As you can tell from my last entry we were glad to finally reach Singapore. The funny thing is that from the marina that we were staying in you can see across almost to where they boarded our boat and yet it may as well be worlds away. Most of the people from there look at Singapore every day but the chances of them getting a visa to go there are slim. We went from extreme poverty to extreme wealth or the facade of wealth. We certainly spent more money in Singapore in 2 weeks than we'd spent in Indonesia in 3 months! Well just about anyway.

We arrived in the quarantine area of Singapore on the morning of the 26th October and were ready to wait for hours (maybe days as we had in Kupang) to be cleared into the country. This was our first taste of the efficiency of all the systems in Singapore, we were cleared within � an hour! Of course, I got into trouble and I am placing the blame for this squarely on Jay's shoulders. The immigration and quarantine guys come racing up to the boat then nudge forward to grab the paperwork from us and back away to complete their side of things, they are very skilled at what they do and they enjoy cracking jokes and having a bit of fun while doing it. Jay told me to get the video camera and take some footage, I questioned him on whether we were allowed to or not and Jay said, 'Sure, why not?' So as I'm taking footage they notice and get on the loudspeaker from their boat reprimanding me and threatening to confiscate my camera. I had to delete all footage from the camera and when I had done so and they had given me another earbashing they said that they trusted me but that they'd better not see anything end up on You-Tube! I NEVER listen to Jay why would I choose now of all moments to do so, well, a valuable lesson learned, trust my own instincts and don't listen to Jay.

After 3 months of travelling through Indonesia the marina we stayed at blew us away. We had a pool to use, a gym, a video games room, several restaurants to choose from, a television room and laundry, the most exquisite bathroom complete with hairdryers etc. and a shuttle bus that took us for free to the nearest shopping centre or the MRT (train station). Once we were settled into the marina we ventured off to the shopping centre, where air conditioning and several good restaurants were awaiting our attention. After a good feed and a good nights sleep, we were ready to explore the next day.

Our first excursion in Singapore took us to Little India, the transport system here is fantastic, everything is so clean and you can get to anywhere you want to go in a short period of time. Singapore is actually quite a small island in the grand scheme of things. There was a Hindu festival being celebrated at the time called Deepavali which is the festival of the lights. I think we may have missed all the big events as the festival runs for over a week but the streets were crowded with families walking around, many women and children in colourful sequinned saris and banners hung across the road in all the colours of the rainbow and lit up like Christmas trees. We stopped at another nice air conditioned restaurant and indulged in a delicious Indian meal before wandering the streets taking in the sights. We headed toward some temples I had read about in my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook. The first one we went to was Sakaya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple otherwise known as the Temple of 1,000 Lights, inside there is a 15 metre high, 300 ton Buddha, we were able to enter the temple and photograph the Buddha but we were not allowed to photograph anything else there. Around the base of the Buddha behind glass are several scenes depicting the life of Buddha, these are lit up by tiny lights which is where the 'Temple of 1,000 Lights' comes from. At the base of the Buddha to the rear is a door to a prayer room, so you can literally pray in the Buddha's butt. Weird! But there is a peacefulness that overwhelms you when you enter these places, it's hard to explain and is something that I have experienced in every temple I have entered. The 'Temple of 1,000 Lights' was important during World War II as many of the POW's smuggled letters to their loved ones through this temple as with many places during war time a place of religious worship is generally a safe zone.

Directly across the road from the 'Temple of 1,000 Lights' is Leong San See (Dragon Mountain) Temple. Greeted at the door by a smiling Buddha you should walk around the temple in a clockwise direction to promote good Feng Shui, of course we walked in anti clockwise so I walked back out and started again. It was very interesting, I placed a donation in a box at the front entrance as we were leaving and a Buddhist monk told me that Buddha blessed me, now that has to incur some good karma!

We were just deciding what to do next when the heavens opened up and let loose on us. We found a roadside cafe filled with locals also avoiding the rain and partook of the local Tiger beer while waiting for the rain to pass. A beer later and with no sign of the rain letting up we decided to head back to the marina and live to explore another day.