Singapore, Saturday

1102 Just got up. Not great but could be worse. Been snoozing on the alarm and feeling relatively shit (just tired, I think) since about 9. Woke up at about 0230 feeling slightly queasy; maybe I got drunk on those three tiny bottles of lager, I don't know.

Yawning. Not sure what to do. Going to get dressed and pick something out of the 'things not to miss' in guide book and go there, but if I see a chance to sit and have a coffee and/or lunch first I'm doing that.

The wifi here, as at Tara Place, follows standard wanky 'proper hotel' style by being open but having some kind of proxy hijack your web brower's attempts to visit a site and asks you to log in. Your connection then works for a bit, after which you need to go try to visit a web site to start the whole process off again. Here the browser on my phone associates the password, if you tell it to remember it, with the website you tried to visit, not the wanky gateway you actually need to log into, so I have to keep finding the password again and typing it in manually.

1238 On bus 170 out to Bukit Timah Hill (sp). Had two plain hamburgers and large fries at a McDonalds I passed; bite me. Eyes feel a bit sore/tired (could this be aftereffects of otherwise unnoticed pollution??) but otherwise I feel OK.

1417 OK, back at the start of the red trail where I was maybe an hour ago. Signage is appalling, there are four trails, the guidebook recommends this one and by sheer chance it's the first one I saw - only one. Headed up there. At the first junction the sign handily points to various roads but doesn't indicate the trail direction. Parts of the area are mountain bike only, pedestrians not allowed. I think I ended up following a mountain bike trail because with no signs i had to guess. then you randomly hit a direction post indicating cyclists go one way and with a 'cycle trail only' sign generally. Cyclists shout out at you so you get out of their way even on what are probably mixed use trails. I saw several people harvesting durians at various points. One insisted I took a trail which turned out to be the red trail down to where i started. I doubled back and after five minutes walk back up he insisted I had to go back and walked me back to the main road, telling me to go round the corner. So what the fuck is this Kampong Trail (as the sign calls it at the bottom) and which seems to at least start off marked in red?

1425 OK, further on - though how I was supposed to know to come this way, or that the Kampong Trail is unofficially closed for durian harvesting - there is a sign showing four routes starting at the visitor centre. So fuck knows what the Kampong Trail and its deceptive red-striped posts are all about. The Kampong Trail is also shown on the sign here, in pink not red. Fucking hell.

1614 On bus back. Hot sweaty wreck, at least pre aircon on bus. Got green trail down. Halfway down it splits and isn't colour coded, so I went wrong way. Then it's miles round anyway and it's fucking hot and all up and down hill. I suppose it's all exercise and sort of cool but still. Good job I did take the wrong trail at start as only saw one monkey (I think they're macacaques) otherwise, and I think even that bit was when I accidentally left the green trail and got lost there. Didn't have enough water with me really but there you go. Paid SGD1.50 for a semi-cold can of aloe vera juice with pulp and white grape juice at the reserve centre before starting red trail, which was interesting.

1713 Back at hotel. Getting anywhere on foot here seems to take ages as you wait for the pedestrian crossings to go green.

1846 Done laundry (and showered); had to do some anyway, plus lower legs on combats v muddy after that walk, primarily the first bit on the Kwhatsit pink trail. Using travel clothesline for probably first time the trip, stretched between towel rack and bathroom door. Fifteen minutes later it somehow managed to pull the bathroom door shut and the lock on the inside (it's one of those ones built into the door handle) was engaged. Fortunately after a few seconds of cursing I managed to turn the 'emergency open' screw on the outside with a key.

2010 At some Indian restaurant on Boat Quay. Not super cheap and staff a little sinisterly over-attentive, but I have a table by the river and it's quite nice so WTF. Having mutton rogan josh with pulao rice and a plain naan, and a "free" (hahahaha) beer and some poppadom pieces. Will go somewhere more relaxing for a beer or two after.

2042 That was pretty good and a satisfying portion. Got bill, 42.90 including 10% service, so going to wait for change for my 50 and take it all. 20 fucking quid for a meal, yes I'm on holiday and it's by the river but FFS. I don't pay that in London (I could, of course, loads of wanky places would be happy to charge me that).

2051 Place is Haldhi Restaurant. Snaffled change and feel irrationally tight. Off.

2114 Done circuit of water here. It's v Canary Wharf with taller buildings. I guess the regeneration story is similar too. It's OK though, just not as 'wow!' stunning as I'd hoped. At Harry's. Where I just went to the bar, ordered a pint of Carlsberg and was charged SGD15. Seven fucking quid, more like seven fifty, for a pint of Carlsberg. I have suspect the guy was just fucking around with me because he was surly as fuck when he served me, but what could I say? When they have a deal of five bottles of HPL in a bucket for 35 outside I didn't expect this kind of rank abuse. I was intending to go home after this anyway - I'm not not in the mood for a beer but I'm not desperate and it feels a bit forced, but it's only 9pm on a Saturday - but definitely going home now. Can't trust anywhere else here not to rip me off. What a bunch of absolute fucking cunts.

2123 Before I let this go - primarily am wondering if this place is a fucking rip off specifically or this is an expensive location - I worked out the five beers for SGD35 offer works out at SGD12 a pint. I dunno, maybe 15 is normal, but I'm dubious.

2203 Intermittent bursts of cheering at what I think is a UK football match. I have to assume this is a mostly ex-pat crowd, though I suppose they could be tourists.

2224 Finished that pint. Slash then home.

2232 On MRT. At least in Harry's match on was Everton v someone I forgot just now. I do wonder if the shouts were from various presumably premiership matches in different bars.

2256 Back via 7-Eleven for a bottle of green tea. That bar just next to hotel is karaoke, but looked very dull and not in the mood. Will try to upload some photos, surf a bit and maybe earlyish night.