A "Fine" City

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Greetings! It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a blog entry and for that I must apologize. To be honest I’ve been feeling less than inspired to pen anything about our adventures, or lack thereof. Devlin has been pestering me for a number of days to type something and post it, both for our reflection when we return home and your immediate reading enjoyment. So here we go.

On December 27 we boarded an early bus to Singapore. 28 hours sounds like a long but manageable journey, until you are crammed onto a minibus with a broken curtain and the sun is blasting the window you are sitting next to around hour 5. All this on a mere 2.5 hour sleep the “night” before. From what we understood when we purchased the tickets it would be a direct 6 hours to Hat Yai which is in the lower Southern area of Thailand where we would then change to a VIP coach bus for the remaining journey to Singapore. Somewhere in that explanation the tour desk operator must have forgotten the 5 or so other buses we would be shuffled between. The actual journey went something like this. Pick up at 7:30, first passengers on the bus. Drive around Patong picking up the remaining passengers for the next 45 minutes. Finally on route to somewhere Devlin falls asleep and I find myself unable to do the same, despite the incredibly short nap we had during the night. 3 hours into the journey I notice we’ve reached Krabi, and we pull into the same bus station where we caught a bus to Patong early in December. The minibus stops, the driver hops out and slides open the back door and motions to some passengers that we’ve reached their stop. We eye them enviously, calculating our remaining journey at roughly another 24 hours. We now have a rather spacious whole row of seats to ourselves, which we stretch out on and happily grin at each other anticipating another 3 hours in comfort. How wrong we were. The driver drives a short 10 minutes away and pulls over on a side road, gets out, slides open the back door yet again, and motions to us this time to get out. Us? Where could we possibly be going? He points to an identical minibus across the street and tells us “Singapore, you go”. Our bags are dumped on the ground and we hurry to collect our belongings and go to the other minibus. This new minibus is already full, with the only 2 remaining seats in different rows. I smile through my sleep deprivation at our new companions and squeeze in. We make some small talk for a short while and find out the rest of the occupants are headed to Penang, which is an island in Malaysia. At this point we’re still hoping for that stop in Hat Yai where we board the promised VIP coach. We drive for a couple hours and stop at a random building with some lukewarm food stalls for lunch and a toilet break. 30 minutes to eat and do our business and we’re hustled back into the minibus. I finally manage to fall asleep in a rather uncomfortable position and wake up with a terrible cramp in my neck. Devlin somehow fell asleep in the middle seat sitting straight up with his head fallen forward. When we awake it’s rainy and grey outside, which must signal that we are nearing Malaysia (I’m not sure of the weather there now, but prior to our leaving Thailand we heard numerous reports on the news of the floods hitting the country).

Yet another stop and we’re all herded off the bus into a roadside shop and handed Malaysian arrival cards to fill out. Our bags are thrown out of the back and we grab them and lug them into the shop, sit at a table and groggily start to fill in our details. Not 10 minutes passes and another tiny minibus pulls up and rounds us up to get back on. Bags in the back once more, this time we at least snagged a seat in the same row next to each other. I sure do wonder when we board that VIP coach? Would be nice right about now. This is approximately 8 hours into the journey, and the end seems nowhere in site. Why didn’t we just fly, we ask ourselves. Because we are budget travelers and saw an opportunity to save $70. Wow.

I think we were only on this bus for less than an hour before we reached the Thai-Malaysia border crossing. Off the bus we get, collect our bags, trudge to the immigration window, receive an exit stamp in our passport, trudge back to the bus. Another 10 minutes and we reach the Malaysia entry point, where we once again have to collect our (now extremely heavy) bags, trudge to the Malaysia entry window, receive an entry stamp in our passport and back to the minibus. We’re in Malaysia. Now, surely the VIP coach has to be coming along soon…surely?

