Singapore – Travelog

Slow Bus To Melaka

Note: I’ve given up on uploading photos for now. Will try later. Although I only have one for this day

I decided on Melaka, Malaysia – about a four hour bus ride from Singapore. I had some stuff to do in the morning so I settled on a 2pm departure time.

Got my ducks in a row, and headed to the bus depot for about noon. I only had $19 Singapore dollars left, and I was determined to make it last. $2.10 went to the subway, and I was counting on $11 of it to go to the bus ticket, but the ticket was $16. Thankfully, I had enough, but now I still had lunch to worry about (and didn’t want to take more Singapore dollars out). To complicate matters, it had decided to start pouring (and I do mean pouring) rain. I threw the raincover on my bag, put on my jacket and ran across the street in search of a food vendor that took credit cards. No luck, but at a convenience store I found a steamed bun, filled with vegetables, for 80 cents. There was an Esso across the street, so I waited patiently for the rain to die down before crossing over. No such luck. Throwing the bag over my head, I darted across the street and into the Esso. Thankfully they took credit cards, so I grabbed some snacks for the bus, and headed back to the depot.

We had to disembark the bus twice – once to go through Singapore customs, and once to go through Malaysian customs. Both went very smoothly (think Canada/USA crossing on a good day), and then back on the bus to Melaka. The rain came and went throughout the drive – quite hard at times. The bus also bounced about, but I had a nice seat at the back with plenty of room, so it was pretty good. I replied to some emails, and did some reading (back to “Next”), and before long we were in Melaka.

Grabbed some Melaka Ringlits (cold hard cash) from the ATM at the bus terminal, and caught a cab to the hostel. Cab wasn’t as cheap as China, but not too bad. Hostel is pretty cheap and not particularly nice. Clean enough, but a few too many rules. No footwear allowed in the hostel, no pork or beef products, no Chinese food (muslim owners I guess). Things like that.

I grabbed some chicken and rice at a place near the hostel, but because of the rain, I figured I’d stay inside. Read a bit more, and wrote this, but it’s getting late, so I’d best get off to bed. Hopefully I can hook up to the internet in the morning and get this uploaded – already I miss the free wifi I had in China and Singapore.

Sentosa

Note: I’ve given up on uploading photos for now. Will try later.

First stop this morning was the post office to send Philipp in Tasmania the two dvds of music Lorne sent over with Mary Lou. Philipp and I both seemed to have the similar interests in music, so when I left Melbourne I told him I’d send him the discs when I got them in China.

After the post office, I checked out Orchard Road. I had plans to check out the art gallery, as Steff in Beijing had recommended, but it’s only now as I write this in a small room in Malaysia that I remember.

Orchard Road was mostly high end stores, so I didn’t spend too much time there. Spent a bit of time in the Borders, looking through some books on Asian History, and also in the Apple store, but otherwise I was ready for new scenery.

I decided to take the subway to Sentosa Island, a small island south of Singapore. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the island reminded me a lot of Ontario Place. Rides for kids, and generally pretty commercial. I didn’t bother doing any of the extra stuff you had to pay for, but I did take the tram around, and ended up at the amphitheatre moments before an animal/bird show was about to start.

The animal show was pretty decent. Lots of birds, a monkey, a lizard and a snake. Made the trip to the island worthwhile for me, at least. I couldn’t see much else to do after the show, so I hopped on a bus back to the city, and then took the subway back to the condo. I grabbed some yogurt for breakfast at the nearby grocery store, and then headed back to the condo.

I thought Jill and Adam would be home, but they were out looking at a bed. Sadly it was about two feet too small for Adam, so there search continues. We watched the Anthony Bourdain travel show, and then I got to looking for my next destination. I know I want to head to Malaysia, but I’m not so sure where.

From China to Chinatown

Up early, as Adam had forgotten his bike keys on the set of keys he’s given me for the weekend. Not a major problem, as I was more or less awake anyhow. Gathered myself, and headed out the door, hoping to take in Chinatown and the Colonial District of Singapore.

While most of the time in China I thought “This could be Chinatown in any city anywhere”, the truth is the real thing and Chinatown are quite different. Singapore has a huge Chinese population, so it seemed odd they’d even have a Chinatown, but I had a wander through regardless. Other than a street market, and a fancy Hindu temple, it wasn’t all that exciting. I was expecting it to be a lot hotter in Singapore, so I have to admit I’m at least happy that the heat isn’t overwhelming.

Grabbed lunch in Chinatown, and managed to find the one spot in the restaurant where the falling rain would actually land on me. I switched seats, and faired much better. Lucky lucky, the rain also wrapped up just as I finished lunch, so I didn’t need a raincoat or umbrella (not that I had either on me, anyhow).

More interesting than Chinatown was the Colonial District. The older part of Singapore has a lot of nice buildings, some more churches, monuments, and statues, and seems a little more tourist-worthy than Chinatown did. Also got closer to the water, but it wasn’t particularly nice.

After a long walk through the Colonial District, I made my way back to the condo and lounged about for a couple of hours. Jill got back from work soon after I arrived, and invited me out with some of her friends. Her friends are playing professional volleyball in Indonesia, and have to head to another country every month to renew their visas. Only a fool to turn down an evening out with professional female volleyball players, but that’s exactly what I did. As it turned out, I had other plans for the evening.

