What a difference 5 hours makes - Mumbai to Singapore

Well, I finally left India and moved on to Singapore (not without a struggle though). It seemed like Mumbai threw everything it had in my path to prevent me from leaving. First, my normal 1 to 1.5 hour transit from work to the hotel was extended to nearly 3.5 hours due to some of the worst traffic I have ever seen. I am pretty sure it doesn't even qualify as driving when you don't move at all for 45 minutes. By the time I got to the hotel I barely had time to complete my packing and get to the airport so I could check in for my 00:30 flight to Singapore. The next few hours were like a crash course in queueing. 1.5 hours to check in, 45 minutes to clear customs and 50 minutes to get through the security checks of the bags. Finally I made it to the departure gates, only to discover that the flight had been delayed because there were still a lot of people standing in queues trying to get through. At about 1:30 am the flight finally departed and I was on my way.

5 hours later we touched down in Singapore and the contrast was amazing. After no more than 15 minutes I was through immigration, had collected my bags and had gone through customs. I caught the airport shuttle bus to my hotel (which turned out to be a taxi with just me in it because there wasn't many people around). The first thing that struck me about Singapore was how clean it was. After coming from India, I think anywhere would seem clean but seriously, this was just too clean. After talking to the taxi driver, it turns out there are a number of really cool (or strange - depending on your point of view) laws in Singapore that help to enforce this cleanliness. My favourites are;

- People caught not flushing a public toilet will be fined and may be caned. Special police randomly check public restrooms for offenders.
- A person convicted of littering three times will have to clean the streets on Sundays wearing a sign saying "I am a litter lout."
- Relieving yourself in an elevator at any time is forbidden.
- Chewing gum is illegal - as is the importing of gum from outside Singapore (even a small amount for personal use).

So, given that I had some chewing gum in my luggage, I had already broken one of the above laws and I had only just arrived in the country. What a great start to the day.

I got to the hotel but wasn't able to check in yet so I dropped off my bags and went for a walk to explore the area. About 10 minutes walk from the hotel was Clarke Quay. This is a river front area filled with shops, restaurants and bars - very similar to Darling Harbour in Sydney. It was pretty quiet when I was there so I had a quick look around and then took a cruise on the river on a bumboat. Yes, that's right, I said bumboat. This was a pretty good way to see the city as it went all the way up the river to the main harbour, passing by many of the more interesting buildings and statues that Singapore has to offer. Of particular note is the Merlion. This is an imaginary creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. On the way back I asked the "captain" if I could drive for a while. Considering he was steering with his feet, it didn't seem like it would be too hard. When I took control, he headed to the front of the boat and stretched out on one of the chairs. As we approached the dock, I naturally assumed that he would come back and take over. I was wrong. After I pretty much crashed into the tyres lining the jetty (scaring the crap out of everyone else in the boat in the process), he finally came back to take over again. I honestly think he had fallen asleep.

After the boat ride, I walked over to Chinatown to check out the malls and markets that Singapore is so famous for. To be honest, it's a bit strange that a city whose population is over 70% Chinese would have a district called Chinatown, but who am I to complain. It was very interesting walking up and down the little streets of Chinatown and ducking in and out of the various stalls that were hawking everything imaginable. I had expected that the people would be very pushy and would give me the hard sell for everything (another hangover from India I guess), but for the most part I was left alone. After leaving the markets behind I came across the Sri Mariammam Temple, a Hindu temple. Its entrance is topped with a very ornate gopuram (pyramidal gateway tower) that contained hundreds of brightly painted statues of deities and mythical animals. Across the road from the temple I even managed to take in a traditional dragon dance that was being performed at the opening ceremony of a new deli. The woman at a nearby stall told me that openings of new shops were seen as a big deal and there would usually be some kind of ceremony associated with it.

At this stage I was starting to feel pretty tired. As usual, I hadn't managed to get any sleep on the plane so I had been awake for about 38 hours so far. I headed back to the hotel and checked in for some much needed rest. After about 2 hours sleep I headed back out to see what Singapore by night was like. I crossed over the river to the side opposite Clarke Quay and walked for about 20 - 30 minutes taking in all the sights of this really brightly lit part of town. Christmas seems to be really big in Singapore as there were lots of Christmas trees and decorations lining both sides of the river. This side of the river seemed to contain mostly restaurants and I was pestered the whole time by people trying to entice me into their restaurant. Eventually I settled on a Chinese restaurant that didn't have any tanks overflowing with lobsters and sad looking fish out the front. If the sad fish don't bother you then you can get a great deal here - my best offer was 3 free beers and a 3 course meal for about $12. As it was, the meal I had was very nice and cost only $8 - but with no free beers.

With my belly full I headed back over to Clarke Quay. I had been told by some people at the hotel that it was much livelier at night and was definitely worth checking out. Also, when I was there earlier they were building a stage in the middle of the main area so I wanted to check it out to see what kind of entertainment they might have. Strangely enough, the entertainment turned out to be a Scottish band playing traditional Scottish tunes. It was a bit of a surreal experience because they had also built a makeshift bar near the stage and the bar staff were all dressed in full on Braveheart style battle gear. I got talking to the people sitting next to me who turned out to be oil rig workers from Texas. So there you have it, an Irish guy and three Texans sitting watching a Scottish band in the middle of Singapore. My original plan had been to have one drink and then head off to see some of the other sights but it didn't work out that way. It was a pretty good night and I ended up staying there until about midnight listening to the music and talking to the crazy Texans. Picture every stereotypical Texan you have ever seen on TV and that was these guys. They all had large handle bar moustaches and they were very loud and very funny. Even the names, Chip, Rocko and Bud added to the joy of having met them. After trying to crash the stage to sing the American national anthem at midnight, they decided to head off to a night club in another part of town. My heavy eyes were screaming at me at this stage so I went back to my hotel to crash out. All in all, Singapore was turning out to be pretty good fun so far.

---

---