Singapore
Saturday, January 7th, 2006
13 hours on a plane, with 3 stops, plonked me onto this small country. Flying over Singapore to reach the airport all you seem to notice is enourmous golf courses, green as far as the eyes can see. When you land, all you see is concrete, tall towering concrete. The traffic lights provide you with a countdown before you get run over, the toilets flush while you are still on them, some urinals have fish tanks above them, all toilets have flashing lights letting you know their status (occupied, flushing, flushed etc….)
I had a bit of an argument with a girl from Singapore when I was in Peru, I sat down next to her and asked;
“Hey where are you from”
“Singapore”she replied
“Can you speak Mandarin?” I enquired.
“No, why do you think that?”
I briefly explained I have learnt a bit of Mandarin from people who lived in Singapore and she just replied “You’re just f*ing stereotyping, where are you from?”
“England” I replied, tail tucked firmly betweem my legs.
“That f*ing explains it then”…
“Fuck you” I hinted and walked off.
I later checked on the internet to see if I was being offensive, the offical language is English, but Mandarin (Chinese) is firmly second. Since I have been here for a week I am yet to hear Singaporeans speak English to each other, my hotel guide tries to speak English to me but speaks Chinese to everyone who works there. I always say ‘thank you’ in Chinese as I get a brighter response.
I have been travelling around Singapore mainly by the ‘MRT’ (Mass Rapid Transport), it’s basically a very, very well organised subway and of cause being in Singapore, clean as heaven. The signs on the subway explain why. “Smoking $1000 fine, Flammable products $5000, Eating or Drinking $500”.
Most places where I have been I haven’t seen any tourists, and I get stared at like I really shouldn’t be here.
I love it.
My first night out, I decided to order myself a beer in a local bar and watch football (Man U Vs. Arsenal). My one beer came out as a jug (5 pints), so I started sipping away. Next to me an elderly man blurted out “The score was 0-0 you know?”, I didn’t know, but it saved me from watching lots of men running around in shorts, kicking a spherical object between themselves on the off chance it might end up in-between the rectuangular white posts before dropping limply to the floor after hitting the oversided, errected, fishing netting. I thanked Steve, gave him some of my beer and he then took me under his wing “You are a visitor to Singapore, it’s my duty to entertain you” So, he took me out, got me drunk and after taking me to a Chinese singing bar, paid for a taxi and the taxi driver sent me home.
The gaming arcades are super sized and crammed full of not-so-supersized people bashing at virtual drums and dancing on virual machines. I’ve visited temples, resturants, the city hall and i’ve also visited the Zoo, which most people say is the most spectacular zoo in the world. I loved it, but it was full of animals.
There isn’t much else to do really, Singapore is great for shopping and looking at huge buildings but after a week, seeing as it’s about the size of Manchester, you’ve pretty much exhausted it.
So, Singapore – i’ve, eaten every asian cuisene possible and today I am off to the Raffles hotel, because my Mummy told me to, then I’m flying to Thailand to spend a few weeks their to meet up with people, then flying back to Indonesia.
Sorry you’ve had to read to updates in one week, and if you haven’t then, well, er….
Rob Hasler