Three really quite boozy days in Singapore, being given a peek into expat life, having cocktails in famous bars, sampling Singaporean classics and visiting Gardens by the Bay, and the Night Safari.
Given that I have never managed to catch a flight in or out of Indonesia without screwing it up somehow, I am quite surprised I made it to Singapore in one piece. I specifically got to Denpasar airport quite early, just in case, and, since I still had a ton of rupiah left, decided to treat myself to the same breakfast I had last time I was in this airport (ie, when I spent seven hours waiting for a new flight because I missed the first). It was great but I somehow managed to make last call for boarding my flight because I didn’t check the time properly. Still, I made it. I’m taking this as a win.
I flew with Scoot, which is Singapore’s budget airline, which was utterly fine except for the fact that, as much as I like to convince myself my 40 litre backpack still passes as hand luggage, I know it is now too full and really really doesn’t. For that reason, I had to purchase checked baggage, which I couldn’t do online for some reason so had to pay an utterly ridiculous sum to do it at the airport. Still, I made it into the country, and it was my first new country in months, so extra exciting!
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I was going to be staying with Becca, a friend of one of my besties from back home (hey Kara, hey) who’d I’d met a few times when she’d been in the UK but didn’t know incredibly well. She was an utterly fantastic host: she was at work when I arrived but left her key with her doorman so I could get into her apartment which she shared with some other girls. I caught the local bus from the airport and carried my (now, really too heavy) backpack a kilometre in the insane heat to the address I’d been given. My tablet keyboard had stopped working in Denpasar airport and so I spent that afternoon wandering around an extremely shiny but extremely confusing shopping mall trying to source a replacement until I met Becca after work.
I wasn’t expecting her to host me for all of the tourist things but she was really excited to do so, claiming she hadn’t had many visitors yet (she became an expat there 5 months ago) and so was excited to practice her tour skills. That first evening she took me to Boat Quay, where we got Mediterranean food and a jug of beer and caught up. Like Australia before it, I had assumed I would be pretty sober on Singapore because of the cost of everything. Like Australia before it I was extremely extremely mistaken on this front. After dinner we went to a bottle bar in the expat area to meet some of her friends so they could catch up on gossip from the recent boat party they’d all been on. Yes, I know, boat parties are apparently a thing. It was with my third gin and tonic in hand, being told just how wild this boat party was and how that evening (friday) was quiet because they’d all gotten so very very drunk the (work) night before that I started to really get the feel for what expat life in Singapore was like. The word ‘spectacular’ is honestly the one that springs to mind. Life here is ridiculous, it’s fast-paced and social and utterly, utterly mental. The situations these guys just stumble into because actually, the utterly unreal things are harder to avoid than to be part of sound like the kind of things you only read about in fiction. They have clubs with ferris wheels in them, and shopping malls with gondolas. It feels like everything was designed with spectacle in mind, and so every single thing in Singapore is just that little bit unreal. Almost as if, when building every individual thing they said, ‘how can we make this perfectly functional, exceptionally beautiful and just one step too far?’.
When we decided the night was at an end, rather than getting a taxi home, we got a party bus. Yes, Sam, one of Becca’s friends decided that this was an experience that I needed so the three of us stumbled into an unnecessary and overpriced but utterly awesome mini-van type thing that had been converted into a moving party, complete with pole and disco lights. I think I still have videos of us all screaming ‘Mr Brightside’ whilst Sam dances around the pole for our entertainment. Other highlights of the evening include realising how different talking to expats versus travellers is (same barriers as long termers on Gili T and in Oz, oh and also, everyone seems to be French) and some random guy insisting I try his 7/11 egg and cheese sandwich – it was actually far better than anticipated.
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I had some ideas of the things I absolutely needed to experience whilst in Singapore, and Becca assured me we could do most of it in a single day and would therefore be free to attend the party we’d both been invited to the next afternoon. In the morning, however, we trekked to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, carefully avoiding canon fire or whatever the loud noises were (Becca explained National Day and the massive build-up to it as we had to take a long detour around a blocked off road). We went all the way to the skybar and ordered cocktails that weren’t on the menu at Spago (apparently they used to be but were too popular so they took them off), the rooftop bar and restaurant. Pool access is strictly guests only, which means so is the infinity pool view of the Singapore skyline. The Indonesia side, however, is fair game and I thought it was beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, the drinks were insanely expensive, but worth it for the experience!
