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Published: August 6th 2007
Sights and Sounds of Asia within a European City
Getting Acclimated We left Langkawi late in the afternoon which gave us plenty of time to make it to the airport. It’s always nice to have less stress when traveling and we’ve found that afternoon flights are the best way to keep ourselves calm and rested. Whenever you have a morning flight you don’t sleep well and always have to rush to get to the airport on time - not a stress free experience!
After the short flight to Singapore, and a very quick shot through customs we came out of the international departures area to meet Brian, a friend of mine from college. Brian is about two months into his year long stint in Singapore. His company asked him to spend a year in this part of the world and he chose Singapore over a couple of other cities he could have picked. Originally I wasn’t sure why he made his choice but now I can clearly see why Singapore was the option he picked above all others.
Singapore is located on an island off the tip of peninsular Malaysia. Originally a British
colony, Singapore obtained its independence in the late 60’s and has never looked back. This city is very new, every building looks modern, the roads and infrastructure are well maintained and highly computerized/modern, and the layout of the city is obviously very well thought out which only happens in cities that were planned.
While incredibly multiethnic, Singapore feels very European in its culture. Of course the heat and jungle vegetation give away the fact that it’s in Asia but on a cool evening you could mistake Singapore for a city on the edge of Europe. Singapore doesn’t really have a distinct people, almost everyone who lives here has migrated here or has a family member who migrated here at one point in the last few generations. With a strong mix of Europeans, Chinese, Indians, and Malaysians, you can experience Singapore from many different directions and in many very different ways.
Our first night in Singapore, Brian took us out to get some food at a small Italian restaurant which was located right on the river in the center of town. As we walked through the area you could tell that Singapore has spent a lot of money trying
Dragonboat Race Practice
It was fun to watch these guys pretend to row as practice. They were serious about Dragonboatingto make its downtown feel very friendly to pedestrians and people who like to go out on the town. Much like the famous river-walk in San Antonio, Texas, Singapore has a bustling nightlife that centers on the river with multiple areas set up for night time fun such as clubbing or going out to eat. Since Singaporeans have more money than the rest of SE Asia the demand for nice places to eat is much higher than it is in the rest of the area. This has created a plethora of dining options which reminded us much more of the US or Europe. Each area that is set up along the river has its own name with Clark Quay being the most built up and snazziest of them all. Clark Quay is devoted to big name clubs and restaurants from around the world and as we waked through on a bustling Friday night you could tell why all these establishments are so successful. People were out in droves and were decked out to throw-down on the first night of the weekend. The crowd appeared to be mostly ex-pats and all of them were very dressed up and prepared to have
a good time. People watching is always one of our favorite pastimes.
Shopping, Sweating, Dim Sum and Drinking After a late start on Saturday we headed out on the town to see the main shopping area of town called Orchard Road. On the way to our destination we stopped at a hawker center to eat lunch. This sort of food courts are all over Singapore and are a smorgasbord of strange and varied Asian cuisines. From Chinese to Korean to Thai, every hawker center has at least ten different stalls that have really good, if unusual, food.
We each chose our own dishes and had a feast on Chinese food before we headed back to the streets to see downtown. Orchard Road is the major shopping district in downtown which has anything and everything you could ever want. The shopping in Singapore is no less expensive than shopping in L.A., Vegas, or Paris but it’s still fun to walk around and look at all the expensive stuff.
The unfortunate thing about Singapore that I could do without is the heat. After walking around outside for a half an hour we were all dripping sweat.
I assume that people who live in this area for a long time get used to the heat and maybe start sweating less; but, for those of us who are relatively new to the heat, we sweat like animals.
The shopping was fun but we were looking for something a little more unique to do. Schiller suggested that we head a little out of town to see some Dragonboat racing. This sport, which is popular in Singapore, is a competition of up to six boats with close to twenty people on them who row their hearts out. Unlike crew or other rowing sports, Dragonboaters must propel a very heavy wooden craft with small, short strokes in many numbers. The competitors are all crammed very close together which keeps them from stretching out their arms or fully using their back muscles.
Schiller was recruited by the Gaelic Dragons, an ex-pat group of mostly Irish people who compete. The ex-pat community is big into the Dragonboating because it gives everyone a social outlet and a chance to meet others. Some teams are a little more serious than others which shows in the way they prepare for the races. While the
Gaelic Dragons stood around and chatted, some of the Asian teams were standing in line practicing their rowing synchronization and taking jogs around the perimeter of the lake to get warmed up.
We watched about 6 of the Dragonboat heats which were 500m a piece and usually consisted of five boats competing for a place in the finals which would be held on Sunday. While it seems like the sport should be easy, you can quickly tell that it takes a ton of effort to get the boat moving and once you do takes even more effort to be fast enough to be competitive. By time most of these boats made it half way they looked like they were exhausted. I’m sure these groups have a lot of fun practicing and hanging out but these races looked exhausting.
We stuck around for an hour and half, sweated a bunch, took a ton of pictures and enjoyed the competition. The Gaelic Dragons are a fun group which you can tell by the huge crates of beer they brought with them for after competition revelry. Kel and I got a chance to talk to a few of them and they
were incredibly friendly. It seems that the huge ex-pat community in Singapore is very social and a ton of fun.
