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Published: January 27th 2008
Singapore
Enjoying lunch by the Singapore RiverWe boarded the bus on Dec. 12th and headed off from Melaka to Singapore, the famed island nation and city-state. It was a 5 and a half hour ride, which included crossing the borders. At first we were a bit intimidated about going there, since there are many punishable offences, some that one can get caned for. For example, it is illegal to chew gum, or take photos at the border crossings.
But surprisingly, crossing the border went pretty smoothly. We got off the bus, got stamped out of Malaysia, got on the bus, got off the bus, got stamped into Singapore, got on the bus, then drove off to the Singapore bus station. It felt a bit like a choreographed dance routine, but we had it a lot better than another couple we saw. First we spotted them talking to a lady at the Singapore border crossing. They were both clearly and loudly chomping away on a stick of gum, obviously unaware of the laws. Then we saw the lady motion for them to stand aside. A uniformed, official looking guy appeared out of nowhere and escorted them away down a hall to some unknown location. We never did
Singapore Street Market
These gals are so excited to be in Singapore! see them again in Singapore (hmm, makes you wonder).
After we got off the bus, the first thing we noticed as we entered Singapore was the beautiful landscape. It appeared to be quite a modern city, with many tall buildings, tree lined boulevards and well maintained streets. The second thing we noticed was the heat; it was very hot out. And understandably so, since Singapore is only a couple degrees away from the equator.
We checked out a few hotels, then made our decision. We chose the cheaper one, as in cheap for Singapore, since our hotel that we stayed at was about $45 dollars per night. We later discovered the reason why; the hotel room was carpeted, not the best idea in a tropical place. This meant that it was damp and musty, not so noticeable at first, but by the morning we were both sneezing and coughing, not so great for allergies.
The area we were staying in wasn't near the center of the city, which turned out to be just fine for us. The reason being that there were no 'tourist' restaurants around. We ended up eating with the locals at the huge outdoor
Singapore
Flaunting his stash of Singapore cash food court located just across the street from our hotel. It served up great local cuisine like Chickens Feet Soup, Roasted Pig Trotters, and our favorite, Pigs Stomach and Liver Soup. Locals were lined up for the pig remains, but we stuck to the noodle dishes, dumplings, roast duck, and food that we knew we could digest a bit easier. The dishes that we did sample really were incredible, tasty and affordable. It was neat being the only travellers in the entire food court full of about a hundred people. We must have looked pretty out of place sitting there, but no one paid us much attention, there was too much good food to be eaten.
We ventured out to enjoy the city sights. It took us about half an hour to walk to the city center. Once we got into the more touristy area, we realized that it was very clean in Singapore. There was no litter to be found anywhere, and the sidewalks were well maintained, although there were a few dicey sidewalks around where we were staying. We assumed that it was because everyone is terrified to litter, since there are hefty fines for tossing garbage,
Singapore Zoo
Who knew that pineapples grew on bushes, not trees! including throwing cigarette butts on the ground. Another thing we realized was that it was pretty westernized as well. Lots of big corporate buildings, huge shopping malls, lots of people in business suits rushing off to their jobs in the morning and your typical western style restaurants too. It was harder to imagine that we were far from home.
After wandering around the city for a few hours, we decided to visit the Asian Civilizations Museum. It was filled with incredible displays of ceramics, textiles, jewelry and other arts of all parts of Asia. We were even luckier to be there for a special temporary exhibition, called 'On The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia'. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see many pieces of Buddhist art, artifacts and religious pieces on exhibit, some for the very first time.
We had a free guided tour throughout the museum. A small fragment of bone, believed to be the only verifiably true fragment (archaeologically speaking, of course) of Buddha's remains, was also on display. Due to this, the museum exhibit had also become a pilgrimage site for Buddhists. There were loads of monks dressed
Singapore Zoo
Can you believe that this incredible scenery is at the zoo! in their orange robes, from little boys to hunched old men, slowly making their way to the end of the exhibit. When our tour reached the shrine for the Buddha fragment, all of the monks began chanting prayers together. The sound was beautiful, sending chills up our spines.
Later we made our way down to the Singapore River, and sat watching the boats go by while having some food at one of the many harbour restaurants. Boats buzzed along the busy waterway, ferrying passengers back and forth, or slowly taking people on tours.
The following day we decided to test out Singapore's great subway system. Once we knew how to get our tickets, and where to get on and off, it was really very easy. Our first stop was Singapore's Orchard Street, which is famed for the many shopping areas, marketed to the rich. There were massive shopping malls full of designer clothing, purses, glasses and shoes, and tons of people shopping and wandering down the street looking for the next shop to use their credit card in. It was so different from the area where we were staying, which reminded us more of Malaysia than anywhere else
Singapore Zoo
Hanging with one of the locals, and boy is he excited! we had been in Singapore. The hustle and bustle, along with the prices, were too much for us budget travellers. We knew we weren't going to buy anything there, so it was time to get back on the subway.
We hopped back onto the train and headed off to Singapore's Chinatown. The area was similar to the local sort of mall we had gone to in Malaysia. It was crowded, cheap, with lots of tasty foods, and interesting people, more our kind of place. Just as we were about to leave, we got caught in the daily afternoon downpour.
Every afternoon that we were in Singapore, the weather would become hotter and hotter until we could barely stand it. At that point, the clouds would suddenly burst and the rain would start torrentially pouring, usually for 1 to 2 hours. Then, just as quick, the clouds would clear and the heat would become much more bearable. Because of the rain, we couldn't leave the mall, but luckily for us, it was attached to the underground link to the subway. We jumped back on, and returned to our favorite food court right outside our musty hotel room.
Singapore
Singapore Zoo
Cockroach problem at the zoo. Don't worry, they were behind thick glass. is another one of those countries, just like Australia, where you have to see the zoo before you leave. The next day we caught the subway, tranferred onto a bus, and after a short ride, arrived at the Singapore Zoo. It was totally different from the Sydney Zoo, yet just as cool. There were a bunch of different animals there, such as the native Tapir and the Blue-eyed White Tiger, along with some different species of snakes and monkeys we hadn't seen before. We saw many unusual Asian animals, as well as seals, and some cute little penguins. Just like our day at the zoo in Sydney, it started to rain heavily, so we had to go undercover for an hour before heading back out to our neck of the woods.
Singapore had been good to us, like all the other places we had been so far. As always, we were on a tight schedule, so it was time to hop on a bus and do the border thing again on our way back to Kuala Lumpur. We did some last minute shopping at the Central Market in KL, then sorted out our packs to move on.
We
Singapore Zoo
Caught in a rainstorm! were excited to be heading off to Thailand, but a little sad to be leaving Malaysia. We will definitely return there some day, so many more places to explore! In the morning, we caught the skytrain, then the 'Ekspres' train to the airport. We had only a short, but sweet 2.5 hour flight to take us to the sprawling, smoggy, wild mega-city of Bangkok, Thailand.
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