My mother’s friend, Peter, lives in Singapore, and had offered to take me out for dinner. We had plans to meet at the gates to the condo at 6:30, so I headed down a little early, and arrived just as he was pulling into the parking lot. Also in attendance was his daughter, Priscilla. They asked what I felt like eating, and I decided to leave it up to them. We drove across town (although how far I do not know) to Peter’s club, the Raffles Club. He’s retired, so he’s got lots of free time during the day, and has been a member of the club for a long time. We had a very nice gourmet buffet – great seafood (both cooked and raw), excellent meat, and some good salads and desserts. After dinner the three of us sat and talked by the club pool, and before I knew it, it was time to get home. I was a tad reluctant having dinner with a complete stranger in strange country, but it turned out to be a very nice evening and I didn’t mind so much missing out on the volleyballers (although I am sure the volleyball players would have been fun too).

I thought Jill and Adam would have been home from dinner, but they were still out (St. Patrick’s Day, after all). Adam leant me his hard drive with a bunch of music and movies, so I copied some of the stuff I thought looked interesting to my own hard drive, then I read (I want to finish Adam’s book before I leave), and they arrived not so much later. Chatted about our respective evenings briefly, then went to bed.

Little India

I got up early and flipped through Adam and Jill’s Singapore guidebook. Jill’s birthday today, so she and Adam were off to a spa on Sentosa Island. I had some toast with them before they left – and headed out myself shortly after.

The condo is in a great part of the city, so I had a wide range of places to visit. Figured I’d start with Little India. Took a walk down to Clarke Quay, first, and had a look there. Other than the Singapore river, there wasn’t an abundance to see. It’s more of a place to go at night, I think. Adam said there were a couple of markets good for people watching on the way to Little India, but I forgot to find out which way to walk.

Before reaching any markets, I came across Fort Canning Park, which was basically a big hill in the centre of the city. Had a wander through there, but other than some giant leaves, there wasn’t much going on. Tried to get out at a few different places, but ended up in the gated parking lot of a restaurant, so I had to turn around and walk back up the hill. No fun. A Buddhist monk approached me and tried to give me a small trinket. He wanted 10 Singapore dollars for it, which is about 10 Singapore dollars too much.

I ended up stumbling across the Bugis market, which was filled with more of the same stuff I’d seen in China, but at much higher prices. Just before I got there it started to rain, so I decided to have a really good wander through, while I waited for the rain to stop. Welcome to Singapore – the rain stops when it’s good and ready. I dashed across the street to a mall, to see if there was anything interesting there. They had a Muji store, which I had heard about. It was a bit like Caban, back when Caban existed.

The rain finally stopped, so I made my way to Little India. I had decided to do one of the walks detailed in the Singapore guidebook, but first I wanted to get some food as it was nearly 3pm. Adam had mentioned a place called Banana Leaf Apolo, where they serve your meal on an actual banana leaf. The food was great (and I ordered a lot of it), but not really any better than Indian in Canada.

Little India was an interesting experience. Loads and loads of Indians everywhere, and aside from the lack of smell, I imagine it was pretty similar to the actual India. The sidewalks were very crowded with people and various stalls, so you were pretty much forced onto the road. Hasn’t taken me too long to get used to the left-side driving people this time around. Took in a few temples and shrines, and made the mistake of going into the Mustafa Market which was a little like Wal-Mart, if Wal-Mart was so busy that you had to press up against someone if you wanted to pass them in the aisle. I also stopped by the Thieves Market, which was basically a bunch of people selling complete junk. I imagine if you go often enough you’ll find a diamond in the rough, but it mostly looked like junk to me.

Headed back to the condo after Little India, and skipped out on dinner since I had a huge and rather late lunch. Spent the evening reading one of Adam’s books (“First They Killed My Father”) and a few of his guidebooks.

Write Another Travelling Song

A travelling day, so no pictures worth posting.
Got up after a good rest and said my goodbyes to a few people in the hostel. After reading for a bit, I took a taxi to the train station, and bought a shuttle bus ticket to the airport. Was hoping to drive by the Beijing Hooters so I could take a photo, but no such luck.

Airport went fine, considering the language barrier. Lots of good english signage, and the people at the counters spoke enough english to get by. The flight was the same, and the food was reasonably good. Managed to finally finish reading “The Name of the Rose”, which I’d been struggling through since Auckland (just too much going on – and I did manage to read one of Adam’s books, “Tuesday’s With Morrie” on the flight to Beijing last week, so I am getting some reading done – plus the free internet at the hostel probably didn’t hurt). Started a Michael Crichton book (“Next”) my mom had sent over with Mary Lou and Adam, and before I knew it, we were touching down in Singapore.

Grabbed a cab from the airport with a nice taxi driver named Zachary. He was a cook full-time, so he suggested a few dishes I had to try, and gave me his email address, in case he’s ever in Canada. His wife is pregnant, and they’re expecting a boy next week.

While in Singapore, I’m staying with a friend of my sister’s, Adam – who I’ve never met before. He and his fiancee, Jill were going to be out at a Charity event so he left me a few detailed instructions on how to get into their condo. He said the keys would be in the puma, and I was expecting a statue of a puma cat or something, but instead was faced with a shoe rack. Managed to find the correct pair of Puma shoes, and got into the house without incident.

The condo was quite nice, and I made myself at home quickly, by doing some much needed laundry, and reading some more of my book. Adam and Jill got home not long after that and we got to know each other a little (I’d never met them, and wasn’t expecting them to be quite so tall, but they both seem great), before they headed off to bed.

The laundry took a little longer to finish, but I was finally able to throw the clothes in the dryer, and catch some much needed sleep myself.