Oh Singapore! What a magnificent little city with so much to offer. There are a lot of things for tourists to do and a lot of ways to spent some hard earned cash. The rumors of a clean city are true, the streets are clean and people are very careful where they put their litter. In fact, there were barely any cigarette butts on the streets and no gum imprints on the floor. It was refreshing to see this kind of cleanliness after spending so much time in South East Asia. The modern sky scrapers loom over the city, and there are no shortage of shopping centres that cater to the elite. The food was a wide range of local to western restaurants. For us we filled our days doing window shopping, visiting an Asian Civilization museum and a lot of walking around the city.
- No eating or drinking on the subway! As we purchased our ticket for the super modern subway system we were surprised to learn that there is absolutely no food or drink allowed on the subway. The ticket agent pointed to the bottle of water in my hand and then to the diagram showing a fine for breaking the rule. In our observation the subway was spotless, and people followed the rules.
- Prices for goods and services were almost at-home pricing. One evening we decided to take the subway to an area called Clarke Quay where there are tons of restaurants, bars and clubs that line the canal. It was quite a trendy area, and it was packed with people. We decided to treat ourselves for a nice dinner of sushi and then for a drink at a beer bistro… it was great food, but unfortunately it cost almost the amount of one days budget. Oh well, we enjoyed ourselves and it was nice to dress up and do something that we haven’t done in a while.
- Everything was very orderly in Singapore. Even the taxi automatically dictated that amount owing.
- The main “shopping street” that we were recommended to go to was amazing/crazy. There were literally over ten huge shopping malls on one street. Most places were filled with designer labels and I wondered how there could be so many Luis Vutton stores on one street. Are there that many people who shop there???
One day for dinner we decided to stroll around Little India (where we were staying) and find something good to eat. We stumbled across this little Indian restaurant which was full of men eating inside. We decided since it was so busy we would give it a try. We find we usually have the best luck with food at those places that look a little dodgy, but are filled with locals. The waiter suggested some food for us and we were delighted that it turned out amazing. Andrew was in his “element” shoveling goopy rice with all kinds of sauces into his mouth with his bare hands. (Indian eating style) We tried mutton, liver and chicken and all kinds of toppings to go with it, all served on a big palm leaf. Andrew says it was his best Indian meal yet on the trip. Best thing was, it was cheap!
Our Hostel: “The best movie hostel” (that was the name of it)
YUCK! GROSS! This was nasty! After arriving at our originally planned hostel, only to catch the vibe of “seediness” we decided to scope out another place to stay. We wandered down the street and found a hostel with really nice staff working there. We hesitantly booked into a 12 person dorm, but were reassured that it was not full and there would only be 2 other people in it that night. We decided to take it as it was getting dark and the only private room in the hostel was well over $50 CAD. Andrew and I have only stayed in one other dorm room and it was in Lima, Peru. I’m not keen on the idea of sleeping in a room with other people, and if it can be avoided… we do. Our 12 person dorm was small and claustrophobic like what I imagine a room on a submarine would feel like. The dorm consisted of 4 bunk beds that were 3 beds high and occasionally we did see some creepy crawly cockroaches run across the floor. The shared bathrooms were among the worst I’ve seen and let’s just say… shoes stayed on at all times! Anyways, we did manage to keep our accommodation costs low, so in that respect we were happy.
We stayed in Singapore for four days, what we saw we really liked. We hope to return in the future to visit it again.
Java? Bali?
We weren’t sure whether to leave Singapore and fly straight to Bali or to fly to Jakarta which is on the island of Java. In the end we decided to spend a few days on Java and visit Jakarta and a few other cities on the way to Bali. We were conflicted because recently there had been some “unrest” in Jakarta and there had been an earthquake not too long ago. In the end we figured that we would take the opportunity to visit some more temples, ruins and see some more sights before relaxing on the sunny beaches of Bali. We are looking forward to heading back to a less modern city and back to the real South East Asia- sometimes dirty, cheap and full of culture... the way welove it!
~Nicola
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| Singapore, Singapore |
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