Singapore Is A Fine City!

On arrival in Singapore, my first thought after a sleepless night was "Oh my, we've got on a plane to London!" followed quickly by, "I don't remember it being so clean..." Having spent up to now in countries with extreme poverty, signs in unrecognisable languages and few resemblances to home it was a bit of a shock to arrive somewhere where everyone speaks English, the roads have crossings which are used and there are shops which sell things we have back in England. They even have Starbucks! We wandered around staring at everything like it wasn't quite real, as if in a dream. We bought cappucino at Starbucks and enjoyed every sip. We cautiously crossed busy roads at designated crossings, sure that someone would speed by and plough us down, but they never did. I realised fairly quickly that I like Singapore a lot! It felt like we were having a holiday from our busy travelling schedule, everything is just so easy.

The best thing about Singapore though, has got to be the food! You don't have to walk far to find a busy food court or hawker center selling all sorts of delicious foods with names you can't pronounce for insanely reasonable prices! Since we got here I have tried all sorts of strange things such as fish porridge (which was delicious), seafood laksa, and a wide and colourful range of beverages most of which I have to say were fairly disgusting! We have also been eating a lot of pau, a soft white stickyish pastry thing with different fillings like vegetable or pork or chicken. They are great for breakfast! I have found it quite difficult as a non meat eater here though. On the first day I ordered noodles with shrimp dumplings and it came covered with pork. When getting rice and seafood the cooks try to cover it in sauce from chicken curry and there have been several occasions when I have bitten in to something supposedly vegetarian to find that it is definitely not. In India every now and then I would find a chicken bone floating in my vegetable curry and I have realised that when travelling you have to be a bit more flexible with eating and accept that sometimes you won't get what you ordered. All you can do is try your best.

We have done a lot of walking since we arrived as we always seem to do in cities. Chinatown has been a regular destination during our visit due to the delicious food places, interesting markets and nice atmosphere. We also have visited Singapore zoo which was one of the nicest zoos I have seen and a great day out. They have polar bears there which was very exciting as I haven't seen them before. We watched one of their feeding sessions where they swam around catching fish and seemed quite happy. They also had an Australian outback area which had a memorial to Strve Irwin who had visited regularly and apparently thought of Singapore zoo as the sister to Australia zoo. It was nice to see him being remembered and he was obviously appreciated here. We had a very interesting day and saw white tigers, baboons, snakes, crocodiles, and a lot of other animals! It was exhausting but lots of fun!

I love the scenery in Singapore. I know high rise towers are not usually associated with beautiful views but standing on a pavement looking up to find yourself completely surrounded by these imposing buildings with their twinkling lights, they really do look stunning. You have to appreciate their size.

Next stop Malaysia - the adventure continues... Sam xxx

Well Singapore is a fine city! It is almost as if I am suffering from culture shock again after spending 2 1/2 months out of modern cities. The traffic is calm and follows road rules and taxi's don't pull over and hassle you. The streets are clean and leafy and the buildings modern and glassy with a few nice old ones thrown in. The MRT(underground) is air conditioned, cheap and efficient, like most things in Singapore. It is very easy to walk around and explore for yourself. Something that brought untold hassle on the streets of India in particular. Everything is signposted in English and laid out in an orderly, logical fashion. Traveling around has become easy and that has been refreshing. I have enjoyed our cold, clean shower in commercialism. I even saw some recycling bins! The contrast couldn't be more marked.

We have been all over the city centre, particularly Chinatown with it's market and hawker centres selling amazing and cheap food. Things are cheaper here than I had expected with good meals to be had for a pound each and transport much cheaper than London. There are numerous food centres filled with hawker stalls selling every kind of Chinese food imaginable for a few dollars. It is bewildering to choose on an empty stomach. Another thing to say is that the Singaporeans and Chinese don't waste any meat from their animals! I have seen fish head soup, pig brain this, pig trotter that, chicken feet and spine meat on the menu boards. I am fairly sure they use testicles too.

We have had a wander along Orchard road, the Singapore equivalent of Oxford Street. It is the very definition of shopping utopia. Broad open, tree lined streets. Huge pedestrian walkways and at least twenty mega malls filled with every imaginable shop. Not quite my idea of heaven but a nice amble. We have visited the zoo. Many animals fill the huge landscaped enclosures including a couple of magnificent polar bears. It took a good few hours to get around and was about half the price of Marwell zoo, shocking.

To delve into the history of Singapore I wanted to visit the infamous Changi Prison where the Japanese kept the POW's and civilians after they captured Singapore in 1942. However this has long since been converted into a modern penal institution so we had to settle for a few hours at the Changi museum and chapel near the prison. This museum does an excellent job of highlighting the suffering and paying homage to some 50,000 poor souls held here by the Japanese. Painting a picture of a miserable life under Japanese control. The abuse was horrific. In the eyes of the Japanese you should never surrender and as such all POW's were treated as worthless. Hundreds were randomly executed and many died whilst working on the infamous Thailand-Burma railway, a much needed supply route for the Japanese. In the museum are replicas of the Changi murals and the chapel. Both sources of inspiration for the POW's, many of whom unsurprisingly turned to religion. Of those who weren't executed hundreds more succumbed to beri-beri (malaria), cholera, dysentery and many other horrific diseases. When the 3 and a half years of occupation ended the number of POW's were shockingly depleted from those who had been marched in. The exhibits, including many personal artifacts and hand written letters of concern from relatives are poignant indeed. (And we almost made it to the botanic/tiger balm gardens but had to turn back due to a torrrential downpour!)

It has been a nice week here and I look forward to becoming uncivilised once again!

Jed

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Part of trip: Asia

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