Homeward Bound:

Well, since I’d seen everything by this day, it was just another day cruising around the city, checking out the sights. With a stopover in VivoCity to have lunch at Marché. This is a Swiss restaurant where you are given a card when you turn up. You then go to different “stalls” around the restaurant, ask for what you want, where you are given your food and they proceed to swipe your card, adding it to your total bill. The restaurant has different areas for different foods, such as pizza, pasta, salads, drinks, etc. So, it’s kind of buffet, but not self-serve. Also, much better presented with food that is way above buffet quality, more restaurant quality than prison cafeteria quality.

After lunch, I didn’t have much time, so I went back to freshen up for the journey home and have a farewell drink with Dad and his wife, who I give both 5 stars for hospitality excellence and tour guidism.

I was on an overnight flight back home, leaving Singapore at 9.30 landing in Adelaide with a 2 hr stop over, then continuing on home. The flight didn’t end up leaving ’til some time after 11.00, missing my connecting flight, but was put on another only 1/2 hr after the previous one had left. So it didn’t turn out too badly. In my travels, Adelaide airport may go down as one of the worst.

Considering there was such a delay, there was no express checkout for people coming off, no announcements letting people know what was happening (the last information we had was from the pilot). So, waiting in the queue for 20 minutes, behind no more than 6 people, to find out what was happening, just as I got there, one of the only 2 people on staff just up and left! If they’d had express, I would have made my original connecting flight. Since I’ve never been to Adelaide before, my only experience gives me the conclusion that this actually makes people in Adelaide less efficient than the mindless drones in Singapore.

Random Observations:

Fagbagsters; this is a word I learnt while in Singapore, one of those words I didn’t know before, but knew its meaning as soon as I read it. It describes the trend in Asia of straight guys wearing makeup, carrying handbags and generally dressing quite feminine-like, I saw many of these guys … with girls. The girls obviously love it, so I might need to get me a handbag and some makeup before I go again.

Slave trucks; When travelling around, you see a number of ute-like trucks with 10-20 people being hauled around in the back of them. Apparently they are all the cheap labour construction workers, and they get taken to shelters where hundreds of them sleep and get fed.

They take movies seriously; On our way through Malay customs, on the desk where you show your passport is a small device, and written on it, in English, are the words “liveness detector”. My belief is that it is being installed for the coming zombie apocalypse, and if you fail the test (i.e. detected as not alive) you will be shot. Yeah, sorry, I didn’t get a photo of the device, I fear guns.

Beggars; I noticed one day, that unlike cities in Australia, no one asked me for money, well, other than some of the chatty girls mentioned earlier, but they wanted a lot more money than any beggar I’ve ever seen. Also, they were dressed much better than any beggars. I did see people on the streets in KL, but they were off in their own little world. I don’t recall seeing anyone on the streets in Singapore, but the unemployment there is next to nil.

Roads to Nowhere; In Sydney, I always used to say that you could only turn left because it was full of one way streets. In Singapore, it is taken to the next level, I don’t think I saw any 2 way streets. We are talking regular 4 lanes, and up to 6 lanes, all going one way! It’s like the entire road network is a giant looping snake, where you would never be able to just turn around and go back, if you missed your stop, you’d have to keep going until you’d done a full circle.

Flora; There are flowers and plants on everything. Flowers hanging from overpasses and walk-bridges, plants in toilets, vines growing up multi-level car parks. Just, anywhere there is space they will put a plant in.

Generous Drinking; House spirits don’t seem to be your usual el-cheapo house spirits we have in AU, they seem to go the next level up. A lot of the time it is Johnny Black, if it isn’t, it’s usually only a dollar more than standard. But then again, drink prices are also much higher,

Things to do next time: Wave Riding, Indoor Sky Diving, Raffles Hotel

Chillaxin’

Today will be a brief entry, since nothing exciting is in store. We opted to try breakfast in the hotel slums today, along with the general population to compare it to the luxurious service and food we had in the “executive” breakfast lounge. The main difference was that we didn’t have someone bring us coffee … right away. I didn’t have coffee, because after Old Town Coffee, hotel coffee was pretty shit. Oh, wait … hotel coffee was never actually good. So we went for a wander to kill time until Old Town opened. Most things in Singapore/KL open 10am at the earliest, with most shops opening somewhere between 11.00am and 1.00pm. Then we just killed time back at the hotel til checkout, and wandered over to Pavilion for a small lunch. I had to try fast food while here, Carls Jr burgers was the choice. I have to say, they do a pretty darn good burger. Along with the usual soft drinks, they also have ice tea as one of the drinks on tap, and it’s a good ice tea too.

