28 October 2006 - Happy Birthday to me!! - Singapore

Singapore is just as all say it is - extremely clean and incredibly hot and humid. Arrived last night around 10:30 pm Singapore time and after inquiring about the shuttle for S$7 that takes you directly to where you are staying and learning that it would be an hour and a half wait for me to get one, I decided to take my chances with the public transport (MRT - Mass rapid transit). It turned out to be really easy to navigate because there are exactly 3 lines - the East-West line, the North-South line, and the North-East line, so basically anyone could figure it out. I took it to Little India, where my hostel is and I apparantly looked somewhat lost looking at the street signs with my huge backpack, so a local man said he would walk me there since he was walking that way anyway. Perfect! Arrived to the Inn-Crowd Hostel in Little India where the air conditioning was a much needed relief. So just took a shower and went to sleep. This morning woke up and chatted at the (free!) breakfast (eggs, toast, etc) with Barbara, originally from NY who has lived in Bali for the last six years, and even though she is the mother of a 16 year old girl, still prefers to stay at hostels instead of forking over the extra money for hotels. See mom, hostels aren't just for young people!! (For those of you who didn't hear, I made my mom stay at a hostel in Whitsunday, Australia and never heard the end of it!). Barbara comes to Singapore for doctor's visits, as Singapore has the best healthcare in Asia she said.

In the morning I took the MRT train to Boat Quay, and walked around there and then around China town. The MRT station is immaculate, as there is no eating/drinking allowed anywhere in the station or on the trains. Also, unlike any other underground system in cities i have seen, there are door barriers between the waiting platform and the tracks that stay closed until the train arrives, which i guess prevents people from jumping/falling onto the tracks and getting run over. I also noticed in the train station that there are lots of advertisements for Musicals. Of course there are the usuals that we get back in the states (Little Shop of Horrors, Cabaret, etc), but they had a poster for 'Jack and the Beansprout' the musical. If it is anything like the Disney cartoon Mickey and the beanstalk - Fee Fi Fo Fum, Mee Mi Mo Mum (Peter our favorite!!!! Anyone else??), then it has got to be freaking fantastic. Sadly, it doesn't seem to be in my budget.

Then I headed to Lou Poset, a hawker's market where there are all sorts of little stands of different cuisines. I of course headed for some Indian curry and chose the stand with the longest line of Indian men on lunch break, and got some delicious curried potatoes and veggies (I forced myself to order the chicken, but after several bites with lots of bones, I gave up on the meat. I think this Asia trip may be reminiscent of Thailand where i just turned somewhat vegetarian). Walking back from lunch, I spotted a coffee bean and was so excited since Australia didn't have them and so I got a nice ice blended to help combat the heat (but not dehydration, oh well, it was good).

I had read in my guide book to join in on some dragon boat racing while I am here. It is sort of Singapore's version of Crew except using more of canoe type paddles. 18 people sit in a massive boat and race. I got out to the river where the teams meet to practice and race and the Aussie team was the first i spotted, so i asked if i could join them, I later learned that there are Canada, American, British, and all other teams as well. Little did I realize, however, that the big dragon boat race between all the rival teams is in 2 weeks, so i wasn't joining in for just a practice session, i was joining in for time trials. Needless to say, I got completely worked and I am sure I didn't help them shed any seconds from their times. I also ended up soaking wet. Anyway, I worked up a good appetite. The Aussies then had a little party after the time trials, but i didn't stay because i wanted to hit up the night safari.

I went back to the hostel to quickly change out of my wet smelly clothes before heading to the night safari and 2 lovely Canadians asked if I wanted to join them later at the Boom Boom Room - a drag show as they were celebrating one of the girls' birthdays as well. We have a Boom Boom Room back home in Laguna Beach that Jeannine and Super and I used to go to - a riot!! So I gave them $25 to buy me a ticket and said I would meet them there after I went to the Safari. Took the train to the bus station and was waiting at the bus station when I met a girl Min, from the UK, who just finished 2 months in India, where she had family. She said India is very dangerous and that often times she felt uncomfortable from the looks she got in the street. Even though she is Indian, the locals could tell she is a westerner.

We took the long bus ride to the night safari and opted for the tram tour instead of walking, since I told the Canadians I would meet them at 11. The safari was all a bit eerie and strange to me. As much as it was incredible to see white Rhinos, striped hyenas, anteaters, and bears, the ambiance was creepy, and felt slightly like the jungle cruise ride at Disneyland. There were no visible barriers between the animals and the road, and the Safari tries to play it off as 'no barriers,' but I think it is all a bit of smoke and mirrors - they have to contain the animals somehow so that the lions don't go and eat the deer. Also, it was a little odd how it is 9pm and the animals are perfectly in the small bit of spotlight that shines in their areas, maybe it was because there is only such a small area for them to walk. I did quite enjoy what I will call the RUS (rodent of Unusual size for you Princess Bride fans). It literally was a member of the rat family and was the size of a medium sized boar. Overall, I thought the experience was pretty cool, but it still wasn't completely what I expected.

I then dragged Min with me to the Boom Boom room (we got there an hour after I was supposed to meet the Canadians since the safari took much longer to get back from than expected). Of course the Boom Boom room had been long abandoned so Min and I decided to try to find somewhere else to go out. Strangely, Singapore was completely dead in the night time, no one was out on a Sat night!!! So we then just headed back to our places, when of course, then trains had stopped running by this point so we had to catch a taxi. Back at my hostel, we chatted with Pierre, a 25 year old from France until 3 am until the hostel made us leave, so I went to bed and Min convinced some American guys (one from Iowa who has lived in Singapore for a year and a half for work) to ride in the taxi with her back to her place before they headed off somewhere else.

I did a lot in Singapore in one day and was ready to get out of the city. Any things I missed there I can see when I head back before my flight to Paris.