Thankfully we were divided up again and put on a new minibus with new occupants. We all smiled exhaustingly at each other, not even having enough energy anymore to ask where each one is from or make small talk. Besides, it’s getting dark out at this point so we all just stare quietly out the window or try to sleep. We had a whole row to ourselves again so at least we could somewhat stretch our legs out and I slept with my head in Dev’s lap for a brief stint. I really can’t say how long we were on this bus for, at this point I stopped looking at my watch and just wished that we could drive faster and Singapore would arrive quickly. At 7:45 we pull into a bus station (and by bus station I mean bench in the middle of nowhere with a dingy outdoor restaurant and a ticket window) and are once again told to get off, “Singapore, you go”. At the window we are told the bus to Singapore will depart at 10pm. 10pm! How will we pass the time?! Luckily we killed an hour just by entering Malaysia, they are one hour ahead of Thailand and we quickly changed our watches. Into the restaurant we went and slumped at a table. One of the boys working thankfully spoke decent English because the menu was written entirely in Malay. After changing a small amount of our Thai baht at the restaurant (illegally I’m sure) we asked him what kind of food they had. He offered to recommend a dish for each of us and we each ended up with rather tasty fried rice. Dev’s had beef and mine was chicken. Well that successfully killed 20 minutes. Now what. Back to the single bench we went, to sit and wait for our VIP coach to arrive. As 10pm drew ever closer we longingly watched each posh coach pull up and passengers get on. None were ours. 10pm came and went, and we grew restless. The mozzies were getting bad at this point but we anticipated our bus arriving soon so didn’t feel the need to dig through our padlocked bags for repellant. Other passengers paced up and down the road, and each bus that pulled up we held our breathe hoping they would call for the Singapore passengers. Someone from behind the ticket window came out and announced that our bus would now leave at 11pm. A different group arrived who were going to Kuala Lumpur, and their 11pm bus arrived right on time and we watched (again enviously) as they boarded the aircon coach and were swept into the night. 11:30 came and went, and I began pacing up and down myself, more to try and keep the mozzies from biting me anymore. Finally at 10 past midnight a “Super Nice” (I kid you not, that was on the side of the bus in huge painted letters) bus pulled up and someone came out and called for the Singapore passengers. Only 2 hours late, but our VIP coach was here.

We stowed our bags into the bottom compartment and climbed on. The seats were plush and wide and reclined almost horizontal into beds. Footrests were also at the end of each one, and an icy aircon vent worked above each seat. I noticed with dismay that the toilet at the back was padlocked, and silently hoped that my 3 bathroom trips while we waited had been enough. We leaned back in our chairs, got comfy, and prepared for the final luxury approach to Singapore. I awoke a short 2 hours later to find myself freezing and my aircon vent dripping condensation on my bare legs. Cursing the shorts I’d worn and longing for my sweater which was under the bus in the hold I curled into a smaller ball and tried to stay warm. I don’t know why it’s necessary to blast the aircon on a night bus, but I can say I’ve never traveled overnight in a colder environment. Across the aisle from us was another traveler who was wrapped in his yellow sleeping bag, now why didn’t *I* think of that? At this point my bladder started to ache and I realized I would need to stop and use the toilet. The frigidness of the bus didn’t help this problem either. Thankfully a short 20 minutes later we arrived at a stop and everyone piled off into the delicious humid warmth and got to stretch our legs.

Back on the bus I managed to sleep for a longer 4 hours and awoke at our next stop. The bus was empty and I hurriedly woke Dev so we could get off and use the toilet again before everyone boarded. I was so cold at this point I was actually dreaming about snow (I’m not joking). We each bought a hot chocolate at one of the food stands and I foolishly bought a croissant. What a surprise I was in for, when I bit into it it was rock hard. Like it had been sitting under those heat lamps for months. Disgusted, I immediately tossed it into the trash bin and sucked down the hot chocolate hoping it would warm my insides. A young Australian who we had been with since somewhere in Malaysia rushed into the building and came over to us, and said something about the driver telling us we had to change buses. This was roughly 4:30 or 5 in the morning, I had barely been awake 5 minutes, and none of us really understood where we even were let alone what was going on. We walked outside to see the driver tossing all our bags out from the hold. He pointed at another coach and said “Singapore, you go” (now becoming a hated phrase). Naturally it was miserable and raining out also, adding to the frustration. Juggling our hot chocolates we rushed back onto the bus to collect our belongings and grab our packs to get to the other coach. Me and Devlin were the last ones to board this new coach, and everyone (mostly Malaysians I think) stared up at us from their seats. Unlike our last coach, which had been more than half empty, this one was completely full. Really, there wasn’t one empty seat. We both looked at each other, and the bus started pulling away. Wait a minute! There’s no seats for us! We quickly turned back around and stumbled up the front of the now moving bus. We tapped the driver on the shoulder and said “No more seats”. I was in a foul mood and plunked myself down on a small cot that was at the front. The driver did not like this and quickly looked back at me and said “NO NO THAT FOR DRIVER, CAN NOT SIT THERE”. I told Dev to sit next to me, and we both sat there, sipping our hot chocolate grumpily staring back at the driver. I could feel everyone’s eyes on us, and the driver immediately stopped the bus and got up from his seat. He walked down the aisle inspecting every row, and sure enough there was not one empty seat for us. The bus was too full! Now the driver was also angry. He got off the bus and started yelling across the parking lot at someone else who came on the bus and stared at us. They were yelling back and forth and had no idea what to do, judging by the looks on their faces. We just sat staring rather unimpressed at it all, still sipping our hot chocolate. Well, what else to do but put us back on the bus we just got off of. The hold was opened, our bags thrown on the wet ground, and for the umpteenth time that day we got off a bus, dragged our stuff to yet another, and got back on the original coach. The young Australian came off the bus to ask us what was going on and confirm with the driver that HE was on the right bus. We waved goodbye, he gave us a sorry look and wished us good luck and got back on his Singapore bound bus.

