tube station we were met with the sights of hawker stalls and Chinese lanterns down the streets, accompanied with some gawping tourists. After a bowl of 'award winning' noodles we adventured into the main business district and towards the main water front.

Marina bays did not disappoint, huge sky scrapers, clear waters and fun waterfront bar and restaurant setting, a welcome returned for the stuffy bustle of Bangkok. Our first evening was spent with an old colleague of Olly's , sipping expensive beer and then randomly finding s cheap restaurant willing to give us two free cocktails with our meal. Unfortunate one did end up down Olly's lap on the first round, shame he only brought one pair of shorts for the tori to Singapore. He'd be forever smelling of Singapore slings now.

The next day we had arranged to meet up with a guy we met in Bangkok, who was now an expat in Singapore. With his local knowledge he took us two one of the islands for a cycle and short hike around. It was slightly surreal being out in the forest and the wetlands if Singapore. I really had no idea about this sort of place. I also assumed more locals would come here on the weekend, but it was really quiet. We shared some beers and got a really good insight into normal life here for both locals and expats.

The expat life here is a bit crazy with everyone living in condos and apartment blocks. James welcomed us back to his place for another beer, and it was pretty amazing. The area had 17 pools, outdoor bbqs and kitchen and party rooms to rent outside of your own flat. I could definitely see the appeal of living here for a little while. From here we ventured to Holland Park for a bowl of Laksa, A Singapore noodle soup, which was delicious. It also seemed that james didn't know the area that well and soon found a new drinking area to frequent in the future. There was certainly plenty of bars in the streets. But when beer is £7-8 a bottle, we sadly had to pass on drinking anything from the bars. Alcohol is so heavily taxed here it's almost comical.

On our third day we headed back to walk the city properly and learn a little about the development of the island from a fishing village to a financial capital. As a tourist on foot Singapore is great. The metro is well connected and cheap, and everything is relatively close. We opened the door to what we though was a subway and found a huge air conditioned canteen. Air conditioning is a god send. More than once an hour you need to get inside to cool down. Thankfully the large supply of malls does the trick.

From city to gardens we visited perhaps the most famous of the sights, Marina Bay. The hotel is truly staggering and you need to walk through it to get to the famous sky gardens so you get a glimpse of the inside too. The sky gardens are much more of a feat than on face of them. There are some serious ecological steps going on to keep the plants alive and maintaining them up high. What I hadn't appreciated were the other large feature of the gardens including the cloud forest which we visited. The effect of the sky garden is like a chunk of rainforest has been removed from a mountain and a glass dome placed around it. It came with a waterfall, and all the lush vegetation one would expect; minus perhaps the elevators inside to take you to the top of the forest.

For our third evening in a row we met up with an mutual old university friend who had moved out here as soon as he graduated. He had known Olly and I separately so felt the need to congratulate us on getting married, which was a funny thing after nearly two years of being married. Thankfully he covered the round of drinks for £50!! We were then winked off to a locals place for Korean bbq. A really fun way of dining having the grill in the table and the extractor above our heads.

It's great being taken out by locals as there's no way we would have done these things without local knowledge.

Our final full day in Singapore was dedicated to the zoo. This is claimed to be the worlds. Eat zoo and it didn't disappoint. Walking around you don't feel as if you are watching animals in enclosures, in fact many animals are on small islands, or they roam free in certain areas. Orangutangs play above your head and raccoons are allowed to wonder the whole park. We felt like kids but at the same time, but we really enjoy seeing zoos. Probably the most memorable part was seeing the giant crocodiles underwater. These ones were 9 meters long and weighed over a tonne. At this point I was very glad we were at the zoo!

On our final day we walked back to the marina gardens to see the end of the Singapore reservoir and the busy Singapore port area. Looking out across the tankers we wondered just how much money was on the boats moored out as far as we could see. Unfortunately the heat beat us that day and we decided to make an early bee line for the airport and the comfort of the air conditioning!