Back in the Garden City
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2007
1
31
33
Trip End
Apr 21, 2008
Singapore,
Singapore
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Orchard Road area
. I elected to try out a new hotel this time given my new obsession with hotel and flight points and am kicking back at the Sheraton Towers this time. It is in the Orchard Road area, an as yet unexplored region of this island. Given the size of this place and the fact this is my 4th trip in 5 months, I find that hard to believe that there is anywhere I haven't been yet. But I still have quite enough left to do that will keep me busy and in trouble for the next 19 or so days.
I decided to stay in Singapore for the weekend after-all and just chilled at the pool all day Saturday. It was quite festive at the pool and everybody was throwing back the drinks, so I joined them and had a few coronas before heading out to Orchard Street for dinner. I guess the sun really got to me because I was exhausted and just went back to my room and watched a movie. It was probably a good thing because I was planning on heading out to Pulau Ubin, an island off the North Eastern coast of Singapore the next morning and wanted to get an early start to beat the heat, a very hard feat. It is supposed to be laid back and not built up and a great day trip. So I paid my $2 (Singapore) and took the bum-boat ride over. I decided to rent a bike and use that as my mode of transportation around the island since this looked like the thing to do and bonus I would get some exercise and not have to go to the gym when I got back to the hotel (aka beers after bike ride)
Orchard Road area (b)
. A little exercise? 2 1//2 hours of uphill, downhill, walk the damn thing, can a person sweat this much and not pass out - later, I was having a blast and was so glad to just be outside and free of the urban crawl of any city and not stuck in an outpost in India where you are at the mercy of someone else and unsure of everything. It was very hot and very humid and it only took a matter of minutes before I was covered in sweat and I mean real sweat, like the kind that runs down your leg and drips off your nose. But everybody else looked like they were as hot as I felt so we all suffered together. There were a lot of stops along the way and so many signs advertising "cold drinks" that I figured it was probably really hot here a lot. It was a laid back place that once you got away from the ferry dock there really wasn't much around. I didn't see any of the animals listed in the pamphlet I picked up at the information booth but did see a lot of dogs wandering around and acting like locals. I guess I would have had more of an opportunity to see some of the birds listed if I had slowed down. I started to make another loop of the island and was about half way through when an "abort plan" option suddenly opened up to me with a path that headed back to the "village" and my common sense got the better of me. I made it back to the ferry dock and kicked back and had a couple of cold ones on the water and just relaxed and watched the rhythm of the island as boats came and dropped people off, leading to a momentary rush at the bike rental shops, exhausted visitors getting back from the hot trails sitting down for something cold to drink and maybe some of the good seafood you couldn't help but smell, to finally boats picking of weary travelers and heading back to the mainland. After spending about 5 hours out here I too became one of the weary travelers and headed back to the bum boat and hitched a ride back to the mainland and my hotel where I dropped into a dead sleep.
It is now Tuesday afternoon and I am at the office planning on how to spend my time away from the office. I will let you know how it goes. Talk to you soon. B
