Welcome to Asia- Our Arrival in Singapore
Monday, January 30th, 2006Our flight from Chennai to Singapore was nice and easy. We were fed well for a four hour flight (which was a savior since we had saved only a few rupees to have lunch at the airport and when we arrived we found out the prices were about 4X Indian standards.) We crossed several time zones, so we had a 2 1/2 hour jet lag, it was almost 10pm by the time we got through customs. Getting off of the plane was a culture shock, western automatic toilets with toilet seat covers…an enormous shopping mall in the airport. We took the incredibly efficient and immaculately clean metro (MRT) to our hotel. I couldn’t help but feel self-conscious, not because people were staring at us, but because I immediately felt incredibly dirty. My backpack cover was filthy, my shoes and socks still stained red from the clay roads in Matheran, holes in the pockets of my capri pants. As I looked around the metro, everyone was dressed in the latest Western fashion, listening to their Mp3 players and writing text messages on their mobile phones. Had I just gotten off and airplane or a spaceship to the moon?
When we arrived at our MRT stop, Farrer Park, appropriately located at the edge of Little India, we emerged to a world that reminded me of Walnut Creek, California. Wide freshly paved roads, with digital walk signals that told you how many seconds left you had to reach the otherside of the crosswalk, numerous highrise apartment complexes, perfectly manicured lawns and sidewalks. We checked into our hotel (situated next to a Buddhist temple) and asked for advice about where to get a late night snack. They directed us to the main road where we could find 24-hour stalls selling delicious and cheap Chinese food. We each had an ice cold Tiger beer, and shared fried rice and BBQ pork ribs, perfect snack right before bed…
The next morning (Thursday), we woke up bright and early around 10:30AM, I had to drag myself out of the comfy bed (soft mattresses, fluffy pillows and sheets are a rarety in budget guesthouses.) Our itinerary: visit the colonial district and waterfront, do some shopping (much needed restocking of supplies) and catch a show at the Boom Boom Room (a cabaret.) First stop was the Colonial District, where our friends the British, left their mark on Singapore. The area is on the waterfront and encompasses the City Hall, the big Asian Civilizations Museum, the Opera House and several important bridges and statues. We took an easy walk (a nice pedestrian sidewalk where bikes are not allowed; fine: 1000SD, about 500USD) until we came into the heart of the business district. Here we decided to look for lunch (along with all of the Singaporeans on their lunch break.) We found one of the many infamous food courts, that offers up numerous varieties of Chinese, Indian and Muslim foods. Here we chose another Chinese dish, this time a giant noodle soup with with chicken and various other flavourful creatures. Singapore feels like a very miniature version of the U.S.A, with a lot of Asians. After lunch, we decided to visit the Fountain of Fortune (the largest fountain in the world) which was inside of a giant shopping mall. Actually most of Singapore is a series of shopping malls connected together by underground walkways. (It’s a bit of an exageration, but at times it did feel like that.) We were a bit like kids in a candy store because we found everything we needed and didn’t know that we needed easily, including things like Skippy peanut butter and root beer for me, and French baguettes and saucisson for Fabien. After a full afternoon of shopping, we returned to the hotel to grab a bite to eat before heading out for the evening. Unfortunately, we found that the Boom Boom Room (famous for it’s drag cabaret) was closed, so we chose a little bar on the waterfront to enjoy a cocktail and some live music before heading home for the night.
When we arrived in Singapore, we found out that we had chosen our timing well, we were there just in time for the Chinese New Year. (Singapore is 77% Chinese, 14% Malay, 8% Indian) So it was sure to be a big event in Chinatown. Friday morning, we decided to visit Little India in the morning, do some camera shopping, then check out Chinatown. There are a couple of spectacular Hindu temples in Little India. Most of the Indians are Tamils, from South India, and the architecture is similar to what we saw in Chennai and Mamabalipuram. The temples have very colorful and elaborate carvings on the roofs and the inside. There’s also some good souvenir shopping, but we passed, considering that we had already sent home several boxes of goodies from India. We then went to a giant IT shopping mall (Fabien’s dream.) Due to a little camera mishap (see last picture post), we needed to get a new flash memory card, and we also found a nice zoom lens for my camera. We are ready for the birds in the jungle!!! This country is dangerous for the budget. After a nice break, we went to Chinatown to see the New Year’s light up (there were red lanterns strung from building to building as well as other colorful decorations) as well as big new year’s markets selling noisemakers, firecrackers, and lots of little Chinese odds and inns. We escaped a small rain shower, by visiting the Chinatown Heritage Center, where we learned about everything from the desperate plights of the Chinese immigrants in the 19th and 20th century to their modern successes today. The evening, we decided to be glutionous Westerners, feasted on hamburgers and fries and went to the movies. We saw “Memoirs of a Geisha,” which I liked as much as the book and would highly recommend.
Saturday (our last day), was Chinese New Year’s Eve. The morning, we packed a picnic and went to the park. We climbed up to the highest point in Singapore where we could see Sentosa Island (a resort island) and the big, bustling port. Apparently, Singapore is the busiest port in the world, and we would agree after seeing the the number of ships going in and out of the port. We visited another park, Fort Canning, in the afternoon, where we could see remants of the old fort, as well as lots of exotic trees and spices. We splurged and went to a restaurant on the waterfront, then ended the evening in Chinatown with fireworks at midnight to welcome in the Year of the Dog.
Sunday morning (Chinese New Year’s Day), we packed up and caught a bus to our present destination, Melaka, Malayasia. It was an easy 4 1/4 hour bus ride. It is a very tropical climate here, hot and humid, and everything is extremely green. Melaka is a historical town in Malayasia, it was occupied at various times by the Portugese, the Dutch, the British, and the Japanese (during WWII,) so it has a unique blend of history and architecture. Our first impressions are that the people are very, very friendly here and that things are very modern (though it’s much cheaper than Singapore.) There are several major ethnic groups; the Malays, the Chinese and the Indians are the main groups. Last night we went to Chinatown to visit the night market, which was alive with people out celebrating the New Year. Today we had full day, visiting Villa Sentosa, a typical,old Malaysian house that is now a living museum. Various family members give tours of the house, showing you traditional Malayasian furniture, clothes and telling you about various customs. It really gave us the feeling that Malayasians are serious about hospitality. Then we wandered through Chinatown by day, and visited a couple of Buddhist temples. The first, the oldest and Malayasia, was packed with people putting incense in front of the various statues and praying. Then we had a typical local dish, chicken rice balls and a fish cake, made with a delicious coconut curry. We also visited the old Dutch quarters, which is now mainly museums. We got a good dose of Melakan colonial history and saw some nice exhibits on the traditonal local wedding customs. (It is a long and involved ritual to get married here, so don’t worry, we won’t elope 🙂 We’ll visit a few more sights tomorrow morning before catching a bus to Kuala Lumpur (the capital) which is only two hours away.
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