Soft, Sweet Singapore
Trip Start
Oct 12, 2005
1
32
48
Trip End
Mar 31, 2006
Singapore,
Singapore
Friday, January 20, 2006
Before we dive into Singapore, we'll catch you up on our last few days in Malaysia. After returning from Borneo, we spent two nights in Kuala Lumpur so we could pay Mogan's family a visit. Mogan's brother Guna (who took us out to an awesome Banana Leaf dinner the week before) toured us around the neighborhood(including an enormous mall that was bigger than any we had ever seen). We were pleased to meet Mr. and Mrs. Ramalinggam; Mogan and Guna's sisters as well as his nephew -- Kieron. we also briefly met Mogan's other brother and his wife (Kieron's parents) while cruising around town with Guna
01 Goofballs
. After sharing some pictures, we settled down to the best Indian food we've ever eaten (prepared by Mogan's mom). We ate until we couldn't possibly eat anymore. Mrs. Ramalinggam would only be satisfied when we slipped into a food coma. We definitely didn't mind obliging her. Upon parting, Kristy was given beautiful hand-embroidered blouse that will be perfect for our next few months of travel. The morning after our visit, we took a five hour bus ride to Singapore. The border crossing required us to disembark from the bus to leave Malaysia; reboard and drive a few minutes; get off again (with luggage) and present passports to enter Singapore. A very painless crossing but it seemed funny that the two countries haven't put their operations in the same building like most other border crossings.
Our hotel, Albert Court, is great. It's located on the outskirts of Little India so we've been continuing our Indian food excursions. Why on earth are we always eating india food and shopping in indian shops before going to India, itself? Who knows. On our first night we took a walk down to the famous Orchard Road which is basically the main shopping street. It was filled with western shoppers. We heard a lot of American voices for the first time in a long time.
02 The feast
It started to rain during our walk which at first seemed like no big deal -- little did we know that when it rains it always pours! It's impossible to walk in the rain here without getting drenched in about thirty seconds so we opted for a cab back to the hotel and an early evening.The next morning we headed out for more walking despite the blazing heat and high humidity. We took a walk through the historic Raffles Hotel and other British Colonial buildings along the Singapore River. We also took in the sights of Chinatown and Little India. We're a bit puzzled that a country / city composed of people that are mainly Chinese in origin has a separate area of town called Chinatown. (If anyone can explain - please write in!). We also took a High Tea boat tour of Singapore harbor. (It sounds a lot more exciting and delicious than it actually was but a nice way to see the skyline).
The highlight of our trip has definitely the Singapore Night Safari. The concept is that since most animals come out at night to feed they created a zoo that would feature animals after dark. There was an excellent tram ride around the grounds as well as a series of walking trails that allowed us to get a little closer to the animals. We saw lions, rhinos, tigers, leopards, elephants, giraffes, zebras, flying foxes, tapirs, a slow loris, and many other strange SE Asian creatures
03 The family
. While all the animals were a safe distance from people, they were pretty much free to roam around. In addition to the sights of Singapore, we have really enjoyed the hospitality of Singaporeans. People are generally polite; no spitting on the streets; no littering; no chewing gum, etc... (OR YOU WILL BE CANED!!) We met two people in particular (Yusoff and Malina) at the Indian restaurant across from our hotel who were incredibly kind. We chatted about food and travel for a bit and then they picked up our dinner bill! They also invited us out to their home for a meal but unfortunately the timing just didn't work this time but if we're ever back in these parts we'll definitely give them a call.
Although touted as an extremely expensive city, we haven't been that bad off. In fact we had one of our cheapest meals yet (Indian again, of course) for only 6 Singaporean dollars (about $4 US) two banana leafs and teh tarik.
In a little more than twelve hours we will be ending the Souteast Asian part of our journey and moving on to India. Matt's parents will be arriving in Delhi in a little more than 24 hours and Lauren and her boyfriend, Matt (yes, another Matt) will not be far behind! We're looking forward to seeing everyone and to having some company for our first week in India. We're currently compiling a South East Asian retrospective entry which we hope to have ready in the next few days.
Comments
Why is there a chinatown?
Well few hundred years ago, Singapore was not a majority chinese country. Migrants of all races came here to work. In order to have little conflict between the races, different races were segregrated into different area to live in. The area where chinatown is, is where the chinese lived. Ditto for Little India & etc
Cheers