So, we checked out, jumped in a taxi to the hotel we were catching the coach from. This time round, in a nice comfy premiere taxi, which cost us RM9.50 (about $3.15AU) as opposed to our original trip, where we caught the barter teksi (you agree on a price to get to your destination before they take you). That first trip cost RM15 (about $5AU) in a vehicle that was probably made in the 80s – so in comparison, we were ripped off, which Dad said we were as soon as we got in the first cab, but it’s so cheap compared to AU taxis, that you just don’t care.

Not long after, we were back on the bus, a slight delay where a truck had totalled a car, but an otherwise uneventful trip. We stopped at our designated truck stop, the stops are actually pretty big places, I entertained a couple of girls. I’m not sure why they found me so entertaining, but they smiled at me, I smiled back and they started giggling between themselves on both the times I walked by them. We grabbed some curry puffs and went on our merry way.

Hours later … back in Singapore, we went for a traditional dinner of chicken and rice. That was some damn good shit, the rice is cooked in the same water as the chicken, some chilli sauce and some good old fashioned lime juice. After we’d hit the lime juice hard, we went to a local bar on Orchard Road, while being hit on by lady boys along the way.

Many whiskeys later … we went for a wander to observe the local bars along Orchard Road, where for some reason, there is an abundance of many very friendly girls. So far, this is an unexplained phenomena, as I have never experience so many girls in such a small area that are just so happy to talk to you. Maybe when I’m older, I will find out why or Dad might tell me.

Beef Bacon

Today we dined at the executive level breakfast, since we are staying in executive rooms at the hotel, for about the equivalent of $70AU / night mind you, where my room is about as big as my house back home.

I tried beef bacon in amongst the usual eggs on toast deal. Beef bacon is not as weird as chicken bacon, but it’s still not bacon.

Then we checked out the hotel pool, if I get time, it would be worth a dip, looks like a great area to kick back and relax.

Time to explore KL. But first, we went to Petronas Towers, just a short walk from the hotel, now I can say I’ve seen it. In case you are wondering, it looks like 2 really tall buildings.

Adventourists:

After that, we caught a teksi downtown to some bazaar, with lots of little areas with titles such as little india, little china, little malay. There were many interesting shops here, and they had the fish that eat you, so I had to try that.  One of the guys straight away just said “first time?”, it was pretty obvious. My feet are not generally all that ticklish, but damn did I twitch a lot while these things were eating me alive. After this, we had coffee at a place called Old Town White Coffee, this is going to go down as the best coffee in Singapore/Kuala Lumpur. So much for giving up on trying new coffee. I’m now voting that we stick to only this place, as it is a chain and can be found in Singapore too.

After this, we decided to experiment and learn the rail system, it didn’t take too long to figure it out, and some man just randomly came over to help us, even though we were actually doing fine, he managed to make it take longer than if we’d continued doing it ourselves. We headed over to somewhere called Sentral, which sounded like it should be … you know, central to something. We wandered underground, into some dirty under construction area, and came out who knows where. Then we walked around for a while longer until we had no idea where we were. KL is no way near as clean as Singapore, even the dirtier parts of Singapore are cleaner. Here, there is just bags of rubbish on the ground, on steps, and piled in alleyways. The smell is pretty bad in some of the out of the way areas as well.

So we jumped back in a taxi and headed back to Pavillion, our main shopping centre area, where we went for lunch. Trying out food court food today, I opted for Stingray and rice, where dad had some fish I don’t remember the name of. The Stingray wasn’t bad, but not as good as some of the other food we had, pretty much what I expected from a food court in a shopping centre. Then we wandered around trying to find a wallet, this is a task I failed at.

