Ok, so where did I leave off. Oh yes, leaving the Philippines….
Sidebar: Blogspot has grounded me for using too many GB of memory on pictures, so you will have to check out my public Facebook albums...
We were headed to Singapore. And I realize that I never clarified who “we” are. Amanda and myself traveled with six other Germans, two girls who became our close friends over the course of the semester, and four guys who were so much fun to travel with. I don’t think I will ever forget the great friends I made on this trip.
Anyways, onto Singapore. We arrived pretty late in the night and found ourselves a private bus to our hostel. We pull up to this little hole in the wall with a paper, not a sign, a paper reading: Hostel this way -->. We were thinking “ohhh no” as we trudged up the 3 flights of stairs. This hostel could have been horrible, but to our surprise, it was the nicest place we had stayed yet. Many hostels have different options of how you can room – Full bed private, 4 person shared, 8 person shared, you get the idea. Obviously the cheapest option is 8 person shared, meaning 8 random people. Totally new experience to me. But, it turned out to be OK as we met new people along the way who were just backpackers like we were.
Singapore is just south of Malaysia and a series of islands, similar to Hong Kong. I had anticipated Singapore to be almost exactly like Hong Kong, but was so surprised at the many differences. If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed that we were in America. The buildings were very spread apart, the city was extremely clean, prices were close to the American dollar, and there wasn’t much unique culture. Now, to say there wasn’t any culture is a sin – there was just such a mix of cultures that each culture got lost in translation. The city was a mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian Muslim, and expatriates. There were four official languages: Mandarin, Tamil, Malay, and English, therefore everything was translated into each of these languages. Also, Singapore is known for its cleanliness. It’s even illegal to sell gum in the stores – I couldn’t find it anywhere and quickly discovered an underground market for this sticky product. How crazy.
Given the many different cultures, you could imagine that each of these people would have their own area of the city. We went to Chinatown, Little India and Arab Street. Chinatown was exactly what you would expect, needless to say, we were all a little tired of this whole “China” crap. So we quickly stopped through the area while heading onto the next. Little India was much more unique. I wish I could post specific pictures, but oh well. We had a traditional Indian meal, served on a banana leaf. In the Indian culture you are supposed to only eat with your right hand. Touching any of your food with your left hand is considered disgusting since your left hand is associated with bathroom issues, enough said. The restaurant, filled with true Indians, did not mellow down the food one bit. I think my taste buds had been scarred for life. Can’t wait for my trip to India, which is actually on the “to-do list”.
Arab Street was filled with fabric shops and small stores. Most notably, Arab Street is lined with bars and is the most hoppin’ bar area in Singapore. We stopped in a local hookah bar for a few beers and some hookah (but none for me, smoking anything ain't my thang). It was quite interesting to actually sit on the floor to have a few drinks instead of in a swanky restaurant or bar, like Hong Kong. It definitely added to the experience.
The famous hotel in Singapore, the Sands Hotel, is known for it’s beautiful view of the city. The hotel is located farther away from the center of the city. If you look through my pictures you can see a big boat centered on three pillars – that’s the hotel. After waiting in a long line, which is to be expected in tourist attractions, we rode the elevator to the top. I wasn’t too impressed with the buildings in Singapore until seeing the view from the hotel. Holy cow, the city is incredible. With the unique prickly melon building, more formally known as the arts center, and the beautiful Ferris wheel, Singapore definitely is high on my list of coolest skylines ever.
We were fortunate enough to spend New Year’s Eve in Singapore – it was one of the best New Year’s parties I had ever been to. The party was held on another island just a short train ride away from the main part of Singapore. There were rows and rows of beach parties with DJ’s and all sorts of music. We danced the night away to the countdown. At midnight, the Indian community thoroughly enjoyed celebrating and dancing the night away in their own unique way… we’ll just leave it at that. Best New Year’s yet.
The next morning we left the boys at Terminal 2 and made a short, yet painful, flight to Kuala Lumpur.
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