Rizz goes round the world

Ladies and gentleman, I have an important announcement... (Singapore)

...The trafficking of drugs in Singapore will result in death. Thank you very much.

Ah, Singapore. Finally, I had arrived--the gateway to Southeast Asia, the beginning of what I see as the second leg to my trip. The real travel shall now commence. After picking up my bag from the carousel (and silently hoping that no one had tampered with it, resulting in my imminent death), I emerged from customs in search of the guy who'd have my name on a placard. How exciting! I'd never had someone waiting for me with a sign at the airport before. It was all very VIP and posh.

I found my sherpa for the evening and we set out into... a wall of moisture. Welcome to the tropics, y'all!

It was midnight by the time I arrived, so I didn't get to see too much of the city as I sat glassy eyed in the back seat. We passed Victoria St. and Queen St., and I wondered if I was back in Oz. Then a Spanish song started playing on the radio and I just got completely culturally confused. I needed some sleep.

Unfortunately, sleep didn't come. This annoying cough I've contracted from Byron Bay kept me awake for the second night straight.

The next morning I set out in a desperate search for coffee. After procuring some (and some french toast!), I headed out to Orchard Street, the shopping mecca of Singapore, which is itself a shopping mecca. How many 6 floor malls can you have on one street??!! I stopped counting. You know me and malls: I quickly became overwhelmed and irritable, and decided to stick to the shops outside. And I am proud to report that, in doing so, I managed to successfully haggle for my first time in SE Asia! Without even meaning to! I was looking to replace my UV filter for my "real" camera, which had somehow shattered and ended up having the lens capped lodged within it. I replaced the lens cap in Oz, but was waiting for SE Asia to replace the filter, hoping it would be cheaper. No such luck--38 Singapore dollars! I told the guy at the counter "Thanks but no thanks", and he of course came back asking me why, it was the best quality filter he had, good glass, blah blah blah. Well, I informed him that I was able to get a UV filter for 12 dollars at home, and that it wasn't that important; I only used it as protection for my lens and could wait until I found it cheaper. So he sold it to me for 10 US dollars! From $38 Singapore to $16--not bad for my first time, eh?

At that point, it was disgustingly hot and muggy, and I was exhausted. So I found my way to the tourist office and bought myself a ticket for the City Buzz bus, a circuit (well, 3 circuits) that takes you around the city, giving you an idea of the sites. So, thanks to Joey's advice, I spent the remainder of the day admiring Singapore from the comfort of the second story of an air conditiond bus. Sweet as.

The next morning, I met up with Sam, a guy I'd met in Oz on the bus from Byron Bay up to Brisbane, and we spent the morning admiring the charms, colors, plentiful markets, and hawker food of Chinatown. When we emerged from the subway in Chinatown, Sam was ambushed at the exit by an Indian "swami" (so he claimed) who proceeded to tell Sam his fortune, which involved going on another big trip with his girlfriend (indicating me) before the end of the year. Then he did some trick predicting Sam's favorite color and number of siblings, and got mad when Sam gave him a coin in payment, saying "I'm a swami, I deserve paper money! Paper!" Right.

At any rate, we spent the next few hours walking about, admiring the goods at the markets, and marvelling at the ornate Hindu temple. That's the lovely thing about Singapore (and, so far, Malaysia): it's such an amalgam of different faiths, cultures and ethnicities. Here we were in Chinatown, at a Hindu temple, where a number of Indians were worshipping. It's a bit heart-warming really. Rene White, you would LOVE it in this part of the world! We also explored the Chinese Cultural Center, providing us with the history of the Chinese migrants who came to Singapore, and including a really cool replica of an entire tenement/shop building of old, complete with an outhouse whose waste bucket was exquisitely detailed. In other words, a replica of poop. I of course took pictures. Which I would post here, but I seem to have lost the USB cable for my camera. Oops.

After stopping for lunch at some of the hawker stands in Chinatown, we headed to the Raffles Hotel for the obligatory Singapore Sling, for which we paid $21 Singapore. Each. But so worth it. The Raffles hotel is an ornate white building from colonial times, replete with balconies and balustrades. It is also the birthplace of the aforementioned fruity concoction. Stepping into the Long Bar at the hotel, you were whisked back to the colonial era, surrounded by wicker furniture and straw fans affixed to the ceiling that slowly, thanks to the marvels of electricity, waved back and forth. Beyond the dark interior (still muggy and hot), the hazy light shone in the windows that looked out on a massive balcony. All that was missing was my white linen suit and safari hat. I felt straight out of Casablanca. Yes, I realize that a complete different continent, but it had that feeling.

