Our final day in Singapore

On our last day in Singapore, Angela and I went to Sentosa Island, a small amusement island just south of Singapore island, where we visited the largest aquarium in the world. Then we went back to downtown Singapore to visit the Malay Quarter. Finally, we did a free art tour inside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Taking the monorail across to Sentosa Island.

There are a bunch of attractions on Sentosa, making it feel like a sort of amusement park resort.

We were tempted to visit the Universal Studios here, but it was pretty pricey and we'd already been to the one in Florida a few months ago.

A large chart for the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. We'd had some trouble finding places to watch the games in Laos, but in Singapore and Malaysia we'd be watching a lot more of it.

The entrance to S.E.A Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the world, is dominated by this huge boat...

...which I guess is meant to be Noah's Ark. I think it would be cooler if it were Noah's Submarine and filled entirely with sea creatures.

Cue a bunch of obligatory fish photos.

After leaving the aquarium (which, to be honest, we were a little disappointed by), we took the MRT to Kampong Glam, the traditional centre of Malay culture in Singapore, though it is also dominated by Arab Street and the Sultan Mosque, giving it a slightly Middle Eastern flavour.

Back within the science-fiction landscape of the city.

The last place we visited was the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which has a free tour of the many sculptures and paintings on display within the hotel grounds.

Singapore was a fun place to explore, and had it been cheaper we'd probably have stayed a lot longer. It reminded me a lot of Hong Kong, another highly developed colonial city with a fusion of British and Chinese influences. Hong Kong might beat it in terms of sheer amount of sights and things to do, but what we really liked about Singapore was how well it merged its green spaces in with the futuristic cityscape, making it a really pleasant place to walk around. The food was also pretty damn good, though we'd soon be finding that Malaysia's gastronomic offerings were even better...