Turkasian:

So the evening ended much the same as last night, Dad and I had some drinks at the local Spazzios, then venturing back to days of old, went for dinner at a Turkish place called something to do with fire, combustion, locomotion, phosphor, Bosphorus! that’s the one. The food was good, but not great, certainly no traditional Turkish cuisine, it seemed to be rather westernised. After dinner, you guessed it, we went straight back to Spazzios to finish what we started. They did, however, close at 2am, and that’s where you find me writing this. The guys there gave us complimentary spirits (the alcoholic kind, not the spiritual) to finish off our last night here, along with a photo finish!

Kuala Lumpur:

So today was mostly going to be taken up by a bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, setting off at about 9.30. Half the trip is taken up by having to get on and off the bus for customs and security. OK, to be fair, they had us through pretty quickly. We had to get off going out of Singapore, and then we were not in any country for a short ride, then we had to get off again to get into Malaysia. Then they served us our meal at about 10.30 for a 5 hr trip, stopped half an hour later for the rest break, and continued non-stop for the next 3 hrs. They just seem to want to get everything out of the way in the beginning.

Coming in to Malaysia, I noticed they have the same building thing that Singapore has, where a lot of buildings that are exactly the same, either groups of buildings, all the same design, or scattered around, with exactly the same design. They must have just had one architect design a few buildings that they would then fill the entire city with. I guess it makes things much cheaper that way!

Once we got here, we had some drinks at a local bar, then wandered around KL to find some food. Tonight we found more Thai, huge place, but not many people in it, not that there were a lot of people around anyway. The food was, as has been the case all along, excellent.

Afterwards, we met some of the local entertainment, they all want to give massages, a very friendly bunch. Then we wandered back to the local bar, called Spazzio’s by the way, and had more drinks while watching tennis.

Why is it that when I travel, there seems to be major sporting events on. This inevitably means that I end up drinking and watching them. This time round, we have the Australian Open. An event which I have somehow managed to avoid all contact with … until I’m in another country. This makes even less sense than previous sporting events which I’ve attempted to not affiliate myself with. We kept watching until they lost signal, so I still have no idea who won.

Moresploration:

So, today was about exploring the areas of China Town, Little India and Bugis. But first, I needed a battery charger for my camera since I underestimated how long my battery would last. It has done well, since it is now 6 years old, poor thing. So I was introduced to Sim Lim, which is basically several floors of electronics. My kind of mall! This place seemed to be much better than the usual mindless drones in your Orchard Road area malls. At least the guy I found was, he was helpful, comparatively fast, and bargaining took about 10 seconds. Also, he was a very nice man.

Since this morning was a late start, it was pretty much lunchtime by now, so on advice from a friend, we ate at a place called Fatty’s. The staff here were so friendly! Such a nice change, and the food was really good, though we’ve done pretty well with food so far (excluding the western food). We had duck noodles and sweet and sour chicken. They had a display setup here, and after asking for a photo of it, a very happy woman told us it was a Chinese New year Happy Salad. There are lots of happy fun time things here.

Cultural Pockets

So we started in Bugis, a whole bunch of streets setup as one big bazaar. Quite interesting, all sorts of smells. That’s one of the things I first noticed about Singapore, was all the smells. So many different smells, as I was walking down the streets for the first time, there was food, then there was cleaning products, then some other weird things, some of which could have been air fresheners, as there is apparently one that smells like stale cigarettes. But every few seconds, another completely different smell.

Then in China Town, where we went inside a temple, inside of which, they were selling things! Walking down the street, I spotted something I wanted to try eating, as I do, it was unrecognisable, grey, round, kind of mushroom like in appearance. However, the guy selling didn’t want to serve me. Dad asked some other guy who was being served if he knew what it was, but he had no idea, and wasn’t very helpful even when talking to the guy selling, ended up with a description of “fruit pancake”. Eventually I got him to sell me one. It was worth it, it tasted like some kind of fig thing, coated in powdered sugar, very tasty.