That afternoon was spent drinking 100plus, Singapore’s answer to Pocari Sweat (which incidentally is Indonesia’s answer to Lucozade Sport), looking for a tablet keyboard and appropriate costumes for the party later that day which had an extremely weird theme that involved bright clothing. I honestly don’t remember the party that much, but it was fine. Again, it’s definitely a bit harder to socialise with expats when you’re only there for a day or two and they’re, well, not. I figured I’d gotten great at talking to everyone and building really fast relationships, and don’t get me wrong, I definitely held my own, but it doesn’t come as easily as it does at a hostel bar, and feels weirdly pointless given the expats are not in the same need-to-make-friends boat. The people I bonded with the most were Becca’s closest friends and I suspect that makes a lot of sense given that they’re the ones I’m most likely to see again. In fact, I’ve already been invited to the next boat party! I kind of already knew I’m not quite up for the Singapore lifestyle, and was bundled into a taxi back to Becca’s at 2am, whereas they all continued into the night. Unfortunately, when I got in I just couldn’t work the aircon at all, and had to sleep without it leaving myself a dehydrated mess. Luckily I know when to stop drinking so it wasn’t as bad as it night have been.
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My last full day in Singapore was mine and Becca’s tourist day, where we somehow fit in an insane and utterly impressive amount of things! First port of call was the infamous Gardens by the Bay, which was my number 1 must-see of the trip. Cliche? I know, but incredible? Definitely. This is utterly unlike any attraction I’ve ever been to. I love that this country created something so environmentally aware, and managed to make it, not only cool by adding that same amount of spectacle I’ve come to expect from everything in Singapore, but also a world-recognised tourist destination. It’s a bloody garden ffs, but it’s also the best frog-damn garden I’ve ever been to. We paid the extra to visit the cloud forest, flower dome and OCBC skyway, but honestly, my favourite part was seeing those alien trees from the ground. We went late-morning so didn’t catch the light show, but it was unreal and stunning anyway. I bought my Singapore postcard (and more 100plus) from the gift shop there. I’d have loved a Gardens by the Bay patch for my backpack but I never found patches in Singapore at all, sadly. I guess it’s tourism isn’t exactly aimed at backpackers although we stumble through occassionally anyway.
We had lunch at Satay by the Bay, which was inexpensive (for Singapore) and incredible, then went to find the Raffles Hotel for a cheeky midday Singapore Sling in the bar that invented them (I did warn you that Singapore was not my most sober country). This cocktail cost even more than the Marina Bay Sands one, but again, worth it for the experience so long as you’re not at the end of your backpacking budget.
Slightly tipsy (they make them strong) we went to go see the Merlion fountain before going to the Newton Hawker Centre which appeared in the movie (and possibly the book – I wouldn’t know, I didn’t read it) Crazy Rich Asians. We had to obnoxiously wait near a couple who looked nearly finished and use ninja skills to scoop up a good table, but Becca took the liberty of ordering a bunch of Singaporean dishes she thought I ought to try. Incredibly, Sting Ray was surprisingly good, as was the carrot cake (containing neither carrot nor cake). After lots of food and a few more beers, we did our last tourist item on the list: the night safari. This was something I’d never heard of, but that Becca recommended. It was not cheap, but it was also something I’d never seen anywhere else: basically you go on a little shuttle ride through a wildlife park in the dark, so you can see the nocturnal animals. I think I was a little too tired to fully enjoy it in all honestly, but it was really cool.
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My flight was fairly early the next morning, and in my desperation to find a keyboard and explore the airport, which I’d been told was also spectacular, I made sure to head there several hours early. I wanted to get the local bus again, but honestly, at 5am my resolve failed me and I got a $20 dollar grab ride instead. When I arrived I checked in, purchased more insanely overpriced baggage, and immediately went in search of electronic stores. I don’t use my tablet for anything except blogging really, but I do need a keyboard for that, and I worried if I didn’t have one for several weeks I’d fall too far behind to catch up. The chances of finding one in Luang Prabang seemed slim, so the airport was my last desperate attempt to keep recording my trip in this way. Luckily, I did find one. The new keyboard I have is for a samsung tablet, which is larger than my lenovo, but it connects successfully enough. Hilariously I’ve fallen extremely behind on this blog anyhow (more on this later) but at least I’m fully equipped again.
After fulfilling my technical needs I went to go and see the Sunflower garden, that apparently exists in the airport, but I accidentally got distracted by a sign reading ‘Pho’ and never made it that far. I did successfully make it onto my flight though. The only slight hiccup this time was how cold I was. I use to deliberately change into travel clothes for flights and bus rides: leggings, a hoodie and my hiking boots (with the added bonus of freeing some space in my bag so it was less bulky to carry). I don’t know entirely when this stopped, just that for the last few times my hiking boots have been tied to my backpack whilst I pad around in my two-sizes-too-large havaianas, elephant shorts and my dive tshirt. It was a damn cold plane ride, made worse by the terrible habit I’ve formed of having no idea how long the flight I’ve just boarded is meant to be. Luckily I was not surprised by a 5 hour flight and landed safely in Laos just a few hours later.
Brummie goes global 