The bus from Mersing to SIngapore was short and quite efficient. After a bit of waiting (1.5h), we decided that we should take the bus all the way to Singaore rather than getting off in Johor Bahru as we had planned. We paid the driver a bit of extra cash (RM30), which he quickly pocketed, and we were set. Passing through immigration and customs was pretty quick, but boy the line ups for those entering Sinapore were really long. A lot of Singaporeans were leaving the country for the holiday; we were arriving on New Year's Eve.
We were 'dropped' off at a parking lot in Singapore, no money, no idea how to get to our hotel but we did have our City Maps 2 Go! We found a bank machine at the gas station, withdrew cash and we looking at our map when a nice man asked us if we needed help. We told him we were just trying to figure out how to get to our hotel. He asked us if we would like a drive. Well, how very nice - we accepted. He opened his trunk, put his unhappy toddler in the front seat, we climbed in and we were off. As he drove, he told us all about Singapore, about Chinese New Year celebrations and a bit about our neighbourhood - this is when we learned that our zone is the Red LIght District. Interesting.
A quick shower and we were off to Chinatown, we wanted to see the festivities in the heart of it all. Chinatown is about a ten block area and on this night it was packed. Packed like sardines. It was exciting to walk down the narrow streets listening to the hawkers selling their wares. There were a lot of special items to purchase: pressed pork meat that was BBQed, jelllies in small packages, lots of flavoured seeds, candies, dried persimmons, and a ton of monkey paraphanelia. It was definitely an assault on the senses; most vendors were trying to sell their wares using microphones with speakers or megaphones. We managed to take it in for an hour or so then we had to sit down for dinner.
The restaurant goings on were entertaining on their own right. The manager, a petite 5' women nicely dressed running around trying to seat people and make sure others didn't bud in the que, servers taking food orders, and a very spunky young woman selling drinks. All the while, staff were chatting above the noise of the patrons, calling out instructions to one another - it was a very busy place to say the least. Our food was pretty tasty; we had Singapore noodles (why not?) and clams in a ginger and red onion sauce. We had never had clams like this before, many people were eating them, once we tasted them we knew why - they were awesome.
Out on the Main Street, as stage was set up and there was live music. Everything on stage was projected up on a huge screen allowing everyone a good view. At midnight, there were fireworks. It was a pretty good show but very short compared to North American standards - this didn't stop us from enjoying the excitement of it all. It was a fun way to spend the evening. Gong Xi Fa Cai!
I didn't mean to walk for 12 hours and take more than 20 000 steps, but sometimes that just happens. We spent the day walking around, my favourite stop was the Marine Bay Gardens. This is a beautiful garden park at the tip of SIngapore built up on reclaimed land. There are 'giant' trees that are made of steel - they looked like some kind of sci-fi structure, or metallic 'day of the triffids' plants, but at the same time are quite beautiful. There are plants, a lot of orchids, growing up the trunks and some vines growing up at the canopy. At night time, they are lit up in different colours with the lighting of the structures set to music. They are beautiful day and night.
We left the park and made our way back towards the bay. This area is flanked by a promenade and has several areas to sit and look out on the bay. It is a very wealthy area too. The Marina Bay Sands mall is here; this is a mall with high end stores like Gucci, Louis Vitton has its own structure directly on the water built up like a stilt house but very elegant in structure. We walked around, spotted the Singaporean tiger statue spraying water into the bay, saw the Fullerton properties, lots of nice outdoor art and eventually made our way to Boat Quay. There are two areas lined with restaurants that were former Chinese shophouses, but are now filled with restaurants vying for your dollar. We stopped for a beer and a cider - $26 please! Ouch!
By this time, the sun was setting and we decided to head to Little India for dinner. In contrast to the bay and Quay areas, the streets of LIttle India had their goods spilling out onto the streets, garbage littered the streets and people were milling about on the sidewalks and roads because it was so busy. We found a little restaurant and had one of our best meals yet. We also ran into Pipa and Chris, the nice couple we had met on Tioman. We joined them at their table, chatted with them and the others they had met in their hostel. We were 2-2.5 times older than them but our conversations were the same: where have you been travelling, what was it like and where are you headed? Travellers are interesting; a common interest wipes all age barriers. They even invited us to join them at their hostel for a beer. Being more 'mature,' we declined their offer - we were exhausted from our 12 hours and we were almost at our 20, 000 steps.
Waking up leisurely, the first words out of Jon's mouth were something to the effect of: "let's not walk all day today!" Even I had to admit that I was tired. We ate breakfast at 'our local,' which was on the corner of the street. That roti canai is something else. Light and airy roti and a curried, very slightly spicy dipping sauce. They are served with different fillings and are absolutely delicious. We headed to Orchard Road, a shopping zone with high end shops and malls, regular shops, and ice cream sandwiches. Real ice cream sandwiches. They put a slab of ice cream on a piece of pink and white bread and fold it over to form a sandwich. Of course Jon had to try this and I have to admit, it was kind of tasty in a weird way. We shopped a bit buying some more items to stuff into our increasingly heavy backpacks, strolled through the streets of Emerald Hill. This area is a kin to Cabbagetown - nice old homes, restored and gardened. Expensive cars were seen in many driveways. There were Mercedes, Porche and we even saw a Lambrogini. Obviously some wealth in this area.
Anna and Paul had arrived earlier in the afternoon and we had planned to meet at the Long Bar at Raffles for a Singapore Sling. As promised to Jon, we did manage to squeeze in a little rest at our hotel, but 5:30 did come quickly and we were on our way again - the time dressed up in our 'dinner attire.' Fancy clothing while travelling means a dress for me and a collared golf-type shirt for Jon. Since I had done some shopping in Singapore, I now had a choice of three dresses to choose from: now this is Flash-packing! (It should be noted that I have not yet caught up to Anna's wardrobe- we are still experiencing new outfits from her).
We all had a Singapore Sling - not that we would normally drink such a cocktail, but this was the very bar where it was invented almost 100 years ago. Talk about pricey, four cocktails costs $145 - and we thought Boat Quay was expensive. Chinatown was our dinner venue where we opted to try the Street Food Zone. Small vendors have set up down the middle of the street, you choose your food and then sit along the sidewalks. As soon as you sit down, the beverage lady comes along to take your drink order; it's all very organized. We made it an early night, bid farewell to Anna and Paul and made our way home. It certainly is nice to travel with friends, but one night together went by so quickly. We would see them again in a few days in Kuching; our launching point for the Borneo portion of our trip.
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