Singapura

Singapore! You maybe have heard about this "fine" city, where even chewing gum is illegal! Well it is true, it definitely is a fine city!

I arrived last Thursday early morning from Malaysia, which is a good thing because we arrived at the border at 3am which means it was not that busy with the thousands of workers who cross here every day. Dropped off in the middle of Singapore at 3am, I met a fellow traveler on the bus who knows the area and she took me to this place called the Mustafa Centre. This is a 24 hour shopping mall in the city with the best rates on currency conversion so I could change my money, and basically anything else you could want to buy!

I went to the India Consulate in Singapore early that morning also in order to get my visa processing quickly. It takes five business days so I can pick it up the next Wednesday.

I had met two workers from Singapore in Hanoi, so I called them up to see if they were able to meet so we met several nights after work and I went to see the one guys friends brother live band play! They were pretty good and it was great to see a live band play in Singapore. They knew all the big hits and sang some covers and even played some solos. The only problem is beer tends to be expensive in Singapore.

I also decided to try out the couch surfing website to see if anyone would be able to host me in Singapore, since the hostels are a bit more expensive here, and being a large city I though there would be many hosts. Most of the people I ended up talking to were not able to host but I did meet many for food and fun and had a great time to meet local Singapore folk that showed me a great time in the city and many experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise! One guy actually was able to host me so I could stay at his house for two nights which was a really positive experience. We went biking on a remote island in Singapore and enjoyed several meals together.

I ended up leaving to India on the Friday since I was not able to catch the flight to Calcutta on time on Wednesday and plan to spend a month or so in India, I hear nothing but good things! Overall Singapore was definitely a great place to visit. I think they do a great job of merging eastern and western cultures into a great city and who knows, maybe I can work here in the future?

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