At some point we needed a drink, so we sat down and they had coconut juice, in the coconut, which is something I wanted to try. It was a not particularly sweet drink, but it tasted alright and was very refreshing. The coconuts done in this way aren’t ripened, still green.

Lastly, we headed over to Little India. Dad bought a portable radio at an electronics store, with a new strange retail experience. He had to talk to the man at the counter to get a ticket to take to the cashier, where he paid and was then given another ticket to pick up the item … back at the original counter. We wandered around some more, just looking at shops and buildings, I think I need to eat here some day. They like to sell beer in shops that sell clothing. Why don’t we have that in Australia dammit! The girls could shop, while the guys sit, wait and drink; brilliant idea!

Dinner:

We finished off today by having dinner at Clarke’s Quay, at a Spanish restaurant. Ordered a whole bunch of tapas and a some drinks, and away we went. This place is a regular for Dad and his Wife, since the food is excellent, I can see why! Then we went for a quick wander around Clarke’s Quay. I’d only previously seen it during the day before everything was open. At night, it is completely transformed into a hub of nightclubs, bars and restaurants.

So far, this is just a normal week for Dad, living the life, roaming from place to place, country to country and eating all the foods, how do I get me a life like this?

Singamerica:

An early start to the day again, as we head over to Universal Studios for a few hours, today we had Dad’s wife joining us. Priced much better than our theme parks, $70 gets you in, and all the rides are free. After a few taxi rides, it has become apparent that the drivers love talking politics. Whether they know what they’re talking about or not is another story. This morning, we had a hotel breakfast buffet at Novatel, there was the usual selection of eggs, bacons, breads. Then you had some Asian dishes there as well, noodles, seemed pork buns .. mmm … but the bacon, it’s weird and tastes like no bacon I’ve eaten. It was supposed to be pork bacon, but in Singapore there is a lot of chicken bacon and turkey bacon due to the muslim population.

So we get to Universal Studios and as to be expected, it’s all quite American, and done very well. We started with a special effects studio simulating a hurricane. This was pretty cool, with lightning and water, and ships and burning water. They love fire and water here, so much so, that they put fire on top of water, it’s all very exciting. Before I came, I had pretty much been convinced by Dad’s wife to go on the Battlestar Galactica roller coaster, I hadn’t actually been on a roller coaster in about 20 years, so I was rather hesitant. But I lined up for the 15 minutes, and along the way found out the ride lasts barely more than a minute. Once it started, I swore for perhaps the first 10 seconds, and then all the fear was gone and it was a nice pleasant ride. Pleasant, much the same way falling off a 3 storey building would be pleasant.

Since I’d survived the biggest, fastest roller coaster there, I had no problem going on the next one, something to do with one of those Mummy movies. It was pretty cool, in the dark, with things jumping out at you, walls closing in on you and some nice lighting effects. At one point, the whole cart lurched sideways, I think that one hurt! After 2 roller coasters, I think they put my hip out.

For lunch, we had some good old fashioned American burgers at an 50s diner style place, Dad was pleased since he doesn’t get to eat burgers often, and they were very good burgers. Then we saw what was possibly the worst musical ever created, called Monster Rock. Thankfully it only went for about 25 minutes, but Dad enjoyed sleeping through it. It wasn’t even improved with the explosions.

There was a Transformer ride there, and as much as I hate the movies, it would have been interesting to see what it was all about. However, a 90 minute wait made it not worth bothering, as a 90 minute wait for anything generally convinces me to not bother.

Rancho Relaxo:

So the afternoon was a bit more relaxed, as we wandered around Sentosa, sat for a couple of hours at the beach with a few drinks while watching fake surfing. That’s something I want to do next time I’m here, along with fake sky diving! We also went to another MerLion, this one big enough to walk up the top and stand on its head, with a great view of the island. I also held a big arse white python of some kind, it was kind of rubbery.

We stopped for coffee at some place. Oh, I didn’t mention earlier, but after several coffees, damn are the big. The cafe lattes are generally in a glass larger than those reserved for iced coffees … and that’s a small! The cappuccinos will usually be about twice the size of those back home, in cups the size of bowls. This does not actually make them taste all that great tho. After 2 days, and 3 coffees, I’m about ready to give up on them altogether.

