The morning was lost to packing and sorting but by lunchtime we were ready to say our goodbyes and make our way to do a few last-minute jobs before heading to the bus station. We were feeling quite pushed for time so when the taxi-driver stopped to refuel (and charged us for the privilige!), we changed our itinery slightly and went straight Bujaya Times Square.
We picked up tickets, changed money, had lunch and had our last wander around one of the consumer-crazed malls of Singapore before going to the bus bay.
The bus itself was great! There were big, plush (though psychadelic-coloured) seats with inbuilt massagers. The bum-squeezing, bone-shaking, life-fearing buses of earlier in our trip seemed like a distant memory.
The bus-driver really went to town shouting at a couple who dropped a bit of litter on the bus so we also got our first taste of what Hong called 'this unforgiving and punitive island state'.
Such was the level of comfort that I completely forget to blog and instead just vibrated away while I chilled out with Matt, listening to podcasts for nearly 6 hours.
Border controls were less scary than I imagined (especially since I later realised that I'd smuggled in chewing gum) and we were through them quickly. We arrived in Singapore and were immediately in awe of all of the imposing, stunning and outright bonkers buildings and structures!
Another benefit of Matt choosing that bus was that it dropped us off rather close to where we were having our first Couch-Surfing adventure. Our host, Kuni, was still at work so we went for food at one of the local restaurants. Matt's 'herbal mutton', bubbling and sizzling away made me realise that we were soon to be leaving the incredible food of Asia behind.
Kuni's apartment was on the 26th floor of a sparkly apartment block with very unflattering lifts. He showed us around the small flat (the view from our room was simply amazing!), gave us the keys and then went out for dinner.
When he came back he gave us lots of advice of what to do around the city. There was so much that we found ourselves wishing that we were here for more than 2 days. They have a night zoo!
Kuni himself wasn't particularly chatty but he was a very nice guy. He's travelled all over the world and has been to 109 countries! He has also hosted over 1000 couch-surfers! In fact, we were 1006 and 1007! We milked him for conversation for a while and then let him go to bed as he hasn't finished work until 8 and he started again early in the morning.
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