Well, here I am in Singapore now, and in a few hours I'll be flying to Germany.
First impressions:
- ...errr... my jeans are sticking to my legs already and it's 11pm at night.
Wow, it's 11pm at night and the train is PACKED??? not with lots of young people going out on the town, but people of all ages, just... doing stuff. Maybe this town doesn't sleep either.
oh, and the first thing I saw as I went through customs and was getting money out of the ATM was a girl from college. Small world. - Anyway, after hearing that Singpore was all shopping malls and airconditioning, I think I must have made an unconcious decision to avoid all freezing icebox mazes. All day yesterday I walked around and at the end of the day my feet hurt. At about 2pm I was so hot, I caved and took the short cut through the Raffles Center (mall). Mind you, my shopping so far has consisted of a fan (hand held) yesterday and a watch today.. WOOOO! World's biggest shopper! (I DO have an alarm clock and my mp3 player to check the time against twice daily because I wont let a $10 watch let me miss a flight... again... Hardy :P )
Dale, you'll be please to know that the hostel is currently playing some experimental drum & bass.
Leaving Thoughts:
- Singapore is an easy city. Good public transport, felt safe pretty much everywhere, cars don't try to run you over and isn't as repressed/everything outlawed as they make it out to be. I saw a person spitting in the street and I definitely saw rubbish lying around, especially cigarrette butts and even some old gum on a pavement (haven't seen anyone dealing drugs though). It's very much like Malaysia except less muslims and more of everything else. Even though my hostel was right next to a mosque I never heard the prayers ringing out, at all hours, even though I was quite looking forward to it. Where a block has a hindu temple there'll also be a christian church and muslim mosque.
- People are nice, but not overly friendly. They hardly hassle you to buy stuff. I think Fiji is still on the top of my list of friendliest people with no other motive. The only extra friendly people I spoke to here were two old men, on separate occasions. Both with only 1 or 2 teeth :)
- Wear Sunscreen! I got burnt yesterday because I couldn't be bothered digging it out from the bottom of my bag. Today as a result of digging for it, I can't make everything fit back in the bag. Not sure if the trade off was worth it :D NAAAAH... sunburn sucks.
Biggest regret:
Not eating before I went on the Night Safari because it meant I had the option of, oh THREE overpriced restaurants. I paid $6 for a basket of chips. 1 - who goes to a different country and eats chips and 2 - that's TWICE as much as I paid for my breakfast which was twice the size, 10 times spicier, 100 times more exotic and 1000 times more delicious. (note to self: eat before getting on plane)
Lost so far:
- Key to dorm/hostel, and hence, my $10 deposit.
- The train ticket. Not so much 'lost' as 'threw out'. I chucked it and then realised I'm meant to put it back in the machine for my $1 deposit refund.
*STOP PRESS*
*UPDATE*
Did I mention I LOST MY TICKET!!!!!!! Yes, that's right people Joey lost her ticket some where going from one terminal to the next, right at the point where I'm wanting to check in. "Maam, do you have your ticket", "Sure, it's right... NO!! No I don't have it"
Then Joey races madly back to the shuttle, gets everyone to search the ALL the shuttles, goes back to the other terminal, meanwhile lugging 20kgs in 100% humidity, sweating like crazy. Back to other terminal, no one's seen anything. Go to information counter to tell them. They say they'll make an annoucement if it's found. Back to check-in terminal, race to counter, sent to ticketing... They tell me to come back in an hour. Right, so off I go to scam free internet from a cafe where all I need to do is buy something to use the internet, but the problem is that I only have $2.50 left and nothing is in my price range. While I'm online to Hardy telling him of my stupid (but expected) problem I hear something over the speakers about "would... please.... informaton counter" but it's disorted by the jazz playing in the cafe. I go back to the ticketing counter to be told 'Sorry, we have no details of your ticket so your agent will need to fax it in the morning'. Great, it's 8:30pm at night! What do I do now? Go to the information counter, that's what. Just in case it was my name they called before. So I go to the counter and look!!! A blue oasis! Also known as a blue STA plastic ticket holder folder thingy!!! HUUUUURRRRAYYYY!!! The world has been good to me once again! It was found right next to where I realised I'd lost it.
Oh, and my flight is delayed 2 hours (leaving 1am now.. bah!) because of a medical emergency on board. Flight was diverted to Darwin. I hope the person is ok!
Adios amigos
ok, photos below, from left to right:
1 - These flowers were for sale outside a temple. Apparently normal petals aren't good enough, folding makes them soooo much more exceptable as an offering
2 - Joey eating an icecream sandwich. I was so hot the icecream sandwich was my saviour... right until I remember that icecream makes me thirsty. Of course the cheesy photo with the merlion was required.
3 - I had to allow myself at least one juvile joke.
4 - A street near where I was staying in Kampong Glam. Very cute little houses.
5 - Egg tarts, I looooove egg tarts!
6 - This is for you Roger. I don't know if you can read what it says at the top, but it's 'Beaujolais Bar'. Roger! A whole place full of nanna wine just for you! (also, everything on my screen at the moment is in German so it's too hard to figure out how to make it the right way up.
7 -A cemetry in Kampong Glam. All higgldy-piggldy with no names or anything.
8 - Clothes drying out of the windows.
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