We stood around the station for a few minutes while a few people yelled at each other and threw their hands around. Then we got back on the coach, to the stares of everyone still on it, and took our old seats. Please let us be in Singapore soon, we prayed. It wasn’t long before we reached another bus station and our bus stopped and we were told to get off. Someone met us on the steps of the bus and we dragged our bags out into the rain. (somewhere along this trip is where we got inspired to do yet another purge and empty our bags of anything not necessary…I’m proud to say we mailed home a large package from Singapore of clothes we didn’t need and souvenirs we were carrying. Never underestimate the freedom a light backpack gives you.) The sun was coming up now and any hope of finding any more sleep was gone. The driver went to a window and purchased us tickets on a rickety old bus that looked something like a school bus. We both looked at the bus. What luck we had, to be the last ones on a comfortable coach only to find we were out 2 seats…and now we’re stuck on this?! I glared at the smiling man who was holding out the two purple slips of paper, snatched them from his hand and we stomped onto the bus. It better not be much longer to Singapore, I announced. This bus didn’t even have a hold for us to store our bags in, so we had to wrestle them up the narrow steps and down a skinny aisle. We didn’t even bother trying to take them down the aisle and dumped them right inside the bus doors. We figured we can see them, if we need to move them they’ll tell us.

We bumped along, staring out the window and wondering when this journey would end. We were somewhat able to giggle about it, but I suspect that was because of the lack of sleep rather than us finding humor in the situation. It wasn’t a long journey though, before long we reach the Singapore border and once again have to drag our bags off the bus and through an immigration window. Reaching the other side successfully with Singapore stamps in our passports was a little confusing. We weren’t sure if we had to pick up the same bus, or find our own transport to our hostel. We wandered around for awhile before noticing other people lined up with purple slips of paper like ours boarding a bus! So we got in line and snagged the last two seats. Our final bus leg of the journey was nearing it’s end. We were dropped off at the bus station in Singapore and felt elated. We found a taxi stand with ease and told him the address of our hostel. Now, we should have double checked the address with our email confirmation but we had booked ourselves into the Cozy Corner hostel and lo and behold there was a Cozy Corner hostel listed in our Lonely Planet! So upon our arrival we showed the map in the Lonely Planet to our taxi driver and we were off. It was a short drive to the street address, but to our surprise 5 Teck Lim Road had a sign that said A Travelers Reststop, not Cozy Corner. Perhaps the hostel had 2 names, I tried to tell myself. We paid the driver (a cheap $5) and dragged our bags to what was hopefully our final destination. I entered the hostel and smiled wearily at the reception desk. Cozy Corner hostel I asked? No they told me. This used to be Cozy Corner but now Cozy Corner has moved. What. Moved? So this isn’t our hostel? The room was really busy with lots of people checking out and in, so they couldn’t tell me much more than that. Apparently our Lonely Planet had old information. I waited and finally someone gave me the address to show another taxi driver. I went outside and told Dev the bad news. We flagged another taxi down and hoped the new location was close. Thankfully it was, another $5 ride and we were there. Right away I spotted the Cozy Corner sign and we trudged up the stairs. The hostel was simple but clean. We had booked into a 6 bed dorm and received our linen at the front desk. We each had top bunks and the room even had lockers for our valuables (some hostels don’t have this feature). There was an Aussie couple who had just arrived a few hours before us, at the beginning of their trip so we chatted with them for awhile and then they took a nap. Despite the grumble in our tummies we needed a shower more so we each took a turn using the shared showers and then took naps ourselves.

