Singapore

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Day 1 (Friday) - My bag was the last one to come out of the claim, which had me slightly worried. Finally it came out then I was randomly selected to have my bag searched. They found the knife that I had in my large bag since Brazil and never even thought about. Singapore is known for its strict laws so I was shaking a little in my boots even though I researched the night before and found that knives were ok if they could fold closed, which mine did. I was quaking for nothing, as they gave me back my knife and sent me on my way (though I was thankful that Singapore’s language is English as that made it easier). I took a shuttle to the hostel, which was in the second floor of an outdoor shopping complex. It was definitely not much to look at with 2 private rooms, a dorm room of 12, and 1 bathroom for all to share. Upon arrival I quickly set out about Chinatown, which my hostel was in. I got lunch in a two story complex attached to the building that the hostel was in then headed about. Chinatown didn’t seem to be much more than a bunch of shops selling junk that they thought would appeal to a Caucasian tourist. I wandered around the main roads as it rained and found myself quite unimpressed. I went back to the hostel, where I met two Swedish guys who were staying in the hostel as well. I talked to them for a while then grabbed a bite to eat that was merely steamed chicken with white rice and hot sauce as a garnish. It was alright but lacked a lot of flavor. When I returned, the Swedes asked me if I wanted to go out with them that night. I had seen a group of bars close by that looked like they could be fun so I said sure and even pointed the way. The huge complex had probably 50 bars in it but every one of them except for 1 turned out to be either a go-go club or a gay bar. At one point I opened the door to a go-go club not knowing that it was one and as I did was swarmed by 20 girls. I shut the door in their face and moved on. I didn’t want to be rude but paying for a girl’s company is not something that I feel that I need to try. The last establishment we came to was the only legitimate one of the group but it also didn’t look very enjoyable, so we decided to get some food then sleep.

Day 2 (Saturday) - I met an Englishman who checked in pretty late the night before and was looking to get a full day of activity in during his one day in the city. We went to the central area of town, which had us starting lost in an underground mall. We found our way out only to discover that above ground malls were our only non subterranean options. Finally we walked to the cultural center, which was surrounded by a beautifully well manicured park. We were the only ones in the park and there were only about 20 people in the cultural center. There was a band there warming up for its gig that night, so we sat and enjoyed the free concert. It was a western band that wasn’t half bad. After we had our fill of air conditioning and music, we found our way to Little India. Little India wasn’t much better than Chinatown but the smells coming from the restaurants definitely were the bright side. Unfortunately, it started to rain, so we ran back to the subway terminal, bound for the hostel. After getting cleaned up, my new friend and I headed across the street where we got some dinner at a little food market. The market was set up in rows of stalls. I ordered something called carrot cake that I thought was a mixture of vegetables, chicken and egg but actually turned out to be a carrot based tofu mixed with other stuff I wasn’t sure. We stayed and just talked before heading back to the hostel. There we ran into the Swedes who had decided not to go out that night. Not wanting to go out alone, I wisely went to bed.

Day 3 (Sunday) - “Uh oh, that rumbling in my stomach doesn’t feel good” I thought to myself at 2:30am. The toilet and I continued to make better acquaintances of each other for the several hours. Carrot cake, oh how I regret you. I am so thankful though that I was not out on the town when I discovered my regret. This was to be my last full day in Singapore with a train ride to Kuala Lumpur already booked for the following morning. As the day progressed, I found that less and less likely as I was no longer able believe this was temporary but instead accepted that I had a full blown case of food poisoning. I didn’t leave the hostel that day except to get 4 liters of water (dehydration is the most dangerous effect of food poisoning). I sat in a lawn chair on the porch of the hostel for many hours without moving, aside from the 3 times an hour I had to go back to the toilet. I went to sleep early that night, not having eaten anything all day nor holding down water.

Day 4 (Monday) - I started to feel a little better this day though was still not able to hold down food as I discovered after trying a slice of toast. I spent most of the day back in the lawn chair from the day before. I felt that I would be able to manage traveling the next day, so I went back to the train station and booked a ticket for the following morning. I continued to feel better all day till about 6:30pm, when the progress I had made started unraveling, despite switching to drinks high in electrolytes. I suddenly got a high fever and tried going to sleep to combat it to no avail.

Day 5 (Tuesday) - Got out of bed around 3am when my fever hadn’t subsided and I was feeling miserable. I took a cab to the large hospital that was thankfully close by. I went into the ‘Fever Zone’ where everyone went who had a fever. I put on my mask and waited in the waiting area, 1 of 3 people there. I was brought into a room where my temperature was taken, I answered questions and did some blood work. They gave me a fever reducer and an I.V. to combat the possible dehydration. I was then wheeled out to the main waiting area where I was now the only contestant on the price is right. The hospital for some reason felt incredibly warm as I sat there with my mask still on watching some bad television that did happen to be in English. The mask only seemed to facilitate my decline as it recycled warm breath with warm breath. I suddenly had the feeling that I was sweating out more than I was gaining with the bag of liquid above my head so I pretended to sleep as I let the mask ‘accidentally’ slip down my face. A couple hours later I was woken up to find that all my tests were done and that I did have food poisoning. I was prescribed medicine and allowed to take my mask off fully as mine was bacterial. After getting 5 packs of pills, I went to the front desk wary of how much blood I would have to donate at a later time to pay for my treatment, blood work and medicine retroactively. However, I was pleasantly surprised that my total bill came to $180S ($120US) of which the government paid half. If you are going to get food poisoning, do it in Singapore. I went back to the hostel and went to sleep till noon, leaving a note that I would be staying another day. I woke up feeling much better this time and went back to the train station for a ticket the following morning. I was hoping that the third time would be the charm because this would be my last chance if I were to catch my flight the following evening from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok. I went back to the hostel and followed the medicine’s directions with precision, staying in bed the rest of the day watching youtube videos (thankful to have wifi and a laptop) like you wouldn’t believe. I went to sleep early with no problems.

Day 6 (Wednesday) - I woke up early, caught a cab to the train station so I was there 30 minutes before customs opened at 7:15. The third time was a charm and I was on the bus and off.

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