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Published: October 23rd 2008
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Singapore is like Greenway Mall Parramatta at lunchtime. A whole bunch of Asian owned shops with the rest white collared workers. Only difference here is that they are called expats. And that is Singapore really if you stick to the city centre. Move just outside that and you’ll soon realise that Singapore isn’t just about high-rise buildings, fancy cars, and designer clothes. There is another side to it.
I arrived late (1030pm) and took a hotel drop off service to get to my hostel. I stayed 15 minute outside the CBD - In Greylang. Its one of the last areas of old school Singapore. We stop near numerous karaoke bars. The Drivers voice was slightly drained out by the bad singing in the background. He hands me my bag and says, “It’s the green door” “Where?” I replied. He points - I squint. And there through the swarm of prostitutes is my hostel. I have booked a place in the red light district.
I’ve probably made it sound a lot worse than it was. They actually didn’t hassle me. As mentioned before my first stop was Changi prison and that really was the only reason for me to come
Esplanade - Theaters on the Bay
Closer up is like a slow set of dominoes falling. here. I probably would have appreciated Singapore if it was somewhere in the middle of my trip. It felt too much like home in the CBD. So I only spent 2 full days here and got out.
Those few days were spent sweating it out in the heat, followed by numerous stop offs at shops, which had excellent Air conditioning facilities. The main city centre is a nice half-day walk. Start off with some Air-conditioning at Raffles City Shopping Centre. From there walk into Raffles Hotel. Named after the founder of Singapore. From there go back into Raffles City to cool down again.
Walking across the Singapore Cricket Club you get to Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. This is said to want the world to see it as a top country icon like Sydney Opera House. And on first glance. I was not really impressed. White tiled spikes come out of the glass shelled domes (there are 2) looks like an echidna. But when you start walking the building becomes fascinating. Changing its shape with every step like slow falling dominoes. And once you hit Merlion Statue it looks like a giant chunk of cake has been sliced
out.
Merlion Statue is a half fish half lion - designed in the late 1960’s by the tourist board. It looks out at Marina Bay spurting out refreshing water from its mouth towards the numerous construction sites on the other side of the Bay. Singapore is full of construction sites.
From there it’s a sweaty walk and a wrong turn to the wrong direction. This means I have to ask a local where such n such is? It’s a bit wired this time round. My brain still thinks it has to speak Spanish to get somewhere. I eventually reached Singapore River where Raffles first landed there. Opposite the landing spot. The old and the new merge for a complete mismatch. The colonial 2 storey bars and restaurants on the river and right behind them are the 50-80 floor skyscrapers. There is a nice statue on the landing point depicting the transition of Singapore’s forms of trading.
There is no 7/11 close by so by the time you reach Fort Cannon Hill your shirt feels permanently attached to your skin and disappointment sets in as the view is non-existent. From there it’s a day.
Many skyscrapers have bars
on the top floor to look out onto the city. Swissotel has there’s on the 70th floor and a great opportunity to see Singapore under lights. Drinks are pricey but the view can see the whole island and onwards towards Malaysia.
The next day I went with two pommy guys to Chinatown. Didn’t like it really. There was no a/c. plus in the morning most places were closed. Orchard road is where all the big money goes with all the designer names. Air condition is easily the best in the country. No matter where you go the A/C is numero uno. So hot was outside that we played computer games at a convenience store just to get out of the heat. Little India was just like India but it was too hot to hang around.
On the last night me and a couple of people from the hostel were going to go Karaoke singing near the hostel. We had our dinner close by and had the best beef and black pepper ever!! But then one of the pommy guys was getting perved at by a trannie for the second night in a row. So instead of Karaoke that
Merlion Statue
Looking out to the future of Singapore was our entertainment for the evening - plus it’s expensive to do it here.
I left Singapore knowing that I will be wanting to at least do one Karaoke night in SE Asia - its very popular here. So I decided with typical 'Drew's Dribbling stories' tradition I will make a competition. To be in it all you have to do is give me a song request. It can be a love song dedication if you want. What I will do is try and sing every song that is requested and if your song is sung I will have it recorded on my digital camera and will give you my live album with all the other requests throughout my SE Asia Journey. Haven’t come up with a name yet but if requests are death metal related perhaps the album could be called:
"Tehdribbleman Live- Time to make SE Asia's ears bleed!"
Suggestions will be appreciated.
This is just something that has to be done!! Please think of songs that would have made it overseas.
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bri
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lol at the greenway mall comment and family heater photo!! i think you should sing the grease megamix. keep up the blogging it keeps me entertained while im at work haha