Singapore was incredibly clean, and quite different from the rest of our Asian experiences. Actually we both commented that it was very similar to Japan, very modern, and it seemed like a popular destination for Japanese tourists. In the malls we even found various stores selling Japanese items that we saw in Japan. Shopping and eating sums up Singapore pretty well, that’s all there really is to do while you’re there. The streets are just one mall after another, with “food places” on almost every corner. The eating was first class, everything we tried was delicious and the sheer variety was enough to make your head spin. Our favorite meal was at a Taiwanese restaurant late one night. It was packed with people at 12:30 one night and that is a sure sign that the food is good. We looked over the menu outside and decided to give it a go. I had their recommended dish, a large bowl of beef noodle soup and Dev tried the curry. Mine was incredible, the most delicious bowl of beef noodle soup I’ve eaten to date. The beef fell apart in your mouth, the noodles were wheaty and thick and the broth was savory and slightly spicy. After we had finished the waitress told us the recipe was from the Sheraton Taiwan. Thick toast seems to be a new trend there, as there are numerous “toast” cafes. You select from a number of different toppings ranging from peanut butter and banana to beans and cheese, and it comes out on top of the thickest piece of toast you’ve ever seen. Considering much of the city is rather expensive, most eateries are somewhat reasonable.

The reason we were in Singapore of course was for New Years Eve, our favorite DJ (whom we saw in Tokyo, if you recall the entry) was spinning at a legendary club named Zouk. I’m a member of the fan website and on the 29th the administrator of the message board arranged a meet up for all the members. It was at a cute little outside bar called the Beach Bar and it was a fun time. We all chatted, everyone was keen to hear our stories, and I sampled a frozen Singapore Sling (quite good!). After we had a few drinks we walked to the nearby Clarke Quay area which is almost like Disneyland Singapore. Years back this area used to be quite run down, but had food vendors lining the streets at night and was a nice place to grab a cheap snack after the bar. Recently it underwent a facelift and the resulting area is brand spanking new, trendy, and full of fashionable people eating at expensive cafes and drinking at even more expensive bars. It almost had a Vegas feel to it, and from the sounds of it it’s too bad we missed out on what it used to be.

New Years Eve was a blast, we arrived at the club around 11pm and checked everything out. There were large boxes of “crackers” everywhere, little bottle shaped plastic things with a string. You pull the string and POP like a firecracker one end explodes confetti everywhere. We loaded our pockets with them in anticipation of midnight. The countdown was fantastic, everyone went really crazy and giant balloons and confetti fell from the ceiling while everyone yelled and let off their crackers. One of the best countdowns I’ve ever experienced I think. Unfortunately our DJ was nowhere in site, and a message soon flashed on the giant screens that he would be arriving at 1am. We were a little disappointed that he missed the countdown. Our fuel for the evening was Red Bull so we decided to leave the club and walk to the Shell Station to buy a few more (the price in the club was $8 for one can and at the Shell there were $1.50). We hung around outside drinking our drinks and chatting to other party goers. At 1:30 we headed back in hoping the DJ was playing. He wasn’t, but at least he was up in the DJ booth getting ready. When we came on he apologized for missing the countdown and suggested we do it all over again! So at 1:45 we had New Years Eve all over again.

It felt like the entire population of Singapore was crammed into this small club so after getting tired of pushing and shoving we decided to leave once again and rest outside for a bit. We got some more Red Bulls and a snack at the Shell and around 5am went back in. Sure enough, it had cleared out a little bit and we had room on the dance floor. Once we hit the floor we didn’t leave until 1pm!! It was great, as morning came more and more people left and by 8 or 9am we had ample space to move around. Just before noon the DJ came on the mic and announced that it was nearly midnight in New York (where he is from) so he was going to do a special New York countdown. We all counted down (there were only 20 or so of us left) and celebrated and then he came back on and said “Whoops. My information was wrong, and it’s exactly 11pm in New York!!” “So I’ll play for one more hour and we’ll do it all again!” At 1pm we had the real NY countdown and then the night was over. He came down from the booth and hugged each of us and wished us Happy New Year. It was a magical night.

