Anyways, we had to go back to Jakarta from Krui to make this happen. That meant another day and a bit in transit, but when compared to the four or so we would have had in Sumatra, it wasn't so bad. Rather than take the awful sardine can we rode into Krui on back to Jakarta, we opted for an air conditioned coach. We packed up our things and walked a good kilometer and a half, through the gauntlet of "hey meestar"s to the bus stop and waited. And waited. We feared that we might have been stuck in some Twilight Zone episode, waiting for a bus that would never come while the uncanny locals laughed at us. It ended up coming very late (about 4 hours). It must have been coming from another far away town too because it was packed with people who looked like they had been traveling for a very very long time. They were all unkempt and half asleep. The air conditioning on the bus was blasting so cold that everyone was huddled into blankets and covering their faces. It kind of looked like we walked into a leper colony. Not to mention the whole bus smelled like a septic tank.
The ride itself wasn't bad. I slept during the windy, bumpy parts and woke just as dawn broke and we boarded the ferry back to Java. We arrived in Jakarta shortly after noon. From there, we navigated through the city to the airport and found a cheap flight to Singapore. We landed in Singapore at around 9pm. As you can imagine, after a day and a half of traveling, we looked and felt pretty haggard. As we boarded the squeaky clean subway in Singapore, I felt like a total dirtball. We arrived in Little India without any trouble and managed to find a bunk in a dorm at our first choice for a hostel. I honestly can't remember what I did after that. I imagine deep deep sleep came pretty quickly.
So we were in Singapore. As I mentioned, it is a very very clean city. There is literally no garbage anywhere, everything is clearly marked in English and everything works perfectly. Definitely more tidy and efficient than anywhere I've been in Canada. It's odd too because the racial makeup of the small city-state is about 70% Chinese, 20% Malay and 10% Indian, yet the official language is English. It seemed that the residents all were able to speak it, with varying degrees of success, yet preferred to converse in their native tongues amongst themselves. It was a huge breath of fresh air having such a clean, modern city sprawl before us after slogging our way through Indonesia for the past three weeks.
Our hostel was pretty nice too. Definitely, a favorite for backpackers, it had a pretty bustling lobby scene, complete with DVDs, computers with internet access, a kitchen and all kinds of places to hang out. We met a few people there and were able to soak in all the modern amenities. First thing I did the next morning was a 100% hygiene overhaul. I was never able to find a combination of well-lit room and mirror in Indonesia so here I spend a good hour cleaning my wounds and tidying myself up.
We decided that we wouldn't stay too long in Singapore because it was significantly more expensive than anywhere in Indonesia. the bunk alone cost 20 Singapore dollars. Day 1 was sort of a write-off. I spent most of it relaxing, charging my electronics and Skyping with my brother. I regret nothing. Probably the most relaxing day I've had since the trip started. Adam went out to buy himself a new camera and had some success. When he got back, we made somewhat of an attempt to walk along the river, but rain thwarted it. Instead we headed to a food court to eat cheap food. That night we bought a six pack of Anchor beer and talked with some Finns who were backpacking for their honeymoon. Afterwards, we did a night walk of Little India before calling it a night.
Day 2 was a little more productive. We met an Indonesian girl named Tika who tagged along for most of the day. We started in Chinatown. Personally, I don't see why Singapore has a Chinatown, as you can't take a piss in the city without hitting something Chinese. I think it was more of a cultural center than anything as it housed plenty of red lanterns, cramped food stalls, street vendors and Chinese architecture. Lots of tourists too. Anyways, aside from a massive Buddhist temple, it wasn't terribly different than any other Chinatown I had been to, so we promptly headed for the riverside promenade.
This walk is heavily touted to be a must for anyone visiting Singapore. It was quite nice too. Nice colonial architecture amidst skyscrapers. It rained for a bit, but let up eventually. We zigzagged across bridges and took some pictures. It soon became clear that our Indonesian traveling companion was struggling to keep up, so she ducked out and went shopping while Adam and I went to this huge hawker center housed inside an old Victorian-style building. Pretty funny place. From the outside it looked like it could have been some old British train station or government complex, but when you walk in, it's full of Chinese food stalls and hanging, skinned ducks.
Later we met up with Tika and went to the National Museum. Being cheapasses, we went after 7 when it was free, but about an hour before it was closing. Awesome museum too. Too bad we had to rush through a lot of it. We walked back home and promptly did nothing afterwards. The next morning we woke up early to get the hell out of dodge before it wrecked our bank balances. Next stop: Malaysia.
As an aside, Singapore has done wonders for my burn. It stayed an oozy mess constantly in Indonesia and refused to heal, however the first night in Singapore, it scabbed over and finally looked like it was on it's way to recovery. Thank goodness! Sleeping in a cool, dry room worked wonders.
So our experience in Singapore was about as small as the country itself, so I guess I'll do a roundup like I did with Indonesia.
THE HIGH:
- Aircon, hot showers, potable water, public transit and other modern amenities.
- The National Museum. The parts we saw were very well done and you can tell they made an effort to make it interesting.
THE LOW:
- A little sterile. Definitely lacked the spice of Indonesia.
- Expensive. We couldn't eat anywhere cool because it was too expensive! Adam really wanted to try chili crab, but not for $35.
- Getting $100 stolen. But that was my own dumb-assed fault for leaving my wallet in the lobby overnight.
THE MEH:
- Chinatown. If you've ever been to a Chinatown anywhere before, this place won't really blow your skirt up.
Really, the whole city is pretty meh if you just want to sightsee. Most people go there to shop. They call it the only shopping mall with a seat in the UN. Since we didn't do any of that, our experience was pretty "meh". The pics turned out well though!
Merlion statue and skyscrapers. I don't usually like sticking pictures like this in my entries because you can just google it.
Yeah Singapore loves air conditioning.
Yep.
Buddhist ceremony in progress in Chinatown.
Chinatown.
After a couple gets married, it's customary for them to revisit important places in their relationship and have their pictures taken. Here some newlyweds are taking a stroll through Little India.
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