Singapore and Malaysia 2013

Well, it's time for my yearly trip reports from some place new. This year, it Singapore and Malaysia. They are right next to each other and in fact there is a bridge connecting the island of Singapore to Malaysia. The flights as usual were very long with one hour going to Chicago, then 16 hours going to Hong Kong and three hours going to Singapore as well as a few hours waiting in the air terminal. That can really mess up your sleep patterns. I landed at 1:15am local time and walked to the short term hotel in the airport (6 hours for $50) but ended up at the main hotel. It was $450 but they offered me a discounted rate of $374. I

passed on it , got a taxi and had him drive to a Youth Hostel. Nobody would answer the door as I pounded but the very nice lady finally did and let me sleep in the Womans dorm (empty at that point) I was running on empty too since I wasn't able to sleep on the plane. The hostel in in Chinatown (?all on Singapore is Chinese??) and it is popular with tourists, The local food is cheap and delicious.I'm crossing into Malaysia tomorrow and heading to the beach. It's very hot and humid here now but no rain so far