Singapore

SINGAPORE – Cousins on Tour 2019

(5/4/2019 – 12/4/2019)

Wednesday 27th of March, 2019

I have started to organise my packing for Shanghai. However, before I leave for Shanghai, I have to head to Singapore. So the packing for the Singapore is well underway. My packing of my tennis stuff will be the very last thing that I do but most of my general everyday stuff is already packed.

I am away in Singapore for 8 days, leaving on the 5th of April, 2019. I am so looking forward to catching up with my tennis friends. I cant wait to see their faces when they see me for the first time since October 2018, especially Royson. The big surprise for them will be that I have lost approximately 20kg since I last saw them.

Apart from in Singapore, there is also a number of other things on my to do list. This includes;

• Dinner at Molly’s Irish Pub  – Beef and Guinness Irish Stew Yummy
• Search a very special ice cream ( I have been searching everywhere for this)
• Visit the markets
• Garden by the Bay night time
• See the merlion
• Day trip to Malaysia
• Meeting
• Ice cream sampling (Bacon ice cream among other flavours)
• Catch up with a few special people
• Shopping
• Shopping at Godiva
• Sampling the amazing food at the hawker centres
• Catch up time with friends
• Play some tennis matches
• Eat dumplings, Xiao Long Bao, Chicken / duck rice
• Eat Tokyo Cow Cow Ice-cream
• Visit Orchard Road
• Check out Shanghai airport

So much to do, in such little time. So keep a look out for those posts in the near future.

Friday 5th of April, 2019.

Today I am off to Singapore departing from Gold Coast International Airport flying Singapore Airlines budget company called Scoot Airways. The airport itself is not much. You can pass by the duty free section and not realise it was even there until you get to the gate. The security for bag check is pretty full on. You will have to go through two lots of baggage checks just to get to the gate as well as the usual explosives  check. It kind of reminds me of the security at Bangkok airport.

(Traveller’s tip) When flying to Singapore through Scoot look at leaving from the Gold Coast. The flights are super cheap and you can make a super saving. Last time I looked the difference between leaving leaving from the Gold Coast was roughly 3 to 4 times cheaper than leaving from Brisbane.

The other thing I love about scoot is that their seats are a little wider than the usual airlines and their legroom in economy cannot be matched. If you do fly Scoot it is a good idea to take your own entertainment as there is no entertainment services provided unless you pay for it. However, these days I guess most people do that anyway.

Saturday 6th of April, 2019.

After a rather late night or should I say morning, I was up at 7am to go for my morning walk. I decided that I would go and check out the Arab Street district in Singapore. It consists of a series narrow roads, lane ways and small alley ways. You will often find the tourists posing for picturesque photographs. The two story buildings which look like something out of 1920s China with the wooden slat shutters and the old style windows that are pushed outwards are jammed with a variety of small shops. I can’t help to notice the large number of textile shops and rug shops.

As I walk along the street and pathways, the shop keepers are sweeping the front of their small store fronts with their old tattered bamboo brooms before the days trading begins. Occasionally, some of the shop keepers raise their heads to say good morning or to offer a friendly smile.

Another noticeable feature of the district is that the air is filled with the smells of incense sticks, alluring mild scented spices and the intoxicating aromatic smell from the variety of delicious dishes that the chefs are cooking are for the early risers.

I highly recommend a visit to this area. It was a fascinating walk which helped me forget about the time and to clock up my 10000 steps.

(Travellers tip – Singapore) One last point I wish to make and a reminder to me is that a lot of shops open up around 11am but they close really late.

 

 

 

Sunday 7th of April, 2019.

It was a surprising wake up call by the songs of pray from the local mosque at 5am. It could be heard echoing all around  the surrounding areas.

Not long afterwards I decided to get up and complete my daily walk. With my shoes and walking gear on I headed out to explore Little India.

As you walk into the out skirts of the area, the first noticeable thing about the state of the of the buildings. Most have a ran down appearance. The rusty red tin roofs on top of two story buildings that haven’t been painted in such a  long time that the paint is starting to peel off the exterior and the typical old wooden style window shutters that you find all over Singapore. Each building typically contains about 4 businesses in it. Such is the importance on the use of space in Singapore.

One can’t help to notice how many massage places there were are. In one street alone I counted 14 and the street adjacent there was 10. On Dunlop St the local police proudly placed a sign stating that they had made 43 arrests for soliciting and yet within 10 metres of that sign there were ladies still looking for work.

