Sick, but still sightseeing in Singapore

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Impulsive traveling is fun, but impractical. After touching down in the mega-city of Singapore, I realized I had done absolutely no research and I had really no clue what Singapore was all about. Customs was a breeze, and after withdrawing some Singapore dollars (about 1.30 to our 1 Canadian dollar) I was ready to make my way to little India. I was ready all right, but totally unsure of how I was going to get there. Luckily, I met a French exchange student from one of the Singaporean Universities, who was familiar with the transit system, and provided me with much needed guidance on the city layout and how to get to little India via the metro. She recommended that I purchase a 3-day tourist transit pass ($40 bucks), as it would actually save me money if I set out to try and see most of the city. So, equipped with her advice and a fistful of Singapore dollars, I hopped onto the metro train my way to little India.

The first thing I noticed when I got on the train was the posters. One of them stated "Low crime doesn't mean no crime", a poster slogan I would continue to see as I traversed the city. The reasoning behind this, is of course that while Singapore has an amazingly low crime rate, they still want people to practice vigilance and keep their common sense. The other poster was one about being sick and traveling on public transit, recommending those with illness to either stay home or use mouth masks while traveling. Well, this actually made me a little uneasy, as towards the end of plane ride I could feel myself getting sick. By the time I was on the metro, I had developed a little cough, and I don't know if it was just me, but it seemed like the Singaporeans were less than impressed with my potential germ spreading. Another thing I could not help but notice was the cultural diversity. On the metro there were people speaking Indian, Malay, Chinese, English, and Singlish. Singlish? Whats that? Well, after some further experience I've come to understand it as random English words tossed into whatever native language the person speaks. This may not be entirely accurate, as I only had my own personal experience of it, but for example there was one guy who was checked into the same dorm as me, who would skype with his family, and his sentences would sound something like this: "hing do a cha ha na na diaow nah cha going to see my friends tonight swaud liabi hiawng yeah its been a great experience jing auwba hilom awak and now i have to go." (Not trying to be racist with the made up words, just trying to provide an example). But yeah, the cultural diversity was very obvious as I made my way to little India. The last thing that left an impression on that ride was just how beautiful Singapore was at night. I unfortunately never made it out to any of the major areas at night (The waterfront, the shopping district), as they are supposed to be absolutely stunning, but the metro ride did provide a glimpse at just how well kept, well lit, and beautifully constructed the city is in the evening. Upon arriving at little India I bumped into a couple of other travelers who kept me on the right path to the where the accommodations where, and I found myself checking into the Fragrance hotel. The rooms there were clean and reasonably priced by Singapore standards, and while the staff was quite friendly, they were a little lacking in knowledge on local sights and transportation. As well, as I would find out over the next few days, it wasn't exactly a backpacking hostel. I shared my room mostly with Malaysians visiting Singapore for business. Later I discovered that several backpacking places existed in the area, but I never did change places, for a couple of reasons, the main one being that as that first night went on I got increasingly sick and it wasn't until I the day before I was schedule to leave Singapore that I finally recovered. That first night I walked around little India, trying to get my bearings and taking in the atmosphere. As it was a Friday nights, the streets were packed with Indian guys. Hand in hand, hand in lap, drinking, talking, eating, there was a lot of the Indian culture I had heard about from other travelers who have been to India, but there still was definitely a lot of Singaporean flare, including a small group of Trash Police, who were walking around scanning for potential litterers, who if caught would promptly receive a hefty fine (somewhere in the range of 200-500 dollars). For dinner I found myself at a congregation of Indian hawker stalls, where I ate what is touted as being a very Singaporean dish, Chicken Biriyani. Chicken Biriyani is a curried chicken breast over saffron rice and Indian curry. It was absolutely delightful, and I actually ate the same restaurant multiple times over the next few days. However, after dinner I was stuff and I called it an early night and headed to bed.

