Great Impressions of an Amazing City
Singapore, 16th March 2002
Wow!
Singapore is amazing! Our experiences in the first 15 minutes kind
of summed this place up!
When we arrived, we stepped in a modern, ultra-clean, huge airport.
We quickly progressed through a series of absolutely enormous, but
spartan rooms, and got to customs. We both got 30 day stamps without
any problems. I think that they used to giving British passport
holders a free 15 day visa, but they seem to have increased this to
30 days. Not that we'll need that long in a place this small!
Singapore can be explored thoroughly in less than a week.
After collecting our bags, we had 3 choices to get to our hotel.
(There was actually a 4th one, the MRT, Singapore's ultra-clean
underground train, but we didn't know about it because it was only
recently extended to reach the airport). We could take the very
cheap bus, a medium priced 'Maxi-cab' or an expensive taxi. We
decided to take the middle option because we didn't know the city
yet and the maxi-cabs would drop us off at any hotel in the city
centre.
After getting some money from the ATM, we headed over to the
Maxi-Cab desk. In a whirlwind of activity, we were immediately
gathered into a group of 6 and whooshed off by our driver out to the
forecourt.
We all climbed into a brand new, silver Mercedes van, the engine
started silently, and off we went. We drove quietly & smoothly down
a long, straight road to the city. The roads were pretty empty and
everything seemed strangely quiet. I guess it just felt quiet
because we've been in hectic Bali too long!
Our first impressions of the city were ultra-clean and
ultra-efficient. The fantastic, smooth and silent taxi we were in
added to the whole atmosphere.
For those of you who don't know, Singaporeans have agreed to lose a
certain amount of personal freedom in exchange for levels of wealth,
comfort, cleanliness and technology that were unthinkable 50 years
ago. The laws, which sound excessively harsh to us in the UK, have
led to Singapore being head & shoulders above other South-East Asian
countries. Some illegal things include: chewing gum, littering,
eating & drinking on public transport, jay-walking and not flushing
a public toilet. All of them are punishable by very large fines.
Any how, driving around Singapore felt like driving around any
Western city. In fact, it felt like home because the main language
here is English!
As we entered the city, we turned onto another road, and immediately
we were hit by Singapore's multiculturalism. Standing on the corner,
a man held his 2 children by the hand. They were all dressed in the
sparkling clean, white, flowing, traditional dress of Muslims going
to a ceremony. As we winded through the streets, we passed
traditional dressed Chinese, Malays, Arabs, Indians all mixed with
Asian businessmen marching the street with their mobiles pinned to
their ears.
We were originally going to go to the 'Hawaii Hostel' as recommended
in the Rough Guide. However, when we were in the airport, a man
handed a brochure for a brand new hostel called 'D'Simple Hostel'.
As it was new, it must have fairly good facilities, plus, dorms were
only $10, so we decided to check it out. After dropping the other 4
people off, 2 at the bus station, 2 at a very expensive looking
hotel, we were driven round to a back street where 'Hostel D'Simple'
was located. The driver had run out of change, and as Stinge and I
only had $50 notes, I ran upstairs to get some change from the
hostel receptionist. She handed me some $10 notes, and I ran down to
pay him. We still had to overpay a little because he had no change
at all. Hmmm.
Climbing back up the stairs, we dumped our bags on the floor, and
started to talk with the hostel owners, a middle-aged Asian couple.
It turned out that they had no dorm beds left, and the cheapest room
we could get was a twin room for $15 each. Hmmm. While we were
thinking, a group of other backpackers came storming up the stairs.
We recognised them all from out flight, and they all wanted dorm
beds as well. The lady gave them the news, and then gave them their
options. And while THEY were thinking, another group of backpackers
from our flight turned up! This continued for about 20 minutes,
until the tiny office was packed full with backpackers, all arriving
from the same flight as us. This place seemed to be doing some
fantastic advertising at the airport, but it simply couldn't cope
with the custom. It must only have about a dozen dorm beds.
The lady then started rushing around trying to sort everyone out. It
turned out that half of the rooms weren't ready yet, so the people
that decided to take the rooms were forced to wait in the office
while they were sorted. After about an hour, the office was almost
empty again. She had seemed to sort everyone else out first, before
remembering about me and Stinge. Lucky we weren't in a hurry! During
the whole farce, we had managed to get a third guy to share the room
with us, which would bring the cost down a little.
After another 30 minutes, our room was ready, and she gave us the
keys. After walking around an absolute warren of a building, we
eventually found our room in a back corner. Quite a hike from the
front door! I think if you came back here late, inebriated, you'd
have a serious problem getting to your room due to the sheer number
of corridors, twists & turns and doors.
Anyhow, we dumped our bags on our beds, and went to find somewhere
to eat. Using the map I'd picked up at the airport, I found that the
nearest shopping centre was the CHIJMES complex. However, when we
got there, it seemed really quiet & nothing appeared to be open. So
we continued onwards to the Raffles Complex. Ah, now that was
better.
The Raffles complex is a large, multi-floored shopping complex with
plenty of places to eat. We walked around the building first,
exploring some of the shops to see how Singaporean prices compared
to home. Of course, the first shop we went to was a computer
software shop. This was followed by a multimedia shop. Stinge and I
walked around various shops, drooling at all the latest technology.
It might be because its so close to Japan, but Singapore seems to
have all the latest stuff, at fantastic prices. I had to use real
restraint to whip out my credit card. I was so tempted to buy a
portable DVD player, a huge projector based 'home cinema' or a
fantastic flat monitor. Especially because of the low prices.
Eventually, Stinge & I pulled ourselves away from this torture. MEMO
TO SELF: Get very rich, then come to Singapore to buy loads of
gadgets & home-entertainment system.
The first food court we found was an Asian one. It had every type of
Asian cuisine, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malay, Indonesian and
more. Some of the dishes looked very tempting, some of the looked,
um, strange! Stinge decided that he could really do with a homely
western meal right now. He had made some bad choices when trying
local cuisine, and he wanted a dish that he would definitely like.
While trying to find some Western food places, I saw in the corner
of my eye, a green 'SPENCE'. I instantly recognised the font and was
excited to recognise a branch of 'Marks & Spencer'! I know it's sad,
but since I worked there, I seemed to have gained some weird
connection with the company. Wherever I am, whenever I see a Marks &
Spencer, I get excited. Yes I know it's sad, but I can't help it! I
forced Stinge to go in it for a few minutes, then we continued our
hunt for somewhere to eat.
We eventually found another food court in the basement. There were
all sorts, including Starbucks and a Burger King. We eventually
decided on pizza at this cool, little place. After wolfing down some
absolutely delicious pizza, we continued our walk around Singapore.
We soon came to another shopping centre, and went in to have a look
around. We checked a few more home-entertainment and electronic
shops, but by that time it was 10pm and the shops started to close.
As it was getting late, and Stinge had an early flight, we decided
to head back.
The bed's were quite comfortable, but the room was tiny, it was
really cramped and there was nowhere to put our bags. I ended up
sleeping with my rucksack on my bed. Well, I say sleeping, Although
the bed was ok, the pillow was really annoying and I couldn't get to
sleep for some reason. It might be the thoughts running through my
head, or the excitement/nervousness of travelling alone. Whatever
reason it was, it was a long, sleepless night...
Next Diary Entry >>
|