When we returned to the apartment we all took showers and rested for a night on the town which started with a great Dim Sum restaurant in downtown. Neither Kel nor I had ever eaten Dim Sum so ordering was a bit difficult but Schiller helped us decided on a variety of the small dumpling like Chinese delicacies. The pork Dim Sum was amazing as was the doughy balls which we ordered which were filled with vegetables and pork. Dessert consisted of red bean Dim Sum and poppy seed dough balls. The red beans are incredibly sweet and only faintly taste like the beans that we eat at home while the poppy seed pastry tasted almost exactly like chocolate due to the roasting process they use. If you’ve never tried Dim Sum I would highly recommend it because we all really enjoyed the meal and the chance to try something new.
After dinner we stopped off at a martini bar around the corner for Kel to get her signature dirty martini which she loves so much. Sine we’ve
I Made it to the Top of the Hill
A very hot looking Kel who just walked her way up one of the larger hills on Pulau Ubin been on the trip she has been unable to find a place that is willing to make them dirty enough. (for those who don’t know a dirty martini consists of vodka, vermouth and olive juice…lots of olive juicy. It’s dirty because it becomes cloudy due to the olive juice. Tastes pretty gross if you ask me). After our swanky mixed drinks we took a cab to Dempsey Road to have a few more drinks and talk the rest of the evening. Brian and I both had Hoegaarden beers the size of our heads while Kel had a vodka and tonic or two. The night was a blast and really the first time we’ve partied on the town in quite a while.
Pulau Ubin and the Night Safari Sunday started very late for Kel and I due to the late night on Saturday. By time I woke up Schiller had been up for an hour and a half waiting around for us…oops! We decided, after having a lazy morning, to spend the daylight hours in a small island off the coast of Singapore called Pulau Ubin. To get there we had to take a short ferry ride
and brave the day’s hot sun which would later turn out to be a draining experience.
The island seems to get quite a crowd on weekends of people who like to explore, fish and enjoy the outdoors. When we arrived we decided to rent bikes so that we could fully explore everything the island had to offer. Bikes seemed like a good idea but by the end of the day we were incredibly hot and sweaty due to the extra effort of riding up the hills all over the island.
We stopped off at the beach first after about twenty minutes of riding. From there we got a chance to see the interior of the island as we headed to the far west side to see a small Buddhist shrine. From one end of the island to another took us about an hour of riding and sometimes walking up the hills. By time we made to the far end we were all soaked with sweat and Kel was fast on her way to completely overheating. Despite the beauty and a chance to see some wildlife (we did actually see one monkey hidden back in the jungle) we were
completely shot by time we had done the whole island. Within three short hours we had gone from excited to seeing something new to excited to find some air conditioning. Thus we decided to call it quits and head back to civilization for a shower and some downtime before dinner.
Once we were fully rested we took a cab back to Clark Quay to have some Mexican food for dinner. While not quite the real thing, the Mexican was pretty decent. I hadn’t realized how much I missed Mexican food until I’d had some. When we get back home we will probably spend a couple of weeks eating all the food we’ve missed on the trip. Mexican will surely be on that list of places to gorge ourselves.
Our final destination for the day was the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. Brian suggested we wait until about 9pm to go so that the number of kids at the zoo would have decreased, so we didn’t head back out until about 8:45. The zoo, which is about twenty five minutes from Schiller’s apartment, is on one end of the island located on a very large plot of land.
The zoo is famous for its attempt to keep the habitat feeling less like caged animals and more like you are walking through a jungle. Once again we feel like US zoos just don’t cut it compared to the rest of the world.
We started with a 45 minute tram ride through the park which gives some insight into the animals, their habitats and some interesting factoids about Asia and its animals. The subtle lighting in the exhibits is just enough for people to see the animals but not enough to make the animals feel like they are living through a very long streak of daylight. This allows nocturnal animals to come out and act like normal and the visitors to get to see animals who mostly function during the night.
After the ride we walked through the park and got a chance to see even more animals and experience them with less noise and crowds, and the best part, less heat. We really enjoyed seeing some of the jungle cats who hunt mostly at night. During the day these animals are often pretty lethargic because of the heat but at night they stalk around their habitats and
act a little more like they do in the wild. One of the more interesting exhibits involved walking through the fruit bat habitat where the bats are no more than a few inches away from you. Kel didn’t really like this part so much because bats are pretty freaky and these bats are absolutely huge. Schiller and I stopped and watched one bat eat some apples while Kel vacated the premises for fear that the bats might get agitated. On the contrary, they really didn’t seem to care about us at all.
Despite the cooler temperatures, the humidity made all of us get sweaty once again. By time we had been at the zoo for two and a half hours we were ready to get back to the A/C and cool down. We all really enjoyed the zoo and while it’s the quintessential touristy thing to do in Singapore I would highly recommend it because of its uniqueness. I’ve never seen a zoo in any other part of the world that was set up to allow visitors around at night in such a way that it doesn’t really affect the animals negatively. Very cool.
A Lazy Day Waiting To Leave
Schiller headed off to work this morning while Kel and I stayed in to rest and get ready for our next leg. Tonight, 8pm (8am East Coast time) we head on to our third continent, Australia. I’ve been excited about Australia my whole life and will finally get a chance to experience it in a way most people don’t get a chance to. For the next 11 weeks Kel and I will be exploring Australia and New Zealand. Hopefully we will be able to get a thorough view of the countries since we will likely never have a chance to spend this much time here ever again.
Hope you are all well back home. Keep reading the blog; it makes us excited to know that you all care! Next time you get a blog it’ll be from Down Under!
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Alexa Starr
non-member comment
Enjoying the World Tour
Hi Guys! I have LOVED reading about your adventures and seeing your pictures. It provides a needed diversion from my office with no natural light! It's great that you got to see Schiller on your travels. Brian and I hope to see you in August!