The next day, while still feeling ill, I decided I would try and see some of the city. After taking a look at a city map, I decided I would check out Singapore's waterfront. As well, I had read that a lot of malls in Singapore had walk in clinics, and at this point, my wrist was becoming more painful by the day and I was developing a growing concern that something might be seriously wrong with it. After a quick metro ride, using my new tourist pass, I found myself at the downtown waterfront. I spent the next few hours wandering around, taking refuge in the shade of the massive buildings that made up the downtown area, and the air-conditioned malls. There's so much to see in this area, and I wish I would have had done a bit more research before I did my sightseeing, as I have a feeling I missed some essentials sights. However, I did manage to take some nice photos and get a better sense for Singaporean life. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any doctors offices, and by the time I was ready to leave downtown, my wrist was no long my only problem, as i was getting even more sick. So, sick, sore, and frustrated by the heat, I decided to head back to my hostel. After a very confusing adventure to find the metro station, I finally arrived, only to discover that I had lost my transit pass. Lets just say a had a little melt down. Defeated, yeah, saying I felt defeated is probably most accurate. So, after a few minutes of self pity I manged to get myself down to train level, only to be beaten down by my own disorientation, catching the wrong train, but finally correcting myself. Eventually I made it back to little India, where I had my way with a plate of Chicken Biriyani, and despite it being only mid afternoon, headed to bed in hopes of recovering slightly. When I awoke, quite a few hours later, I was feeling fresh and decided I wanted to do something interesting. After asking around I found out that there was a nearby movie theater, and took to the streets in an attempt to find it.

I didn't exactly know where the movie theater was, just that it was at "Bugis". Bugis, I would find out, was a shopping district, consisting of some malls, but mostly street side stalls and hawkers. The place was absolutely packed, and there was a definite Chinese new year theme throughout the area. Actually, with the Chinese new year less than a week away, the whole city was right into it. There was red decorations everywhere, ranging from decorations to lanterns. I saw trucks driving around with orange trees, there were flower shops bustling, and even the fast food chains were into it. I saw one advertisement for a pizza from pizza hut that had cherries on it, somehow alluding to new year, and McDonalds had its "Prosperity Burger" (which I had to eat, if for nothing else but to feel prosperous) and curly fries with the slogan "A twist of fortunate". Actually, after traveling in the streets of bugis, occasionally asking around where the movie theater was, I discovered that no one knew, and McDonalds was where I took my mental break and tried to develop a new search strategy. I wouldn't really become an issue however, as a few minutes after I left McDons I came across the mall housing the theater, iluma. iluma really stood out from the rest of the buildings with a totally unique design, covered in white plastic hexagons. The interior of the mall was huge, I believe 7 stories, and I found my way up to the movie theater. The choices weren't exceptional, but I settled on the entertaining Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. The movie ended at around 11:30, and still not being tired, I decided I would check out the final (7th) floor of the mall. And am I glad I did, for there I found one of my favorite places in Singapore. The Colluseum.

The Colosseum, as it turns out, is a 200+ computer gaming center. Each a modern computer, fitted with software that had pre-loaded somewhere in the range of 100+ modern day games. In addition, there was web browsing, skype, msn, all at the click of a button. Each section was classified by different names (Ninja, Mage, Droid, etc.), air-con kept gamers cool, and each computer had its own black leather chair. In the background was a 200 foot big screen monitor that one lucky gamer would get to play on, and a dj kept techno beats flowing as long as the place was open. All this for practically the same price I was paying for internet back at my hostel. So, I spent a few hours there that evening, switching between blogging and gaming, and I came out a happier man.

Next to iluma, I had spotted a clinic that night, and the next morning I made my way there in hopes I would be able to do a drop in. Everything worked out well, and I saw the doctor, who was very kind professional. After i explained to him several possible causes, he reassured me that it was tendinitis, which sounds bad, but isn't as long term as it sounds. In fact, he told me that it usually takes about 3-4 weeks to heal. At this point, it had just been over 2 and my wrist was killing me. He gave me some pain killers and anti-inflammatories, and I paid him for his medicine and time, all at a very reasonable price. It actually kinda funny, because after that day, my wrist just seemed to get better and better. And, within a week my wrist had all but completely healed and regained flexibility.

