Palau Ubin

01/12/2012

Yesterday I went to Joo Chiat Road to experience Peranakan culture. Peranakans are people of Malay-Chinese descent and they have produced some of the most ornate buildings in Singapore. With tiles and lots of color these buildings line Joo Chiat Road down to Katong which is where I stopped for a bite before taking the bus back to the city.

After making my way to the Sands Casino I tried my luck again but this time I spent about $35 and realized it would be better get out while I was still technically ahead. At this point I raced to Tampines to meet up with YK. He bought me a bubble tea and brought me to his home where I dropped off my stuff.

Down in the basement YK loaned me his bike so I could take it to Palau Ubin, a traditional village on an island off the coast of Singapore. Down the road about 30 min I checked a couple roads until I found the ferry where they charge $2 per person and $2 for the bike. There were only a few of us so the captain offered to take us at $5 each and we were happy to accept since we would otherwise be waiting for 30-60 min.

On the island I began my ride and eventually ran into Daisy, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. Her company has sent her to live abroad a couple times and at one point she even lived in Singapore for two years - at this point she was just visiting friends though. As we talked a bunch of monkeys started running towards us and we were soon in the middle of a troop of jumping, swinging, and running monkeys... all intent, no doubt, on robbing us of our goods or at least any food we might have. After taking some footage we moved on and found a giant quary where Daisy has formerly swam but now is fenced off. It was a very blue quary with lots of cool places to jump off the rocks and get eaten by mysterious objects moving through the water.

After finishing the bike ride we decided to get some food but since everything was closed up we hopped on the ferry back which was only $4.50 thanks to a large group who showed up as we were leaving. Back at Changi Village, Daisy and I ate some chicken rice and vegetables then parted ways. On my way back I found that I arrived pretty quickly and YK wasn't due back for a while. After he got back I took a shower up at his place and we walked to the bus stop for the airport. It was moments and the bus was there so after a quick goodbye I was on my way. Next stop: Australia!

Singapore POI:
-English is the primary language
-Small yet has its own holiday island getaway within its borders
-Costs $100 to gamble unless you're a foreigner

Palau Ubin

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Sentosa

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Sentosa

01/10/2012

This morning I went to Kampong Glam for a visual of Malay heritage including the Sultan Mosque - the oldest mosque in Singapore.

Next, I walked down Arab street to Little India for the Tekka Centre - a mall full of hawkers. After searching a bit I finally found a little place selling delicious curry and nan bread and as I ate a guy from a drink shop sold me a tasty sugar cane drink for $1.30. After chowin down a bit I headed to Labrador for the
nature preserve where I saw a cool rock formation called the Dragon's Tooth and some war stuff situated randomly throughout the jungle. I was hoping to find one of their monitor lizards that roam around there but unfortunately there were none to be found. I was startled a bit by a falling branch though.

Sentosa Merlion

After Labrador I headed to Vivo City for the monorail to Sentosa Island. After looking around and talking to a few people I finally found its secret location on the third floor. I was surprised how hard it was to find until I found out the price - the cable car is $27, but the monorail is only $3! Over in Sentosa I saw some sites and eventually ended up in the casino. Casinos in Singapore like to charge $100 to enter, but not if your a foreigner - then it's free! So after using my passport for free admittance I found myself searching for Wheel of Fortune and Roulette. I found Roulette for only $2 per number and right off won $62 and then another $72. After excitedly cashing the tickets I went back and lost $10 at which point I decided to head out. Although, on the way I saw Wheel of Fortune and decided I could afford to play a couple rounds. After spending $50 of my $110 in actual gains I decided to call it a day. Next I explored Sentosa a bit more and took the monorail back and grabbed the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) to Aljunied.

After a while YK showed up and we went to Dim Sum where I had some black jello stuff and we ate Pao (Humbow), Pork rolled in soy bean film, dumplings and fried sticky rice. Next we went for some sweet crissaunt-type bread with soy milk and soy jello. Meanwhile, I went to use the bathroom because the black jello stuff as it turns out is kind of a laxative (YK neglected to mention this before I ate it). Interesting enough, the bathroom was a squating one used my Muslim Malays and so also had a hose for squirting yourself off... I didn't realize it at the time but they also have a button above it for flushing. Anyhow, we soon left and headed for what turned out to be Singapore's version of the red light district. After wading through that we went to get Durin, a fruit that ranges from $2-$22, is covered in spikes and tastes like sweet ice cream. Oh, and it smells, the smell also transfers to your fingers and sticks around for a while. Finally, we decided to call it a night and headed back towards the hostel.

New Horizons

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New Horizons

01/08/2012

At 1a I dragged my food poisoned carcass onto the 14.5 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. After sitting down I began waiting for the plane to take off so I could use the bathroom. An hour and a half later we began moving... meanwhile the lady next to me allowed her little rugrat to crawl all over me. This kid would wait until I was falling asleep then grab and shake me awake. After a while I asked if I could use the bathroom even though the seatbelt sign was on and found that it was actually supposed to be off. As I got up a couple others overhead the good news and raced to the lavatories. Fortunately, I was still able to find some unoccupied ones in the back. When I returned the lady had put up an airplane crib mount for her kid and so, not only did I have to climb over from the other side, but my screen for watching movies was trapped under the crib. For the next 14.5 hours I sat as the lady and her kid went back and forth from the crib making no effort whatsoever to keep to themselves. During both meals the kid decided to help himself to my food as he just couldn't seem to stop grabbing at me and my belongings. His mom pretty much just sat and giggled as her kid harrassed me througout the whole flight... yeah, hilarious.

01/09/2012

I've basically lost a day and on top of that the delay of the first flight means that my second flight left immediately after I arrived in Taipei. I literally got off my 14.5 hour flight and onto another 4.5 hour flight... at least I had a little personal space this time.

After flying eight thousand miles from the US to Singapore I met a Russian traveler in the airport who was on holiday in Asia for a couple weeks. We went to buy tickets but I didn't have cash so I ran to an ATM and went back to buy my metro ticket. When I told the attendant I was here for three days she suggested a multi-pass which allows unlimited use of trains and buses for just $30 for three days - $10 back upon card return! After getting my pass I headed for Aljunied station next to my hostel. On the way I spoke with some Spaniards about my time in Spain and about Singapore. They were here to study and were in the middle of one of their usual five day weekends. One of them was actually from Argentina so I said "me shamo Travis" because Argentinians pronounce double L with and "sh" sound. I knew this because one of my Spanish teachers at the University of Washington was Argentinian.

After about 15 minutes I arrived at Aljunied station. From there it was only a block walk along the tracks to the Urban Hostel in Geylang where I paid just $10/night! Urban hostel is in the "red light district" of Singapore so that's why it's so cheap. On the other hand, the area is actually more interesting and cultural than many other places from what I can tell. Not to mention that you can just hop on the MRT for a couple minutes and be in any of the other areas. After settling in I contacted my friend Y.K and we met at Raffles station then went on from there to get some shish kebabs (refered to by locals as satay), spring rolls, fried banana, and a Tiger beer.

After eating we went walking around the Marina to see the Art Museum (looks like an inverted Sydney Opera House), the Opera House (looks like fly eyes), and the Marina Bay Sands hotel with its three towers reaching up to a big ship!

After touring the harbour we went to China Town's segmented shops known as "hawkers" for some sweets where I got some bean humbow (called Pao by Singaporians), a fluffy egg desert, and a mango dish with giant lime (pamelo) garnish. After snacking we decided to call it a night so we headed out on the green line.