After a lazy evening (still not feeling well) and another restless night of sleep, the next morning I headed out to Little India. Quite honestly, I've been feeling a bit travel weary, and while the charming streets, lined with stalls selling fresh floral leis to bring to the temple and place on one of the many statues to the gods were lovely, I was tired, and there was a lot less to see than I had thought there would be. I was also disappointed that the woman whose parrot reads your fortune wasn't around--I'd been looking forward to that. So, a little dejected, I set out looking for some Indian food for lunch. Yes, I was in Little India, but this being Singapore, that lovely amalgamate of religions and cultures, all I could find were Chinese, Malay and Arab hawker stalls. After a lot of walking in circles, I finally settled on a proper restaurant, and allowed myself to be talked into something for the first time (of many, I'm sure) by the Indian woman behind the counter.

I was meant to meet up with Mark, a guy staying at the hostel, at 3 that afternnoon for a trip to the zoo. Honestly, I was not looking forward to it. I was hot, tired and coated in sweat. Thankfully, it started raining, and we made an executive decision not to go. I would have liked to go have tea with an orangutan and see some kimodo dragons, but I need to convince myself that, being on the road for a year solid, it's ok to not see everything and take some time off in front of the TV. So, I looked forward to doing just that for a few hours. First, though, I enquired at the (USELESS) reception about getting a bus ticket to Melaka for the next day. I was hoping I'd be able to rock up to the bus station in the morning and get a ticket. The annoying, clueless, and snobby kid behind the counter laughed at that suggestion, though, and advised that I go to the bus station today to get a ticket. It took a further 15 minutes to get directions to the bus station. USELESS. I am a backpacker. I don't want to take a damn taxi, especially when it's easily reachable, and much cheaper, by subway. Ugh.

Made my way to the underground station where the bus station was apparently located. Couldn't for the life of me find it though. Thanks for that, reception. So, I spent the next 2 hours walking in circles, getting directions to nowhere, with my feet being torn to shreds (my beloved flip flops finally broke the day before. After spending an hour walkng through Singapore barefoot--hey, at least it was Singapore and not Delhi or something--being unable to actually find a mall in this land of malls, I finally found flip flops. Which did exactly what I'd been afraid of--rip my feet up). And then, as if that weren't enough, it started to rain. No, not rain. POUR. Monsoon style, as it is the wet season here. So this pathetic little drowned rat took shelter in one of those 6 floor malls. Where of course they were playing Christmas music. Let it Snow, of all songs. I wanted to hop in a cab to the airport and fly home then and there. It was awful. But, there in the mall, a tourist agency, with very nice ladies who were able to point me in the right direction and who offered me lots of much-needed pity. So I took refuge in Starbucks to wait out the deluge, where I discovered Singaporian Starbucks coffee is just as awful as American, and finally managed to find a place to buy a bus ticket. Not without one final insult though. After all that hassle, I decided to hell with it, I'd take a taxi back to the hostel. But after finally finding a free taxi, he laughed and drove off after I told him where I needed to go. Thanks. So I took the train.

After I got back, sans afternoon rest, I met up with Mark for the night safari. We had missed out on the zoo, but I still really wanted to go to the night safari, next door, which was as it sounded--a zoo full of nocturnal creatures. We hopped on the tram to voyage around the safari, spotting rhinos, hippos, elephants, lots of different types of cattle, deer and goats, pigs, hyenas, tigers, lions... it was really cool, especially as the night safari had the same sort of set-up as the zoo, where they have a bit of a "roam free" philosophy. Instead of being fenced off or behind glass, the animals were out in the open, the more dangerous ones restrained by moats, and, only when necessary, sections of glass or fence. You could have reached out of the tram and touched some of them. Pretty cool. We also checked out an animal show, where we watched an otter recycle glass, plastic and aluminum. It was a positive end-note to an awful afternoon, at least. I'm glad I wouldn't be leaving Singapore on a sour note the next day.

While I was leaving relatively upbeat, I was still ready to leave. Singapore is nice, but a bit bland, really, and I was ready to get my hands dirty, to soak myself in Southeast Asia. Malaysia, here I come!

(11-15 December, 2006)

posted by La Rizz @ 3:25 AM