The rest of the day was dedicated to R&R. I napped, I ate, I napped again, and I spent some more time at iluma on the internet, catching up on blogs. That night I met an American who had been living in Indonesia for the past 20 years. Interesting fellow, and he tipped me off about a nearby shopping mall. Mufasa. I spent quite a while in the mall, and to counter how expensive it is to eat, I bought some food from the grocery stories (nectarines were the highlight). The next day would be my last full day in Singapore before I made my way to Malaysia, and now feeling quite a bit better, I intended to make the most of it.

The next morning I woke up with the intention of seeing Arab street, orchard street, and the botanical gardens. I'll say up front that I did see all three, but I got "lost" several times, for several hours. You can never really get lost if you aren't pressed for time. By getting lost I found a really neat park amidst all the concrete and I got to see some amazing architecture. I had breakfast on Arab street, Mutton Murtabak. Murtabak is a big doughy bread with meant, onions, and egg baked into it. It was so filling I couldn't even finish it. Orchard street was awe inspiring. The whole strip lined with mega malls selling all the major names; gucci, prada, dolce and gabana, were all there. Shopping, especially for overpriced goods, is not exactly an interest of mine, but after being lost in Singapore concrete jungle for almost two hours, and by now dripping in sweat, the air-con these malls provided were much appreciated. So, I spent an hour or so walking around on Orchard street before making my way to the botanical gardens, which were luckily only a 20 minute walk away. The gardens were absolutely amazing. In true Singaporean fashion, they were neatly laid out and the whole place felt very efficient. There were sections dedicated to jungle, water, evolutionary vegetation. Everything was labeled and it was a really nice way to spend a couple of hours. It was free to wander, but there was also a orchid garden that you could browse for a small fee. I decided that I might as well see everything and checked it out. It really was nice, and I got some great photos. By this point it was beginning to get dark, so I caught a local bus back down to Bugis and spent the rest of the evening in The Colosseum. This may be a short paragraph, but it was truly a long day. It was hot and humid, and I got far too much exercise. I only add this in explain the photograph I took of my brown Fox tee shirt. The white stains? Well that would be enough salt to feed a heard of elephants. Note to self, on long hot day treks, wear white.

The next day I packed up, and went over to the backpacking hostel "The inn crowd", where after some reluctance, they helped me organize my way to Malaysia via bus. After catching a taxi to the bus station for a small fee, I found myself sitting on the coach, amazed at how nice it was. For a fairly standard price for a 5 hour bus ride, we were getting exceptional value. Each seat had its own TV, with several movies to chose from, and some old school video games. As well, we were fed lunch and a free bottle of water. Talk about service! The ride from Singapore to the Malaysian border was short, and the border crossing was almost all but uneventful, except of course when I decided to declare that I had pain killers with me. I absolutely loved the response of the muslim girl sitting at customs. "Pain killers, Okay." she said in the most causal way, waving me through. It just felt like I could have been carrying at bazooka and she would have responded the same way, "Bazooka, okay". I guess they really aren't that concerned about people smuggling drugs out of Singapore, just in. During the bus ride I got to know a couple of guys from Sweden, and when we finally arrived in Kuala Lumpur (after passing through some really lush jungle landscape), we decided we'd share a room together. This would be the first time I'd room up with some other travelers, and it was looking like it was gonna be a good night. As well, one of the guys had been to Kuala Lumpur before, and seemed keen on figuring out where we would stay and some things to see. What, I could just sit back and enjoy the ride? Sounds good to me.

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Comments

[Nigel]

Chillllin
Sounds like a nice place man. That's cool how when you aren't pressed for time you never got lost haha. I actually read that whole thing and it took forever lol. You are a good narrator, I could visualize some of that stuff ( the pics help too ) lol. Take care man. Maybe you got tendinitis from typing such long blogs! ;) Canada is kicking ass in the olympics :) we are 1 medal behind Norway for 3rd place. Weeeow got a hockey victory and 3 medals tonight :)