August 2008 - Singapore

Sunday, August 17, and August 18, 2008

Flight Los Angeles - Taipei - Singapore

When walking through the door at Los Angeles airport a completely new adventure began for me. Boarding was 01.05am, I arrived at the gate much later but still had to wait a while.
After sitting down on seat 60A of the Boeing 777-300ER I looked out into the darkness and realized something: Laine must already be on the freeway far, far away, driving in the opposite direction of which I would fly. When the sun would rise over my head it would already be late afternoon here in California and people would be back to their daily routine. I scolded myself for being that stupid, leaving instead of staying for another perfect week. Somehow, I didn't see a reason for departing from here, for another city where I might be less happy. But it was too late for that. Flights and hotels for the next week were booked and in Singapore my inofficial big sister Tina was waiting for me to visit.

The 12-hour flight to Taipei was rather dark. I didn't really like the food they served but at least EVA Air had an excellent AVOD-system and so I spent the time playing Zuma and watching some BBC-documentaries.

Some time in the morning the sun rose and a few little islands came into sight. It wasn't long before we arrived in Taipei. Before leaving the plane I decided to look for the boarding pass for my connecting flight to Singapore - but didn't find it. Of course I panicked a little and the flight attendant suggested to go to their lounge where they would give me a new boarding pass. So I went there. On the way I looked everything through for one last time and between the pages of my notebook I found my boarding pass. The day was saved and I could relax and enjoy my layover.
The terminal at TPE is constructed in a very simple way: one single, long corridor hosts gates, shops and toilets. You would think that one couldn't get los there, but actually the corridor is that long and looks just the same everywhere you have to pay attention to find the correct gate. From a free internet cafe I left Laine a myspace message telling her I had arrived savely and trying to express my feelings. Afterwards I walked around a while watching planes. At one gate I ran into my seat neighbor from earlier and had a little chat with him. He told me he was going to Bangkok, his hometown.

Shortly after 7am (the fact that I was wide awake at this time of the day shows that the time difference does have an impact) I boarded the next plane, an Airbus 330-200. And once again I was lucky having a very friendly seat neighbor, a Taiwanese businessman who showed big interest in my story. In general I was impressed with people in this country. Taiwanese people are really friendly and polite. Not as laid-back and cool as in California, but not less likeable.

Monday, August 18, 2008

At 12 noon sharp I was walking up a jetway again. Minutes earlier I had realized I was travelling to Singapore - and I still had chewing gum from two days earlier in my bag! I couldn't find them, though, and luckily the Singaporean customs officers didn't, either.

Immigration into Singapore was reported to me as exaggerated as US immigration - hand over your form, smile while the officer checks your passport, fetch your suitcase and leave. I didn't feel any of the strictness people had talked about.

Singapore = perfectionism
This is the formula to describe this country. You don't have to look for the right train long. The woman at the info desk knew what she was talking about (as I realized during my journey, this isn't a matter of course). I followed her directions to the shuttle platform, took the shuttle to terminal 2 and went straight to the MRT station underground. I had informed myself about how the MRT works but even if I hadn't, it would have been almost too easy. In any way it is easier than in Germany (and much cheaper, too). Instead of paper tickets you get a chip card which, when held in front of a sensor, opens the turnstiles. The train arrived soon and I had to transfer at Tanah Merah station to get to Kallang.

Already when boarding the Terminal express I had been literally hit by a wall of hot, hummid air. I experienced the whole dilemma when walking the few blocks to my hotel in Geylang. Arrving there, once again everything went smoothly and quick so I was in my room within minutes. I had to deposit S$10 to rent an outlet adaptor but that was a minor setback. The room - extremely small compared to the one in Los Angeles, yet adequately clean - had barely space for my suitcase. I texted Tina and she told me we could already meet this evening. We agreed on meeting at the City Hall MRT station at 8pm.
I spent a good part of the afternoon sleeping. I woke up a lttle too late, walking to Kallang MRT took about 15 minutes and the trains depart every few minutes. Once you are on a train you're in downtown within a heartbeat.

I found Tina and we went outside. It had rained, but it was hot and humid, the air was still heavy. She showed me a few sights we could see during our walk around Raffles Hotel. We didn't have much time but she promised to have more time the next night. We took the train to the same direction and during the ride she warned me severly not to go to the streets with even numbers in Geylang - too bad my hotel was in street #6.
Geylang is Singapore's red light district. I didn't see much of that, though. There were rather some crowded street cafes, nothing more. For someone who has been growing up around Hamburg this was no shock.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

It was a foggy morning. I sensed rain in the air more than I ever had in Germany.
I woke up rater early and was at the MRT station around 10am. That was a mistake: when the train rolled in and the doors opened people weren't getting IN the train but rather squeezed themselves against the mass of people in the train so the door would close. Apparently, it was Rush Hour. I decided this wasn't worth it and walked. I roughly knew the way from Google Earth and I could see the skyscrapers of downtown in the distance so I kept walking towards them, looking for a place to have breakfast on the way. Namely, I was looking for McDonald's.

