Singa-bore

Asia » Singapore
February 20th 2006

Published: March 4th 2006

We've crossed the International Date Line, so have lost a day in our lives!!

Arrived at the Singapore airport, exhausted and travel weary, but it didn't matter as this place runs as smooth as silk. Customs/Immigration, was easy, our shuttle bus to our hotel was waiting for us, and the hotel room was basic, but clean. Despite our lack of sleep, we were too excited to sleep, so decided to go for a walk.

It was 1am on Monday morning and the streets were pretty deserted. We managed to find a street with a couple of outdoor restaurants and indulged in a giant Heineken while we watched the locals diving into a "steam boat". A steam boat is a table with a propane burner in the middle upon which a large wok is placed. The wok is divide into two parts: one with oil and the other with water. You go up to the buffet, grab as much "goodies" as you want, bring them back to the table and pig out. The goodies ranged from bean sprouts, to mushrooms, other veggies, pork, beef, tripe, prawns, cuttle fish - even chopped up hot dogs! It looked great, but we weren't feeling daring enough to try it out. Maybe next time.

Grabbed a few hours of sleep then spent the day walking around the city. Singapore is very modern, with a focus on two things: banking and shopping. We picked up a few more essential items and wandered around. Had an amazing lychee juice from a street stall. The water in Singapore is safe to drink. The only other safe water in Asia is in Japan.

Our hotel was in the heart of Little Arabia, which was really cool. We had a tuna melt sandwhich for breakfast at a little cafe and then toured the local mosque. Then we headed to Orchid Boulevard, the main shopping strip.

Stumbled across a really interesting Buddhist temple. Went inside and watched the local worshippers praying and divining. They shake a tin can of divining sticks until one pops out and falls on the floor. Then they throw what looked like two red wax lips at the stick and read the results. Quite interesting.

Hot, sweaty, tired and hungry, we branched out for a truly exotic Singaporean lunch. A veggie sub with cheese and two Cokes at Subway!!

All in all, we didn't find Singapore all that interesting. To be fair, we only had a few hours. With more time you could explore further. Basically, it is a modern, American city populated by Chinese.

Time to catch our flight to India. It's starting to get "real" now!!

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved