Singapore (March 24-31, April 5-6)

Singapore can be summed up by two popular cliches, it is a fine city, and it is Disneyland with the death penalty. But above all, Singapore == Shopping. It's basically a giant sequence of connected malls.




/aside

All that I knew going there was the American kid who got caned a few years back. Other than that, I was pretty ignorant. It turned out that it's a pretty cool little city-state, state-of-the-art, that's trying to appeal to a growing tourist market. It has a stellar MRT that makes me cry when I think about the TTC; Instead of fumbling with tokens, a swipe system (that I'm assuming is not magnetic since you basically toss your wallet onto the reader...RFIDs?) that can be topped up can be used on the subway and the bus system. It's pay by the distance, so the further you travel, the more it costs you. And it's still very reasonable. I can get from the airport on the east side to the west end of the island all by train, and if I remember correctly, for under S$5.

There was an underground path to an MRT stop, I don't remember which one now, but I believe it was near the giant fountain. There a bunch of kids were practicing hiphop, capoera, some sort of traditional Malaysian dance and a couple of other things I didn't recognize. It was a relatively quiet, giant room, with well-polished floors. I'm guessing it's basically the equivalent of the village in Singapore.




Last MRT shot, I promise.



So why Singapore? The brown man & Kiran were there studying for a term, and two girls I had met in Sri Lanka were also studying at the same University for a semester. So I figured, I'll swing by and hangout since I have a stopover there anyway, and maybe take in a bit of Thailand and Malaysia while I'm in the neighbourhood. I stayed with a friend of a friend, who'd I'd never met before. It was a little awkward at first, but less so than couchsurfing I figured. Turns out she didn't even know I was gonna be crashing at her place, but to her credit she welcomed me in anyway. She set some ground rules, which while a tad constrictive, were acceptable terms.

While walking one night, we came across some guys flying these ultralight planes, which you cannot really see from this photo. It was neat tho.




I also met up with a friend from one of my classes who I had forgotten was from Singapore. May took me around the city and her family graciously invited me to their weekly dinner at the Singapore Swim Club which I of course accepted (food!). I also got to try out the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS head to head with May's brother, and I gotta say the PSP is mighty impressive. It's hard to believe there's near PS2 quality graphics from a system that seems smaller than some old video game controllers.

Walking around downtown




Now this photo sucked, as I was still a little apprehensive about messing with Singapore police, so I kept my distance. But a huge armoured Mercedes police van had backed into a car. It was just a funny scene as the guy was furious, but couldn't really do much cause he was already talking to the cops...




At the Novena stop, there's a mall, and outside that is what I will call Novena Square. And every Thursday night, there is a huge line-dancing event. I loved it. This dude was really good. The icing on the cake was of course the hat; I refrained laughing out loud, as Singapore has a mandatory 2.5 year military service for every man when they turn 18. So that line-dancing Singaporean cowboy could really kick my ass.




Finally, due to numerous exams and projects and whatnot, I didn't end up meeting up with ere'one in Singapore till the day before I left for Australia. (I did meet Arvind & Kiran in Phuket right before that tho)

A quick jaunt over to Jahor Bahru, Malaysia introduced me to shopping again, but it was cheaper than Singapore. This store is unfortunately named, but it's basically Winners.




Obligatory Ronald Shot. I don't know exactly why it looks like I'm doing an "I'm a little teapot" routine. Oh right, Ronald's hand outstretched and I'm trying to hold it.




Hanging out in a shi sha place in Singapore with Meera & Gaya & Arvind & Co. It was very laid back, and played hiphop. Everything should be laid back and play hiphop. I don't know what that means. Phuket's next. Peace out.




/aside: This will only appeal to one person; While wandering the Sim Lim square, I walked into a store and on the radio was Rickie Yam's classic hit, "The girls over there are looking." I need to find that song again. It was very surreal

about Singapore, from Sri Lanka