Singapore - East meets West

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After a 10 hour flight, I touched down at Changi Airport in Singapore on Thursday evening. The night before I managed to jot down the details of a hostel, so I set out to find the place and hope they had room.

I got the MRT (underground) into the city, which was really modern and efficient as well as affordable. A 30 minute journey into the city cost me about £1. Head and shoulders above the London Underground!

The hostel was only a 5 minute walk from the station, but even in the evening it was so humid and warm that by the time I arrived, I was dripping in sweat! Quite a contrast going from winter to a humid tropical climate.

Luckily they had plenty of room at the hostel so I booked myself in for a couple of nights, as this would give me flexibility in deciding where to go for the six days after. The early start to the day, coupled with a bit of Jetlag (4 hours time difference) made me pretty tired by the evening. I planned to relax in my bed for a bit and then go out and get some food after experiencing an incredible mixture of smells on the way to the hostel. However, I was so shattered that I fell asleep in my clothes and slept through until morning.

Breakfast was included in the price, which is convenient, so I had some cereal and toast before talking to the guys who worked at the hostel about what to do and see. As my last few days in NZ were so rushed, I had barely looked at a guidebook and didn’t want to buy one as they’re so expensive in NZ (probably three times the price of buying one from Amazon in the UK!). The two guys that worked at the hostel were very friendly and helpful. They gave me a map and spent about 20 minutes writing down all sorts of stuff to do/see/eat so when I left to explore that day so I had plenty to cram in!

Firstly I had a look around a shopping mall as it was not far from the hostel and Singapore is known for its shopping. Walking inside an air conditioned building was so refreshing after wandering around in the heat and humidity. It was fairly big, but pretty quiet so I didn’t stay too long, also because I wouldn’t have room in my bag for any new purchases.

The next stop was Kampong Glam, the Arab Quarter which was quite a contrast from my initial perception of Singapore being a modern city. There were all sorts of Arab stalls around and a mosque (Sultan Mosque) but I couldn’t go inside it as I was wearing shorts! The guy at the hostel had recommended a place to eat, so I went to this cafe and had chicken murtabak (chicken omelette), a traditional Arab meal. Before the meal came, the waiter brought out the sauce for it and what appeared to be cucumber in ketchup. I asked him what it was and he replied with, “side salad”. I tried it and it was indeed cucumber (drowned) in ketchup! Not even I would have (that much) ketchup on cucumber! As the place started to get busier, a family sat down on my table who were local Islamic Singaporeans and asked how I found the place, so it was good to know that I was eating in a typical local cafe and doing it “When in Rome” style. I think I was the only white person in there. I asked for the medium sized murtabak which was absolutely massive, so I couldn’t finish it, but the meal with the drink came to £4, which wasn’t too bad.

After having another walk around Kampong Glam, I was feeling really drained from the humidity, so went back to the hostel to chill out for a bit and plan the rest of my trip.

I had 7 more nights until my flight to Hong Kong so it seemed like a good idea to head to Malaysia for a few days. Again the guys at the hostel had loads of info about Malaysia as well, so I spent a couple of hours chatting to them and reading through their Lonely Planet guides. I booked a bus (for a couple of days later) to Mersing which is a ferry port on the east coast of Malaysia where boats leave for Palau Tioman Island, my next destination. This left me with the evening and another full day in Singapore.

A night safari was advertised in the hostel and the staff said there were a few other people going. It sounded quite interesting and as I had spent the day on my own, it would be good to meet some other backpackers.

Five of us got a bus out to the safari that evening. It was quite an average experience. More a family thing than something for backpackers and after going around the park in a tram and walking another long route, it was beginning to drag on a bit, especially in the humidity!

On the way back the bus drove down Orchard Road which is known for its shopping. It looked very impressive. The road was long and you could see pretty much every major brand name displayed on these immaculately clean and modern buildings.