As I continued my walk my sense of smell is consistently being bombarded by the varied scents of incense sticks and the aromatics of   all different types of curries that are simmering away. Got to love those insanely powerful Indian smells.

But even though I am painting a very poor picture of little India, it has its own charm which I love about it and the people I met on my morning walk were friendly and down to earth. I was lucky to meet a few of them like the guy who was collecting the cans out of the bins in order to swap the cans for money so he could pay for his meals for the day but too proud to accept money from me for the time he took for sharing his story with me or the young gentleman who was surrounded by bee as he cuts and design floral arrangements everyday to provide the local shops to hang on their doorways or to locals who put them on their shrines. You can see how hard life is for the people who work and live there just by looking at their faces.

In the afternoon I ducked over the border to Johor Bahru in Malaysia. I walked around for a little while just exploring. One thing I noticed about the Malaysians is that they take their car customising very serious. This is seen when every second shop I went past had something to do with customising your car. Later after I polished off my very first Starbucks drink ever, an icy cold frappe, I ended up in a shopping centre where I got a 90 minute massage for under $30. So cheap!!!  I was spoilt for choice when trying to choose a massage shop as there was nine massage shops on the one level. I ended up choosing the one the had a massive cinema as you got your massage. Soooooo good!!!

Around 7pm, I decided to head back to Singapore. Now, as I went to Malaysia, getting through the immigration and customs was extremely simple. No crowded lines, virtually no people and no waiting. Just walk up, get your passport stamped and approx. 7 minutes later, you continue on with your Malaysian adventure. However, on the way back to Singapore, customs was just a little more crowded….. 3 hours later, I was finally through the immigration and customs areas. It didn’t help that my paper work wasn’t completed properly and I had to go back and fill out the little red entry card but that only slowed me down 10 minutes.

I was thinking at the time that I was extremely happy to be out of that area. But things went from crowded to sardine can style crowded. Catching a bus from the Causeway to Woodlands MRT was an intimate standing room only affair. The bus was so overcrowded that it was only one step down from the pictures of Indian buses where you see people sitting on top of the roofs. I have to add that because the bus was so crowded, whenever the bus went around a corner, it seriously took the corner game a whole new level. I guess it was good practice for me for bus travel in Shanghai. The 54 minute train ride from Woodlands to Bugis that followed the bus ride was a lot less eventful.

Tuesday 9th of April, 2019.

It was a beautiful evening and I decided to head down to the bayfront area of Singapore. The Bayfront area is home to the Garden by the Bay which is where the beautiful Super trees are located. The tropical weather of Singapore provide the perfect enviroment for the most amazing gardens. When you arrive at the Gardens, the first thing that you notice is not how green everything is or even the different sizes and shapes of the leaves,  but it is the impressive Marina Sands Hotel. This amazing hotel plus the Singapore Flyer Ferris Wheel provide the gardens and the super trees a spectacular backdrop.

While the super trees are a grand sight during the day time with the large canopies of the Supertrees providing daytime shade. The highest Supertree has Supertree bar with panoramic views.  In total, there is 18 super trees ranging from 25 to 50 metres in height, with 2 of the Supertrees connected by a 128 metre long aerial walkway. The super trees and the surrounding area is also the home to over 162,900 plants and over 200 species. There are award winning displays of tropical flowering climbers, epiphytes and ferns all around the giant super trees.

However, it is at night time when the super trees come alive. Everyday and night, thousands of people come to see these impressive sights and try to capture a great a photo memory. It is very important to watch where you are walking and stepping as there is a lot of people just lay on the ground trying to get a better angle for that perfect photo. The light display and the plants really are something that you should not miss out on. It is truely magical. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures that I took.

 

Wednesday 10th of April, 2019.

Once again being awoken by the hypnotic chants at 5am from the Mosque, I got up and prepared my tennis gear. As I was placing my rackets into my bag I noticed that my zip was no longer zipping up properly. I tried fixing it but to no luck.

The issue for me also is that my favourite tennis bag is also my luggage bag. So I guess it is time to buy a new suitcase. Once ready, I headed down to the lobby to be picked up by my good friend Cheryl, who I would be playing tennis.

Afterwards, I went back to Cheryl’s place to check it out. Her apartment is very similar in size to the ones I will be staying at in Shanghai. Cheryl’s place is so nice and has incredible views.

Upon returning to my hotel room, I had a quick shower and headed out to look for a new suitcase. I received a recommendation to go and find a new suitcase at the Mustafa Centre in Little India.

