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Published: January 3rd 2010
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We arrived from Jakarta on the 28th and as the plane approached Changi airport, my window seat gave me an incredible view of the port, biggest I have yet to see. The ships seemingly spread out forever, there were far too many to count. After disembarking we checked out the airport and everything we had heard of Singapore seemed to be true; impeccable cleanliness and unparalleled organization hit us like a punch to the nuts. We headed off to Little India, where the majority of backpacker hostels were located. Our hostel was called Welcome Inn, and our dorm room had twenty beds, which was awesome. I got to see topless Swedish chicks when I woke up in the morning. I met quite a few people and got to know a couple well, notably some travelers from Finland, a couple and a solo backpacker. My first order of business was picking up some supplies that I'd need after Billy and myself separated. He was starting to become strapped for cash and time, and wanted to see Vietnam before going home, whereas I wanted to take my time through Indochina and explore a lot more. I count myself lucky to have the luxury
of being able to continue to travel at a slower pace. I picked up several items at Mustafa Centre, a massive shopping place with everything imaginable and then some, mainly my own carry-all bag, watch, alarm clock, etc. things I had been using from Billy up until now.
Singapore has a copious amount of shopping malls, I don't know how any merchants can make money there. Then again it's one of the most densely populated places in the world with something like four million people inhabiting the tiny island. The temperature was always hot and always humid since we were just above the equator now. We mainly spent our time just walking the city and all its interesting districts like Little India, Chinatown, Clarke Quay, Marina Bay, the Harbour, etc. The Singapore metro is the BEST train system I've yet encountered, everything runs like clockwork, is well connected, and is extremely simple and efficient. I can't even describe how enjoyable it was to use the train, something I'd generally never say. The city is also a mecca for air conditioning, as every possible building is equipped with them and Singaporeans seem to shun the outdoors during midday and choose
to instead remain indoors if they can. The culture is quite a melting pot with Malays, Chinese, Indians, and a variety of other peoples making up the population and the city having no less than four different official languages. Everyone seems to get along pretty well too. Singapore is known as a "fine" city. Everywhere one walks there are signs forbidding an abundance of different things, from smoking and littering to eating Durian fruit inside public areas.
We went out to a few clubs with Sid (whom we met at the hostel) who was living in Singapore for a while, and man were they expensive! People liked partying there but it seemed like all the women would go out with their brothers. Whether or not they were their actual brothers was unknown to us but man they sure acted like they were. We did a lot of pre-drinking cuz the alcohol is so damn expensive in these places, and I'm just a dirtbag backpacker.
For New Year's eve we went out with almost a dozen people from the hostel and headed to Marina Bay where we crowded with thousands of others to see the fireworks. I've seen better
fireworks elsewhere but nevertheless it was cool hanging out with these people. Afterwards we picked up some alcohol and sat nearby in a circle in a small field, as many others were doing. We ended up hanging out until about four in the morning before stumbling back to the hostel. We saw people passed out along the streets as we made our way back and the city itself had become a cesspool of trash, very un-Singaporian like but funny to see.
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