Singapore Days 3/4
So I last left you all from the airport in Hong Kong where I was enjoying the free internet and just relaxing before my flight to Singapore. The flight was nice, I got an emergency exit aisle seat which = a little slice of heaven…it is those things that really makes the trip. Arriving at Sing airport was crazy…the line for immigration was really long and took about an hour. I was real pissed standing there waiting to get my passport stamped which should take two minutes, but no, it took forever. So after I finally got through the line I went to the famous visitor’s centre at Changi Airport. It definitely lived up to the expectations and reputation it has been given. They had everything. Free maps, brochures, passes to clubs, everything. The lady there told me how to get to my hostel, where to go, what to see, it was really nice. It was about 4PM after I was done at the visitor’s centre and I was really nackered (tired), so I decided to endulge myself with a cab ride to my hostel. Low and behold g-d punished me for being lazy and not taking the two trains and the 10 minute walk with all my stuff to the hostel, because the taxi driver did not really speak english. But what was worse was that he didn’t know where Little India was! I mean the country is pretty small, its basically like one big city with suburbs surrounding it and Little India is famous and popular. But after he pulled over several times to look at MY map, he got me there and the cab ride with air conditioning was worth it (mere $15 SGD).
So I was finally at my hostel, tired, cranky and hot. It was about 91 degrees and about 90% humidity, and I was sweating like crazy. Anyway I got my room in the dorm and crashed on to the plastic covered bed (like grandma use to have). I immediately befriended this girl named Jenny from Liverpool now living in London. We chatted for about an hour and decided to go explore Singapore. We took a train down to the habour and checked out the skyline at night with all the buildings lit up. It was brilliant. We then took a night river cruise throughout basically all of the downtown city, everything was lit up, we had a voice recorded tour, and it was nice and cool with the wind blowing off the water. The boat had red lanterns and was very authentic.
After the cruise we headed back to the hostel and got some tiger beers, some more tiger beers, some more tiger beers and then played some pool. It was a nice first night in Singapore, and met some real cool people.
Day 2 in Singapore Jenny and I went to the nature reserve outside of the city. We had to take a train and and a bus to the Bukit Tanah Nature Reserve. Now I’m not usually a trekking fan, I like air conditioning, riding on buses and staying cool, but Jenny convinced me to do a hike or two through the reserve. She got me to go by saying that we could see some monkeys and pythons wild in the reserve. Well after hiking up steep steps in the mud, hot and humid weather, we saw no monkey or pythons, but all in all was a great hike through the trails to see some wildlife, fauna and vegetation. Nice break from the hustle and bustle of the big cities.
After our hike we decided to get some authentic food. I forgot to mention that for lunch before the hike we got some real authentic street vendor food in Little India. It was fresh, clean and amazing. I got noodles, chicken, mushrooms in a broth. It was fabulous. But anyway after the hike we got some more authentic food but this time switched it up to duck and rice with some quality brown sauce and a 7up. It really hit the spot and kept me going. After that we eventually made our way back to the hostel and I got some more of that same food from lunch, and am sitting, relaxing and enjoying the confines of the hostel.
I might go out tonight, but most likely will just stay in the hostel, drink tiger beer and play pool. Tomorrow I will explore the city center, chinatown, little india, buy some chatchkas and the night safari.
Stay tuned for more adventures tomorrow.
Thanks,
Josh
Tags: Travel
Josh
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