Singapore

My time in Singapore was fleeting, but rewarding. Arriving mid afternoon, I then had the task of trying to locate Laura who had been on an earlier flight. As she had mentioned Chinatown as a particular favourite I decided to begin my search there.

Getting the train into town was initially more frustrating than I imagined. The tourist ticket I had read was $6 was not showing on the ticket machine, and when trying to but a normal ticket the machine would not give more than $4 change so would not take my larger note. On going to speak to the information desk I saw I was able to buy the ticket at the other terminal, so off I went up and out the station to enter from the other side. I then found out the ticket was $20 not $6, so opted for a single ticket to Chinatown afterall. Forgetting it would not take larger notes I tried to buy a ticket, and got refused again. After around 30 minutes I did finally get my ticket and was waiting on the platform for the train!

Luckily the train system was easy to navigate due to the maps of the city provided on your exit from the airport. Everything felt very high tech and futuristic as the train zipped smoothly along it’s raised track. Fines for eating, drinking or smoking on the trains, alongside views of immaculate streets below, creating an almost Stepford Wives atmosphere. Many of the buildings had a surreal feel to them as though they were part of a film set or model town.

On arriving in Chinatown I was faced with a problem of the more developed world, a lack of easy access to WiFi. After searching 20 minute or so I located the WiFi and began my attempt to find Laura. At this point a message came through to say she was waiting for me at my airport terminal. Disaster!

And so began my long afternoon of waiting. The next three hours of my Singapore journey spent inside the same uninspiring shopping centre. Laura caught up with me an hour or so later, however we then began the wait for her friend from Singapore who had offered to show us around.

Despite the very slow start my day did vastly improve. Once Troy found us we went in search of food. He took us to a completely vegetarian restaurant in Chinatown where we shared four different mock meat dishes and I could finally say I have eaten meat on a stick (kind of). I went so far as to say this may have been my best, most exciting meal in Asia to date!

From here, on our request to see the night lights of Singapore, Troy led us to the Marine Bay. The train station exit led us into a shopping centre, which blew us away in itself, having a small river and boat running through the bottom level. As we stepped out into the bay the view was astounding, we were surrounded by skyrise buildings lighting up the night sky. In front of us was the bay itself, which created beautiful, illuminated reflections.

We spent our remaining time in this area, making a circuit of the bay and capturing photographs from all possible angles. This will be the image I conjure in my head when Singapore is mentioned, and I am more than okay with that.