Well my early morning bus journey was going swimmingly all the way to the border…did you know electronic cigarettes are illegal in Singapore? I didn’t. Fun fact, I bought 4 months worth of electronic cigarette supplies to take me through to Christmas…I no longer have these supplies..

So when we get to the singapore boarder we have to take all of our bags off the bus and scan them before getting in the passport queue, fairly standard procedure. They say they need to look inside my bag and I know immediately they mean my ecig stuff, again fairly standard procedure. Normally, I just explain they’re ecigarettes and everyone laughs at the idea of an electronic cigarette and then we all go about our day. Not this time.

They put my nicotine paraphernalia in a box and ask me to follow them into a room and sit and wait. Eventually the man calls me over and tells me it’s “good news” I can enter Singapore and they’ll just dispose of my ecigarettes…

I will now mention that 4 months of electronic cigarettes cost about £100. So that’s a lot of money for them to dispose of for me. I asked if there were other options and they said I could take them back to Malaysia with me. My cogs start whirring and I come up with a plan to post the stuff back to mums rather than get rid of it.

I hop on the bus that goes between the two borders (which the bus driver didn’t charge me for) re-enter Malaysia and hop on the public bus to the nearest town. A bit of googling told me where the nearest post office was and the bus driver took me to it!!

Things were starting to turn around! The post office closes at 16.30 and I arrive at 16.20, perfect! Except when I said I wanted to send electronic cigarettes the lady had to check an email and then confirmed that they are not allowed to send ecigarettes in the Malaysian post. Hope was not lost, she ordered me a grab to a delivery shop who deal with TNT/DHL/etc. When I get to the mall in which the shop was located, I quickly find out that it’s not a real thing! Either it was a mall and it’s not any more or it’s not open yet.

I come to terms with having to throw away £100, leave the creepy, deserted mall and walk across the road (luckily) to the bus station to head back to Singapore, throwing my ecigs away in a bin as I walk past.

The rest of my journey was extremely straightforward. I paid £1 for my bus ticket which I was pleasantly surprised to find out took me all the way to Singapore and then it was just a 20 min ride on the metro to my hostel (and bed which was very much needed by this point!)

The next morning, after an excellent sleep I head out for the most exciting part of my trip – going to search for the house my grandparents used to live in 60 years ago!! I hop on the metro to Sembawang.

For anyone who enjoys That Mitchell and Webb look as much as me, it’s impossible to read that word without thinking and that’s numberwang!

The area that I was heading to was/is owned by the Navy. There were a couple of “no admittance to unauthorised personnel” signs on a few fences but I think it was ok to walk through the streets… A police car circled the block and passed me by three times but didn’t stop. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to out stay my welcome! I found the house but there was no sign of life and the gates were locked so I couldn’t go inside…but here are some comparison pics, slightly different angles but you get the picture! Grandma said the only difference looks to be that there’s now glass in the windows!

It was time to switch back to tourist mode! I hopped on the metro and went to Little India to look at the beautiful templea and street art.

A 20 minute walk through Chinatown took me back to my hostel for a water refill, a rest and most importantly wifi!

This wifi was pivotal in arranging my next excursion as I posted my pics on my story and my friend Erin who I met in penang commented that we had taken the same picture. We found out our hostels were only 10 mins away so we arranged to meet at her hostel and then head to Central Perk!!

After a catch up over a drink it was almost time for another farewell but not before we popped to 7-11 and found the best invention since sliced bread, sliced CAKE! It was unexpectedly delicious!!

I bid farewell and safe travels to Erin and headed to the iconic Merlion statue. Me being me, added to the fact I had no internet, I got lost and ended up in the F1 area that was set up as the event was beginning the next day. I had a nose and then found my way back to the merlion

A walk around the waterside took me across to Marina Bay where I took my place for the water/laser show, the first of my free shows for the evening. For the second, I went to Gardens by the Bay to watch the giant trees light up to music.

A quick metro ride took me back to my hostel and after the 28k steps I had accrued throughout the day I slept almost immediately!

The next day I was flying back to Malaysia, this time heading to Borneo. Soooo many people had told me how amazing Singapore airport was so I decided to go super early to make the most of it (see the waterfall, the swimmng pool, maybe catch a film at the cinema). I went on the metro and took the free bus to my terminal, checked in and went through security. It was at that point that I found out that terminal 4 doesnt have any links to the other terminals after you’ve gone through security…!! An afternoon of binging Netflix was anyway and then I was on my way to Borneo!