On Monday Nov 4 we leisurely made our way to the Hanoi airport. After checking in, we got a chance to watch some Vietnamese people use an escalator for the first time. Many of them were afraid to get on and had a hard time grasping the fact that the stairs AND the hand railing moved at the same time. At 1:30pm we boarded our plane along with a large business group of Vietnamese men that were flying for the first time. They were not used to the personal armseat controls and continuously rang the bell for the stewardess. We laughed to ourselves while the poor stewardesses ran back and forth to answer the different calls. We landed in KL at 6pm and called our friend Dave from the airport. Dave arranged for us to return to the Hotel Malaya in Chinatown. We took a taxi to the hotel, showered and grabbed some food in the area.

The next day Dave and his wife Gauri picked us up from the hotel and helped us to explore various options on how to ship home some of the souvenirs that we had bought in Vietnam. At 11:45am we took a break from the investigation and went to the bus station to buy our tickets to Singapore. It turned out that all the buses for the day were full except for the bus that was leaving in 15 minutes. We quickly bought tickets, left our souvenirs in Dave's care, and boarded the bus. The bus turned out to be a pleasant contrast to the buses in Vietnam. The comfy chairs actually reclined, we were fed, given bottled water and we were shown an American movie in English. While on the bus we experienced the Singaporian hospitality. Three different people on the bus approached us and offered advice and recommendations on things to see in Singapore.

The bus stopped at a fancy hotel and we grabbed a taxi to the city centre. While budget accomodations are sparse in Singapore, we managed to find a descent backpackers place right near the Raffles hotel. After checking in, we walked around the area and over to the Raffles hotel. The city was pretty and extremely clean. The trees and bushes were well manicured and the streets were close to spotless. We also noticed that the cars and pedestrians abided by the laws. Nobody jaywalked. The obediance was almost eerie. That night we went for a traditional claypot chicken dish and ended the night with a real treat- 2 desserts from the Raffles hotel.

The next day we went for a walk to the Chinatown area. We were told that Singapore was very tolarant of various religions and that there were temples and mosques everywhere. Our first contact with this was when we reached Chinatown. The first 4 street names, in order, were "Cross St, Mosque St, Pagoda St, and Temple St. Chinatown was a fun area and we spent a few hours walking around, buying a camera toy for Dan and eating a traditional Chicken rice meal (which was very good). Throughout the day we continued to be impressed with the local hospitality. At one point, an old man saw us trying to make a local phone call. He approached us, told us that the phone wasn't working, pointed out a good phone and offered us change for the phone.

In the afternoon it started to rain so we took the MRT (mass rapid transit) which was clean and punctual. We went up to Orchard Road, which is Asia's version of 5th Avenue. It had all the major European and American chains and was a nice break from the more hectic travelling that we had done only 3 days before. On the way back we stopped to see one of 2 Jewish synagogues in the city which was almost 150 years old.

After a short break at our hostel, we changed and got ready for the night safari. The night safari was recommended to us by Jen's work friend Wendy, who lives in Singapore. The evening turned out to be fantastic. The Safari was basically a zoo, except it featured nocturnal animals who were allowed to roam in wide open spaces. After a 1 hour show (where the demonstrators scared the crap out of some tourists by pulling out a 10 foot python from below their seats) we took a tram ride around the safari. The tram got up to within 10 feet of some of the animals. Afterwards we got a chance to walk around the park. The scariest moment of the evening turned out to be when we went to an exhibit where these massive bats flew freely right over our heads.

The next day we checked out of our hostel and went for another stoll (Dan brokedown and had his first Starbucks latte of the trip). Afterwards we walked back to Chinatown to the offices of Jen's former company and to have lunch with Jen's work colleague Wendy. Wendy took us on a tour of the office, which looked remarkably like the Toronto office. Afterwards Wendy took us for some great Indian food, which was served on a banana leaf. Wendy then took us out for a coffee before we caught a cab and headed to the bus that was taking us to Melaka. We had liked Singapore, not because the sites were that great, but more because it was a nice relaxing break from our more challenging adventures. We felt refreshed and ready to carry on - this time back in Malaysia.