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Published: August 27th 2009
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The Merlion
Ridiculous thing And so the Stewart bandwagon hits its final leg (or as its a wagon, should that be wheel?) After a thoroughly enjoyable flight with Qantas from Brisbane to Singapore, I emerged into the sort of intense humidity that I really hadn't encountered since Central America. And this was at 9pm.
I sweated my way to a hostel on Singapore's tube system, having a good chuckle at the "rap" that was used to encourage people to be polite to fellow passengers on the train. Bags dropped, and water drunk, I sneaked out to the night market for my first meal. Ive long suspected that the cuisine is going to be one of my favourite bits of this section of my journey, and the dirt cheap prawn fried rice I picked up tonight was a good start.
After a long flight, I had a bit of a lie in the next day, then struck out to have an explore of what has got to be one of the worlds most multicultural cities. It was sweaty work, and I needed frequent stops for ice tea to keep me going. I started down by the harbour, where lies the emblem of the city/country,
The Merlion. For those of you that don't know, this is a giant statue that is a cross between a mermaid and a lion, and is quite possibly one of the most bizarre things Ive ever seen. I suspect the planning process went something like this.
Boss: "OK, we need an emblem for the country, something nautical perhaps?"
Idiot 1: "Hows about a boat?"
Boss: "Not bad, but perhaps something more human"
Idiot 2: "A mermaid?"
Boss: "Hmm, thats a possibility, any other suggestions?"
Idiot 3: (just waking up) "A lion"
Boss: "Don't be silly, a lion isn't nautical at all. Fool.
Idiot 1: "What about a cross between a mermaid and a lion?"
Boss: "You mean a Merlion?"
Idiot 1: "Yes"
Boss: "You're fired!"
Except the idiot didn't get fired, he got a pat on the back, a promotion, and the resulting statue now has a horde of tourists taking photos of it. Me included. But not because it looks good. OK?
Some more wandering took me into Chinatown, where I had a gander at some temples, but more importantly, found an excellent food centre that gave me a great plate of duck in hoi sin
sauce for about a quid. I also managed to replace my sandles, that are feeling the wear and tear of a year on the road.
From China, I crossed some imaginary border and ended up in Little India, a fact I noted more for the smells than the sights. A couple more temples ensued, one containing a rather big statue of Buddha. And by rather big I mean huge. By this time, I was hungry again, so being in Little India it seemed only appropriate to have a curry, which of course was excellent.
And that just about concluded my wanderings. The next day I decided to press on into Malaysia. Overall impressions of Singapore is that it is a clean city, and for me was a nice introduction to South East Asia. I couldn't really imagine wanting to stay here much more than a couple of days though.
Stewart
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