But McDonald's wouldn't show itself. I didn't find one and suddenly I realized I had no idea where I was anymore. Just as I realized it though, I saw Raffles Hotel, where Tina had walked me the night before. I had seen a McDonald's around here so I started looking. I was out of luck, I didn't see it. So I left, walked across the river into the CBD when I suddenly noticed the familiar golden M. I rushed in ordering a BigMac, fries and a coke. The guy looked at me saying "no BigMac" and pointed to the menu tables. This was the first time in my life I was confronted with McDonald's new breakfast (Egg-burgers, pancakes and other culinary outrages). After coming back to Europe I had to accept the fact that this bad habit had already reached my home country as well.

There had to be another one though, a bigger restaurant selling all McD's products. Looking for that I got around the CBD and saw a lot of it. If I hadn't been that hungry, I would have missed on some gorgeous views.

And then the rain began.
I was just walking down Cecil Street when the Monsoon introduced itself. A warm rain, huge raindrops. And still it was hot and humid, I sweated like an animal and within minutes I was completely wet by the rain. I escaped into a bus stop, then into the Tanjong Pagar MRT station. I rode back to City Hall to look for breakfast again. I still didn't find anything (not even in the mall. The plan said there would be a Burger King but at that point I wasn't familiar with Singaporean floor plans yet so I didn't know that "B2" meant second underground level). I walked to the Esplanade, there HAD to be a McDonald's there (there is one, Tina showed it to me that evening - I tend to miss things everywhere on the globe), and back through City Link Mall which connects several points with underground tunnels. Then - finally - across from Raffles Hotel, a McDonald's! Finally I could have my BigMac and Coke, additionally a Cheeseburger. Roughly four hours after waking up I finally had something to eat.

I took the MRT to Orchard Road. Tina had almost ordered me to go there. It seems to rather be a place for women though - there were even more shops than next to the City Hall! A whole street accompanied by malls where even I would have found something of interest for me. I took the chance to send a postcard to Laine's family in LA and express my thanks for their hospitality the week before.

I went back - isn't it funny how there are certain places in any big city where you come through again and again? In Berlin this is Alexanderplatz or Kurfürstendamm, in Los Angeles it was the intersection between I-110 and I-105 and in Singapore it was City Hall MRT.
Now I wanted to finally see the Merlion. Singapore's heraldic animal is represented by a huge gargoyle at Marina Bay, in front of the gorgeous skyline. It's a must-see for tourists like me.

That said, I took some tourist-pictures. Since I was that close already, I went back into the CBD, strolled here and there enjoying the impressive architecture.

And there I was in front of the City Hall again. I visited the adjacent Raffles Mall again, this time I found the Burger King in the basement, bought a Coke for the way and decided to save the 90 cents for the MRT and just walk back to the hotel even though the MRT is a sight itself.
Meanwhile, the Coke was empty so I bought a sprite and after a rough hour of walking I arrived at the hotel again. It was 4pm already and I decided to have earned a nap (quote Tina: "you went to Asia to sleep, man!")

At 6.30pm I departed for the City Hall again. Even though I was late again I had to wait for Tina who arrived a few minutes later. This time we walked into the opposite direction as the day before - to the Singapore Flyer, the tallest ferris wheel in the world (regards from my acrophobia!). Better: below the Flyer there was a Boeing-Fanshop. Posters, model planes, mousepads, luggage tags. I invested in a sticker and a luggage tag for SGD11.

We walked back half of the way, to the Esplanade. We met up with Tina's boyfriend Mikael. Tina had proven taste, I liked the Swede right away. We had dinner at the bay with the CBD in sight.
Then we walked to Clarke Quay, the nightlife-center of the city. There really was something going on, right as we passed there was an international barkeeper competition in front of a large audience. The two invited me to a Cocktail bar. I am sure this was the first and the last time I went to one. I liked the Cocktail Tina had recommended but I didn't enjoy the atmosphere - it was dark, with the music just loud enough to make conversation difficult and uncomfortable furniture. But we had a good time anyway.

It wasn't a long time but it was really nice. I found I should have stayed longer. I wish I could see Tina more often anyway, same is true for Mikael. But I guess that's the burden of the one having friends all over the planet...

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Flight Singapore - Bangkok

I didn't have much time left in Singapore. I got up at 7.15am the next morning, checked out and pulled my possessions along the streets towards the MRT station. Afterwards everything happened quick and not very impressive. Tina had texted me wishing me a good journey, Laine texted me as well and I concentrated on checking in for my flight to Bangkok

A dream had come true - flying had become a routine for me. No more child-like wonder when I saw an airplane. All I cared about was getting on with my trip. Flying was still the most beautiful thing on earth, but finally I was as cool as the kids who were flying every weekend to see their separated parents or the super-important businessmen. Thai AirAsia only allows 15kg of luggage, unfortunately I had 17 so I had to pay a few dollars extra.
First of all, I went to Burger King in Terminal 2 (BK appears to have more restaurants in Singapore than McD's does) and had a good breakfast before following the signs to the observation deck of Terminal 1. Unfortunately the observation deck is a big letdown since the windows are covered with little dots to block the sun - and the view of the plane-lover.
So I didn't spend much time there and proceeded through passport control to the very appealing departure hall. At 10.55 I would leave Singapore outbound to Bangkok.