Singapore 14/10/07

Examining all our paper cuts from all the various Indian paperwork, we take off for Singapore. By the way, if you don’t know already Singapore Airlines are the by far the best airline you can fly with, big comfortable planes with attractive airhostesses providing fantastic service.
Quite weary of our time in Goa, we arrive in Singapore in the morning after flying overnight and instantly love the place. Everything is very clean (our prospects of cleanliness probably a tad lowered from being in India) and very organized (again our expectations of organization also a tad distorted after our stay in India)
We get a taxi from the airport and go to our hotel. Unfortunately we are told that check in dose not commence until three o’clock, so wearily we unload our bags at reception and expose our sleep deprived swollen eyes to the dry bright heat of the Singaporean sun to find somewhere to kill some time.
We stroll around the area we sample some local Singaporean cuisine at the local Subway (as is much of the world Asia is littered with them which never seem far from a KFC or a Starbucks)
After another bit of a stroll, the sleep we were deprived of the night before makes us hot and weary so we head into a cool internet café till we could head into our room.

After a sleep we head out for some dinner in town, the city is covered in decorative fairy lights lining all the streets, as we later discover the city is just after celebrating the end of Ramadan. The city seems very safe and clean, even late at night down the darkest alley you never feel unsafe. We took the lovely clean air-conditioned subway (MRT) into the center of Chinatown where we went to find somewhere to eat, we find a nice looking place not far from the station, and it was lovely. The food presentation was fantastic, Christine ordered some sushi for a starter which was presented on a bamboo leaf nested on a large bowel of crushed ice. For main course we had Peking Duck, however most impressive was Christine’s dessert, what it actually was I can not remember, what I do remember was it came in a sort of stemless Martini glass sitting on a Brandy glass shaped bowl that had pale blue water with dry ice in it which formed a thin ring of mist pour out from around the underneath of the desert.
After our meal we took the MRT back into the area where we were staying and went to look for a pub, unfortunately Asian pubs all are big into their karaoke, but eventually we find a pub up the road from the hotel and after a pitcher of beer we retire in for the night.

The following day was spent downtown shopping, it was also where we discovered that it was rainy season, however my mood was lifted shortly after when I spotted the cable cars heading over to Sentosa Island. I don’t know why, but where ever we go I always feel compelled to climb all the high structures that the place has to offer (much to the dismay of Christine as this doesn’t go well with her fear of heights). So after some convincing, we agree to take the cable cars over to the Island and have a look around the following day.

Being rainy season we would at some point in the day get a heavy shower of rain which normally lasts an hour or two, however today it seemed to last a good while so we delayed going on the cable cars till it cleared up. We waited for some time, but it seemed to be there for the day, so when it died down a bit we set off for the cable cars.
We bought our tickets and took the lift up the 14 floors to the entrance. As we waited for our car to come around, Christine starts to look a little like a cat stuck high up in a tree, as the man tears our tickets we hop into our cabin and slowly make our way over to Sentosa Island. Christine distracts herself with the camcorder, but between the raindrops on the windows and the gray clouds around us, our footage doesn’t quite make as good a depiction as we would have hoped.
When we arrive at the other end at Sentosa Island we (as in most other tourist attractions, I have noticed) are emptied out into the gift shop so that the spending frenzy can begin. Here you can buy all your lovely cheesy memorabilia of all the stuff you have yet to see!
We weave our way through postcard stands, ornaments and frantic tourists to the other end of the constantly expanding gift shop, and finally we make it to a plaza with signs pointing in all directions. Sentosa Island is pretty much just one big theme park, full of places for the whole family to be relieved of their money.
Before we could do anything, there was some beer to be drunk in order to overcome our recent trauma (cable car for Christine and the gift shop for me). After a beer and a look at the view of Singapore from the terrace, we went and did some Luging. This is something similar to go-carting except instead of having a motor it uses gravity, basically it’s a windy track down a steep hill, good fun though. Also to my delight (and to Christine’s dismay) I discovered that you take a ski lift to get you back up the hill. For some reason Christine found this much worse than the cable car coming over, but fortunately (to Christine’s knowledge) it was the only way back up. I probably could have told her that there was a road back up, even a bus, if we were willing to wait, but that wouldn’t have been any fun!

Ski lift to the Luging

Us on the ski lift

When we arrived safe and sound at the top of the hill again Christine entertained herself with some oversized plastic fruit as we decided what to do next.

We wanted to take the cable cars back after dark so that we could see all the city lights (as this is when a city looks at its best) so to kill some time we went to a rather disappointing 3D cinema. The 3D itself was pretty cool but the film was very very bad, however it passed some time and after another beer and a bit of a stroll it was time to make our way back through the gift shop and back onto the cable car. We tried to take some photos on the way back over but unfortunately they all came out a little abstract!

Pictures from the cable car

When we arrived back on the mainland we went back to Chinatown for dinner. We passed through all the busy street markets to get to Food Street, as we passed through the market stalls we noticed how much easier it was here to browse (since last time we tried looking at street stalls was India, where you could only look straight ahead and walk at a brisk pace, as if you look at something you will be mobbed with people mounding ten kinds of crap on top of you and demanding you buy them). Fortunately over here you are left alone until you express any interest.
We experienced similar courtesy when we arrived on Food Street, where people would point at their menu, and make hand gestures to the entrance, and with a simple smile and a nod would back away when you pass. Just as we mentioned how much more relaxed this was compared to India, two men jumped in front of us waving there arms frantically with laminated cards clenched in there hands, demanding we follow them. They were of course the waiters from the Indian restaurant we happened to be passing, fortunately after a long chase involving a lot of crawling under tables and several taxi rides and a hell of a lot of shouting we managed to make it clear that we were not interested in having Indian cuisine tonight. A little further up the road from the Indian restaurant we found a nice little local place where we sat inside under a fan, where we had a very nice meal (except for the beancurd, that shit is rank, I don’t know how Christine can eat it).

Chinatown

Once we had or fill of food and beer, we headed back through the market stalls for another bit of a browse, then head home for the night.
The following day was fairly uneventful, the weather was not great so we hung out in the town shopping and eating, but at this stage we were ready to head for our next destination, Kuala Lumpur.