For dinner, I had some high expectations ahead of me, as Din Tai Fung dumplings had been well and truly talked up. Being a dumpling connoisseur, they had some work ahead of them. But even with all the hype, increased by the fact I’m in Asia, they were some damn fine dumplings. I’m glad to say tho, that Melbourne is up there with these guys.

As night set in, we had a couple of things to see, one called Sea Shanty Songs … or something like that. I was expecting some old men with beards to come up singing in gruff voices about their hardships. But no such luck, a bunch of people came out, in what seemed a performance on par with the Rock Musical at Universal studios. Thankfully after about 5 minutes, their unrelenting happy dances slowed and they started talking to laser fish (no, not sharks with frikkin’ laser beams attached to their heads – I wish). But instead, a pretty sweet laser and water show. Oh yeah, don’t worry, they also added fire and explosions. Then we went and saw a far inferior water light show … more fire burning on water. Right about now, being tall is great, I think I’ll miss being tall when I get back home and have to go back to being a short arse.

By this point, I’m pretty much a local now as far as public transport is concerned. I’m pushing my way onto the trains, cutting people off, fitting in great. There is also a lot of security in Singapore, at some point I stood in one place, and counted 6 cameras pointing at me.

Inefficiency at its best:

So, I began my first morning with the authentic Singaporean flavours of Brunetti’s. The restaurant is only a couple months old and managed by the same guy who used to manage Brunetti’s on Lygon Street in Melbourne. Allegedly Singapore doesn’t do a decent breakfast, so this is how I was introduced to food here.

We walked along Orchard Road, in and out of different malls, you could pretty much spend all day underground, surrounded by shops without ever seeing daylight.

Today would be my first experience trying to buy something here. My first attempt was with a prepaid SIM card, so I could at least have some mobile internet. Standing in line, for a good 15 minutes watching the person in front seemingly go through an unseemly amount of bureaucracy. Slowest retail in the world.

The inefficiency seems out of place in some ways at retail, because the city is so clean, at times you’ll see someone cleaning a sign, two people cleaning a wall, more people mowing lawns with whipper snippers – there are no lawn mowers here.

Having turned up to SIngapore during the Chinese New Year holidays, it is relatively quiet, and being out before 11am, you could easily be mistaken that Singapore is a very quiet place.

No rules:

In the afternoon, we bought a ferry ticket to travel 5 minutes up the river to the MerLion (Singapore’s Mascot), when the first ferry came along, they told us they weren’t going to the MerLion. Dad argued with them for a few minute, then they decided they were. So we got on, and basically got a free full tour, as they went the long way to the MerLion. Win!

We ended up having lunch down a side street after getting off the ferry, in some dodgy back alley. This was the food I’d been hanging out for. There were a few places to choose from, but ended deciding on  a Thai place. Possibly chose the hottest place in Singapore, unlike everywhere else we’d gone, there was no air conditioning here. I had some pad thai, and it was very tasty, I also had my first lime juice experience. Everywhere seems to sell it. In Australia, the number of limes you’d need to create it would probably cost you $400.

Today was my first test of heights for a long time, as we went up the top of Marina Bay Sands, 57 stories up. I held up quite well, thankfully, because SIngapore seems to be built to scare the shit out of people with a fear of heights. THe view of the city was absolutely fantastic. You can pretty much see everything from that height.

At night, we went to a thing for the new year festivals called River Hongbao, on The Float @ Marina Bay, a bit floating platform where things happen. There were a bunch of festivity things going on, with food stalls. We tried something with no name, which eventually found out was “vegetarian noodles” – that could mean anything. It was good tho. Also has some won-ton type dumplings.

Finished the night drinking at a bar in an ex-monastery called Chijmes, Alcohol is very expensive in Singapore. Typically seems to be around $16 for spirits and $13 for beer.

Ordinary Flight

Dad’s apartment is 12 floors up, so I will have a decent view during my stay whenever I’m here.

The site has a new coat of paint, and I’ve moved the backend forward about 6 years. Yay time travel!

All photos here.