Our trip down under

A day in Singapore

Thursday 4th Oct 02:00 (Singapore time)
Not bad.  Five hours sleep, but now we are awake. Wide awake and it is only 2am. Great. And Pamela's Cold has developed somewhat to watery eyes and a bad head. We decide not to fight it and lie in bed for a few hours, reading and playing on the laptops - i had found an unsecured wifi to access internet with; thanks Mr belkin54g of Singapore.

8:00 Book finished and RSI developing, Pamela had managed a few more fitful hours sleep, we get up shower  and dress.  While Singapore is very cosmopolitan and nothing would be said, we do respect other cultures as much as possible so Pamela makes sure she wears clothes that are light and airy (it is VERY hot and humid in Singapore) but cover her arms and go down over her knees.  It also makes sense as the sun can be very harsh and being blond she would burn in minutes.

9:00 Quick tidy of the room and we are out on the streets of Singapore (Breakfast not included in the room).  We had decided to take a wander to Orchard Road and have a look at the shopping Malls then go up to Scotts Plaza where a very good food hall, that locals go to, would feed us.  We had decided to skip breakfast as Pamela was not hungry (thanks Cold) and I just wanted to start working on my beer belly.

We wandered down Serangoon Rd from Kitchener Street, through the middle of Little India with its myriad of small shops selling everything from Mobile phone covers to finest silk saris and a thousand and one different spices.  Old colonial buildings nestled between 80's shop arcades and housing developments.  Different smells; cardamom, turmeric, cotton, hing, chilli, cumin, coriander wafted around and every now and then our feet would feel an icy waft as a shop door opened and cooled air would flood out and sweep over them.  Singapore has a big Carbon Footprint mainly due to air-conditioning.

10:30 Reaching Bras Basah Rd we turn right and start to slowly walk up Orchard Rd.  Shopping plazas everywhere!  Singapore is affluent.  Very affluent!!BOSS, Calvin Klein, YSL, Rolex, a shop for every brand-mug is everywhere.  Overweight middle aged men with gold dripping from their wrists and fingers wearing badly fitted designer shirts, trousers and unmatched shoes wander in and out of the shops.  Women, wives or mistresses, in front of them carry loaded designer bags filled with expensive clothes they will never wear. As we reach Cuppage and Midpoint plaza's the number of Brits increases.  Brit tourists, wherever they are, always seem to stand out!  Embarrassingly so.  Don’t these people own mirrors?  A typical Brit abroad is overweight, has bright white skin with little red pimples and stoops.  They wear trainers, socks pulled up, shorts and a t-shirt.  But it is the stoop and gormless face that really typifies them; again I have that 'we are doing the right thing getting out of Britain (the 'Great' went a long time ago!)' feeling.  At least the Aussies abroad have a bit more go about them and care about how they look!

We continue up Orchard Rd in and out of Plaza's, people watching and sneezing.  The heat and humidity getting really quite intense.  I catch reflections of myself in shop windows and note the white skin, trainers, shorts and t-shirt, then adjust my posture (I have never denied being a hypocrite!).  I make a mental note to join a gym in Canberra asap.

12:00  Pamela is getting hungry.  Pamela has simple needs, food when hungry, water when thirsty and sleep when tired.  If any of these is not forthcoming she gets, lets say, 'prickly'.  Good timing, we reach Scotts Rd and turn right heading for Scotts Plaza.  But where is it?  It should be between Tangs Plaza and Far East Plaza; but all that is there is a building site.  Pamela, starting to get focused asks a drinks seller.  I realise a Plan B was needed and that I have about 5 minutes before life starts to get difficult.  Luckily I had noticed a food hall under a non-descript plaza at the top of Orchard Rd.  Just as I am being given my 2 minute warning we find it.

12:20 The food hall turns out to be great and filled with locals, always a good sign.  A large area under a shopping plaza it is filled with table's and chairs and bordered with small Asian food stalls; Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Japanese, etc...  Fantastic, always great places to eat.  We both decide on Korean and I have a beef noodle thing and Pamela, being assured 'no meat' has a veggie Korean stew.  The food is fantastic, my beef noodles accompanied with little fried fish and other unknown dips its great.  Pamela tucks heartily into her veggie stew as I blow my head off with a chilli ambush!  As i'm recovering and regaining control of my eyes (where had that come from!!!) Pamela grins and holds up a clam shell from her 'veggie' stew.  Pamela, a Yoga teacher, doesn’t eat meat or fish.  She is not a screaming 'Meat is murder' veggie, she just doesn’t eat meat or fish - fair do, each to their own (I actually quite like it as it limits my red-meat intake and means when i do eat meat or fish I enjoy it a lot more!).  'Oh well, thought it tasted a bit fishy' she says.  As she has eaten three quarters of it its not a problem and i finish it off (very tasty actually, especially the baby clams at the bottom).  I've always thought how lucky I am that Pamela is not a 'raging' veggie in that if she does accidently eat some fish or meat then it is not a big issue; obviously she doesn’t carry on tucking in but also doesn’t go berserk like some veggies!

13:00 Fed (some more than others - i catch a glimpse of myself in a window again) we slowly head back to the hotel for a snooze.

18:30 Four hours sleep!!!  Ahhhh, how did that happen?  Lets hope we can sleep tonight, especially as we need to be up at 5:30am to catch the flight to Sydney! Damn!!!  After a shower and cleanup we again go down for dinner on the street.  Pamela had noticed a small Indian Restaurant called 'The Ganges' (thats original!!) on Kitchener Street; so there we go.  Turns out to be a great wee place, with a 'buffet' system.  The food is fantastic; you get a round metal tray with a cut banana leaf on and go along the food offerings dolluping straight onto the leaf.  Being Northern Indian it is 100% veggie, but dont think for one minute that it means tasteless!  I am a real carnivore, but the lack of meat here is totally unnoticeable, it is fab!!  We both have seconds and thirds before admitting defeat and leaving.  The owner genuinely pleased that we enjoyed the meal - these small family places are far better (and cheaper) than the larger more gaudy joints.

21:00 With the warm glow of having eaten well we wander into a large Indian shopping store - the Mustafa Centre.  After jokes along the lines of 'Musf-a-fa drink/burger/sandwich' we realise it is huge!!  In the  packed store you can buy anything from gold to tea.  The narrow isles have packed shelves.  A hundred different types of Dal (lentils), every flavour tea you can think of, fifty different remedies for any ailment you can have...  We end up spending over a hour just wandering around in total awe; this is sensory overload!  Every sense - smell, sight, sound, touch, taste - is assaulted.  This is a little version of India and it is fantastic!

22:00 Eventually we leave and return to the room.  After an enjoyable evening and good food we shower and pack, ready for the flight to our new home Country.  Sleep, thankfully, comes easily.

Oz Life

07:28, Thursday 11 October 2007 .. Posted by somme

Really enjoyed your blog so far, can't wait for the next installment.

Hope you are enjoying it.