The Mustafa Centre from the outside looks like a typical 3 story building with a walk way over pass connecting to another building on the other side of the road.

But I was in for a rude shock and truly shocked about it’s real size. It is really 5 or 6 stories in height and covers the length of two blocks. This place is truely massive and contains everything. It is so gigantic that you could live inside it for a week and still not see everything. Further more, this shopping centre is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.

(WARNING – BEST SALES PITCH TECHNIQUE EVER)

Anyway, eventually I found the suitcase section and was assisted by a medium built salesman of similar height to me. He was trying his best to make the sale by showing me the features of the suitcase but I still was impressed because the hard case suitcase looked like it had a rather flimsy shell casing. I happened to mentioned this to the salesman. He proceeded to take one of  the suitcases, lay it on the floor, stand on it and continued to bounce up and down on the suitcase for the next 5 minutes as he continued his hard sell. I have to say I was impressed by the suitcase, the salesman and bought the suitcase. In the end it only cast me $49 sgd. I then wheeled the suitcase back the 4km to the hotel through the rain. This suitcase handled it all with ease. I think I shall call it ”Singa” after Singapore. Just like Singapore, it is full of surprises.

Thursday 11th of April, 2019.

I woke up to a high pollution level day. You could kind of notice the haze during day, but it was the night time when it was more noticeable. The abundant neon lights that are found on the sides of the building advertising their products wo

My first hour of the morning was spent re-organising my clothing for washing when I return back to Australia as well as packing some of my tennis gear away into my suitcase. 

I then decided to go to the Chinatown area. It definitely has an asian old school feel to the area and if you are looking for cheap souvenirs then this is one of the places to visit.

While in Chinatown, The Cousins on Tour continue. Alison, Neil, their two boys and myself visited the Chinese Heritage Centre. It was very interesting place as it showed you how the Chinese immigrates to Singapore lived at various points of times. The insights showed just how tough the living conditions and life in general was for them. Later, we found one of the Chinese Hawker Centres to sit down and have lunch at. There is really something special about sitting down, eating as part of a community and supporting the mum and pop type food stalls. I hope the country never gets rid of these places as they provide a unique and special service to both the community and the tourists.

The past few days, I have been waking up with bad headaches because of my hotel pillows have been to soft. So I have decided to go and get myself a decent traveller’s neck pillow. A quick search online found a couple places that might have some decent firm pillows. The first 2 shops where flops but 5km of walking later, I ended up at “A Traveller’s Planet” where I was able to find a good firm neck pillow for once. The price was pretty good as well.

It was nice to get back to the hotel and rest. When I happened to look up my walk coverage for the day, I was plesantly surprised to see that I have covered 23km. My feet were happy to soak in the pool.

Friday 12th of April, 2019.

I finished packing my luggage and checked out of the hotel. I then headed to Bedok MRT and on to Bedok Mall where I finally caught up with Royson. It is always great to catch up with friends. Royson is a great guy and an even better friend to have.

Afterwards ,I still had some time before I had to check in the airport. So I headed to the Bugis Junction food court and decided on some pork ribs with hand stretched noodles. To help wash it down with a fresh watermelon and apple juice. Later. as I was strolling around the markets in Bugis and Albert Street, I found a small bakery stall that was selling traditional Singapore egg tarts. I couldn’t resist to try one. It was pretty yummy.

When it came time to head to the airport, I went back to my hotel and collected my luggage. I thought about catching the MRT to the airport. But quickly realised it was going to be peak time on the MRT and the thought of handling a large suitcase and backpack through a sardine packed railway crowd would be a nightmare. So I decided on taking a taxi to save having any hassles.

One thing that I love about Changi Airport is that they always do a spectacular floral display. This time is no different. The theme for the display was Easter. I will just leave the picture up so everyone can marvel at the display.

Sadly, it is time for me to leave this amazing and special country but I feel that it will not be long before I will return to its shores.

Saturday 13th of April, 2019.

As I am flying back to Australia, I look out the window of the plane into the pitch blackness of the night sky, my eyes are just barely able to work out the silhouette of the wing. The small blinking red light on the tip of the wing is the only break from the darkness. I think about how amazing and lucky I am to be able to travel. I reflect back to my adventures in Singapore, the special friends I have there and of course my cousins on tour. I am truely grateful for it all. . Singapore is a magical and mystical place with hidden treats. I truely love this place and is one place I recommend to everyone to visit for an adventure. Thank you Singapore, you never disappoint. I look forward to my next adventure with you when I return back to you.