The next day I ventured to Little India (the Indian Quarter of Singapore). It was such a unique contrast from Kampong Glam (Arab Quarter) I had been in yesterday and it felt like I could have been in Mubai or Delhi after seeing locals eating curry with their hands!

The guys at the hostel had recommended a place to eat and after their good advice yesterday, I tried it out. I walked into the Banana Leaf restaurant and again I think I was the only tourist in there amongst the locals. After some recommendations from the waiter, I ordered the Chicken Apollo Masala with Byriani rice and vegetables from the Southern Indian section of the menu. In front of me was a banana leaf, i.e. my plate which was quite a unique experience! After only a couple of minutes, the waiter came out with two pots of veggies and put a couple spoonfuls on my plate, before coming over with the rice and doing the same. Shortly after, the chicken was here as well as popadoms, and I had feast to tuck into! It tasted great, and more ‘authentic’ compared to the curries I’m used to.

After, I wandered around Little India and went into the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple (after taking my shoes off of course). I asked the women at the front if there was anywhere I wasn’t allowed to go, but she said no, as long as I am quiet, so I had a wander. It did feel quite strange having the freedom to walk around anywhere as it was full of Hindus praying and I didn’t see any other tourists!

I returned to the hostel in the afternoon, quite exhausted from the heat and humidity and chilled out for a couple of hours before heading into the main central area in the evening with a couple of guys from my hostel who I’d just met.

A mate from NZ and the guys who worked at the hostel had both said it’s quite easy to get onto the viewing deck on the 57th floor of the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singpaore (the most famous and prestigious hotel in Singapore) if you say you’re going there just for the sky bar. This would save paying £10 to get to the viewing deck and if we were lucky, we might be able to sneak into the hotel guests only section where there was an infinity pool overlooking a great view of Singapore’s skyline. So we dressed up for the occasion (which is jeans, trainers and a reasonable t shirt for a backpacker!) to help ‘blend in’ with the hotel guests.

We walked to the Riverside (the central area) and found out it was Singapore Day, where they were celebrating their an anniversary so we had to take a couple of detours and by the time we reached the area, wearing jeans didn’t feel like the best idea. Even though it was evening, the heat (still 29C) and humidity was so high that it was ridiculously uncomfortable wearing jeans, even though locals seem to cope with wearing them all throughout the day!

However, the Riverside area at night was very impressive. Because of the anniversary there was also plenty of celebratory things going on such as fireworks, jet planes etc.

After grabbing a bite to eat in a busy outdoor food hall style place, we ventured towards the Marina Sands Bay hotel, passing through one of the malls to enjoy a bit of air con. There were loads of designer shops, but it just seemed like everyone was walking around the mall with no intention of actually buying anything. Hard to see how they made enough sales to stay profitable. Seemed like more marketing prestige to have a brand name shop there, for example the Ferrari store where people go in just to take a picture of the F1 car and aren’t really interested in buying their overpriced Ferrari gear.

Finally we made it to the hotel, where there was a line for tickets to the viewing deck, but we just said we’re off to the sky bar which was on the same lift (and has no entrance fee). After whizzing up the 57 floors, some people turned left to the viewing deck, whilst the rest went right into the ‘hotel guests only’ section. We confidently walked through here with a crowd of people and to my surprise the women at the gate didn’t check with us so we successfully made it through!

The first thing we saw was the infinity pool and then the most amazing view of Singapore’s skyline, which really took my breath away. This was backpacking taken to a whole new luxury style!

We took a few pictures and lay down on the sunbeds. There were towels lying around and it was very tempting to take a quick dip in our underwear as we were still very sticky and uncomfortable from the humidity but we thought it might be taking the piss too much, so went over to the fancy restaurant and asked for the drinks menu, hoping to grab a cold drink. Minimum spend was $200 (£100) and a beer was $15 so that was out of the question! However we managed to get round to the lavish outdoor seating area for a few more snaps before leaving the luxurious 57th floor.

We stopped for a beer on one of the Wharfs on the way back and then hit the sack as I had to be up at 5.30am for my bus to Mersing.

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