Our bus arrived to Kuala Lumpur very early in the morning. However, there were still plenty of taxis at the bus station, so we took one to catch the bus to the airport. The driver tried to negotiate a price to take us all the way to the airport, but considering the drive is about 45 minutes we thought we could save quite a bit of money by taking the bus the rest of the way.
At the airport we grabbed some breakfast and got our boarding passes before heading to our gate. We were happy to say goodbye to Kuala Lumpur and head off to Singapore. I’d heard lots of great things about Singapore, that it was very clean and developed. Also, their official language is English, so that was definitely a plus for me.
The flight was only an hour, and after getting through Immigrations in Singapore I grabbed my bag and we headed for the taxi stand. We showed the address of our hostel to our driver and took off from the airport.
I was immediately impressed with Singapore. I was concerned that I’d built up such an image of it in my head that I would be disappointed, but that wasn’t the case at all! Actually, I felt completely at home in this place; it was the first time I’d felt this way since I got to Asia.
Rather than the crammed skyscraper apartments that you usually find in Asian cities, the city planning reminded me more of North American city planning. There was a city center with skyscrapers of course, but surrounding the center were suburbs. And the houses in the suburbs weren’t shantytowns with houses made of tin and scrap metal, but rather very nice, spacious homes.
Amanda, who originally grew up in Canada, agreed with me that it was certainly reminiscent of home. In fact, I thought it felt a lot like southern California, where I visit frequently and feel very comfortable at. Throughout the weekend, I had to keep reminding myself that I was still in Asia! Singapore is very unique from other Asian countries.
I was very excited to find out that our hostel was also located in the suburbs on a very normal-looking street. We had to take our shoes off before entering the hostel, since the family that ran it was Asian, but they spoke perfectly good English, and so did their young daughter! We checked in and got settled. While the others got on the internet to e-mail their families, I was treated to free water by the hostel family. I found out that tap water is safe to drink in Singapore, and I instantly got excited about brushing my teeth later…
While waiting for the others to finish with the internet, I played with the family’s young children. The youngest, a boy of about three, didn’t talk much, but he took a liking to me and stuck to my side like glue. He’d give me presents, like a pad of post-its from the front desk, as well as the family’s business card (smart boy). The little eight-year-old girl, who was dressed in a pink tutu, came over and began chatting non-stop to me about the fish in the tank in the lobby. She even gave me a birthday card that she’d made herself (Maria had told her it was the day before). I had a lot of fun with them, especially since I hadn’t interacted much with children here in Asia. I’d also played with a local Malaysian boy, who was maybe four, in the ocean at the Perhentian Islands, and I realized how much I’d missed playing with children back home, like my nieces.
After sending a quick e-mail to my parents, we headed out to the bus stop and went into the city. It was an interesting system, since you pay and get a printed electronic receipt as your bus ticket. Very high-tech, Singapore. : )
I enjoyed driving toward the city center and seeing more of Singapore before we got off at Bugis Street. It is Singapore’s most famous outdoor market, full of cheap clothes (by Western standards, not Asian standards) and other souvenirs. We hung around there for a while before heading over to Sim Lim Mall, where we had lunch (I had delicious pot sticker dumplings and rice).
After exploring a few of the overwhelming number of electronic stores in the mall, we headed to Little India, Singapore’s pocket of Indian residents. We took the Metro there, but we’d made the mistake of taking candy bars into the subway station. A Metro employee hurried over and told us to quickly put it away. We asked why, and he told us that locals get fined SGD $500 (USD $350) for eating in the subway. For tourists, they are a little more lenient…the first time. We kept this in mind the rest of our trip, and we discovered that littering is also a serious offense and can result in an extremely high fine. But, hey, Singapore was impeccably clean, so I give their government kudos for good enforcement of environmental protection laws (and the country’s image).
Anyway, we started hunting for new hostels in Little India, where a majority of the traveling backpackers cluster. I was opposed to switching hostels, a. because I was really happy with ours in the suburbs, and b. I felt like we were wasting time looking for a new hostel when we would only be in town for two nights. Their argument was that we were too far away from the city center, and that we would waste time with transportation into the city by bus, and our time was already limited.
However, all the hostels were full, so in the end we decided to give up and remain where we were. We were at a hostel called Prince of Whales, which had a bar downstairs. We decided to sit down for a drink and outline our plan for the weekend. The bartender, who I’m sure was American, was very helpful in telling us good things to see in Singapore.
Maria’s friend, who’d been living in Singapore for a while, had recommended his Singaporean friend, Farah, to show us around. When she came, we all instantly liked her and her boyfriend, who took us to a Middle Eastern restaurant on Arab Street in his cool yellow sports car. At the restaurant we hung out and ate tapas, while we chatted about Singapore and asked about things to see.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized how exhausted the trip had made me. I suppose all the traveling by buses, taxis, and airplanes, and waking up super early every morning caught up with me, because I kept falling asleep at the restaurant.
I felt awful, since Farah and her boyfriend were nice enough to take us for a drive around the city for a few hours to see Singapore. However, I missed all of it since I kept falling asleep in the back of the car. : (
We didn’t get back until close to 2:00 am, so we decided to sleep in a little (partly for my sake) the next morning. Besides, we had a long day ahead of us, since we planned to see as much as we could of Singapore in one day…on foot.
Coming up next, “Malaysia & Singapore: Day Ten.”
See you soon!
Kati
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