Exhausted (it’s funny how when you’re moving and dancing you don’t feel pain or tiredness but the minute you stop and sit down or go out into the daylight you suddenly feel tired and your legs ache), we slowly trudged to the bus stop and collapsed on the bench. Our bus arrived and thankfully we were able to keep awake long enough to recognize our stop and jump off. Before sleep consumed us though we needed food in our bellies. Going so long without eating had taken its toll and we were both starved. We went to the nearest restaurant and ordered a feast of food, inhaled it all, and stumbled back to our dorm to catch some zzzz’s. New Years Eve was a success.

The only other thing worth mentioning about Singapore was the Zoo and Night Safari we attended. The Zoo in considered one of the best in the world, and it’s quite a pleasure viewing the animals because there are no cages separating you, just wide moats with water. Some animals even roam freely, like the Orangutans and various species of Monkeys. We managed to spend the entire day wandering around the zoo and saw everything, and I do have to say it was top notch. We ate a meal at the zoo restaurants and then it was time to head into the other section for the Night Safari. Unfortunately it’s rainy season in Singapore and after the blue skies all day it decided to open up and pour as soon as the sun went down. There are 3 different walking trails in the Safari and you view the animals in almost complete darkness, observing their nocturnal activities. The rain added to the eeriness of strolling down dark pathways and peering across at various animals. Luckily we had our umbrellas with us to, so we stayed relatively dry. When we came across the Hyena exhibit we were surprised and amused to find them mating! It’s something I can say I’ve never seen in a zoo before, and many others who came up behind us thought it was humorous. One of the memorable parts was the bat exhibit, where you enter a meshed area and they actually fly around above your head. I’ve seen bats in Alberta before but just tiny ones, these guys were HUGE! A similar exhibit was the Flying Squirrels and when we entered it was feeding time. The keeper was hanging fruits from the trees and we got to see a squirrel “fly” (more like glide, but when you consider they can glide up to 6 football field lengths you can see why it’s more like flying) down from one tree right across the enclosure.

Included in our ticket price was the tram ride, which goes along a special tram pathway and takes you to see animals you can’t see from the walking paths. Highlights included a Rhino feeding in the middle of the field and their only male Elephant Chawang taking a muddy bath in the pond. If ever you are in Singapore the Night Safari is a must see, and if you enjoy zoos then I highly recommend the “day” zoo as well. The combo ticket saves you money, so it’s worth it to see both if you have an entire day. Because of the rain the night animal show was cancelled, unfortunately.

This sums up our time in Singapore. I do have to say I think it’s the city we least enjoyed in our whole trip. It had a somewhat sterile feel to it, and didn’t feel very Asian at all. Their government is quite strict too, the phrase is “Singapore is a ‘fine’ city”, which means you can be fined for almost anything. Most of you know chewing gum is illegal (although we saw “chewing candy” in a few stores), spitting is also illegal, as well as jay walking and eating on the train. All of these come with hefty fines, littering can earn you a $1000 fine! Most of the prices were similar to home as well, so that limited our ability to do much except wander the streets, window shop, and eat. We’re glad to be back in Thailand, and our first night here we went on a bit of a spree, eating a delicious feast, getting foot massages and buying lots of snacks and drinks at the corner stores.

More to come on our return to Thailand…and yes, we opted to fly back to Phuket, instead of enduring another painful bus journey!

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Photos

Happy 2007!
Ringing in the New Year in legendary club Zouk.

Zouk
The main entrance of the club.

Danny Tenaglia!
The big screen showing our favorite DJ.

Happy New Year!
Self portrait of us in the club, partying the night (and half the next day) away.

One Expensive Christmas Tree
This tree display was in a mall close to our hostel. It was set up by a jewelry store and was encrusted with diamonds. The total value...1.5 million dollars!!

Free Roaming Lemurs
In the zoo one of the free roaming animal were lemurs. So cute and fuzzy!

Big Tired Kitty
It's a rough life being a lion at the Singapore Zoo.

Night Safari
The entry to the famous Night Safari. We didn't take any pictures inside since it was night time and they wouldn't have turned out well. So this is all you get to see.