The Travels Begin ...

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I left the safety of Australia, on an all night flight to Singapore, arriving at 4am. This wasn't such a good idea, because I'll too tall to sleep on flights, and NOTHING is open at 4am. I waiting till 6am for the first train into the city, and met up with a German guy, Dom, who was on my flight. We found the first open place to sleep (which was a bit of a hole) and crashed for a couple of hours.

My first experience in Singapore was buying a new camera. It doesn't work the same as NZ. The prices quoted varied by $100s of dollars, and often they didn't have the camera in stock. It got to be very frustrating, but eventually I brought one for NZ$500, which is pretty good, so I shouldn't complain.

I spent a few days around Singapore with Dom and moved into a nicer backpackers. As soon as Dom left, I met up with an American girl, Deborah and went to Malaysia with her (see the next blog entry). I am rather pleased with the ease with which I am meeting people.

Singapore is an exceptionally organised city. I am quite impressed by the MRT (Public Transport). One card is all you need for the buses and subway and I've never had to wait more than 10 minutes.

I did alot of walking round the city, exploring the ethnic districts of Little India (where I stayed), Chinatown and the Arab District. I didn't quite feel like I was in Asia, I think it was missing the smell of open sewerage.

They do like there water fountains here, and I've seen a number of rather cool designs, and the biggest fountain in the world (which was actually pretty lame)!

The food is ultra-cheap here, but I quickly grew tired of eating at the food hall type places. You never quite knew what you'd get, and the quality was always average. for the past 3 nights I've been going to this vegetarian Indian restaurant. The food is amazing, they have the nicest cardamon and saffron flavours almond milk and their glub janum dessert is orgasmicly sweet. I should have been trying new places, but by the end of the day, I'm too lazy to find somewhere new and they're that good!

I think the highlight for me was the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Buddhist Monastery. There were a number of different temples. It was extremely powerful sitting meditating in front of a 14 meter high Buddha, and under the Bodhi tree which was descended from the Bodhi tree which Buddha gained enlightenment under.

I also did the obligatory visit to Raffles to have a Singapore Sling. It was actually much more enjoyable than I'd expected, something about the history, something about the cliche, and something about actually being there myself.

One feeling I have about Singapore is that everything is organised beyond the level of understanding of the individual. Although this may make things run smoothly, it does mean that it lacks a personal touch. Everything seems to be run by the government (Including the "Four Floors of Whores" - a brothel, no I didn't go). It makes the role an individual can play in society very defined and possibly limited.
That having been said, the society does work, and there is a huge diversity of cultures and religions living very close together without any apparent conflict.

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Photos

Singapore Apartments
Now that's creative use of colour!

Hindi Temple
I probably should look up the significance of this statue, but itstead I am just in awe of how different it is to what I am used to.