Asia I have landed - Singapore 2014

Wednesday 26^th November 2014

Today was a day of standing in lines and uncomfortable chairs. I got up and said my goodbyes to Ayla heading off on the bus and train to Sydney airport where I joined the mammoth queue for Air Asia check in about two hours later with approximately three minutes until check in closed I put my bag on the scales (it was 1kg heavier than when I left NZ… WEIRD!) and received my boarding passes, then I went and stood in the customs line, then in the line to put my stuff through the x-ray machine, then went straight to the gate and joined the line to board the plane. Next came the uncomfortable chairs. With a budget airline you get what you pay for so I can’t really complain but the next eight hours was spent wriggling in a hard skinny chair and trying to rub some warmth into my arms, it seems I made a bit of a rooky mistake as everyone around my was wrapped in blankets of bundled up in hoodies…

I arrived in KL and sat in the movie room for the hour or so until my flight was called and I headed to the gate from there it was just over an hour to Singapore. I breezed through customs grabbed my bag and jumped in a taxi. At the hostel I checked in and met Daniel (my brother) and we headed for a few drinks with friends of his.

Thursday 27^th November 2014

Last night I had the weirdest dreams, I think it was because my bed in the hostel was surrounded by a curtain, I kept imagining I was trapped underground and waking up trying to think of ways to get out so it was no surprise that I was up early taking full advantage of the free breakfast on offer.

Not long after Daniel got up and we headed out to meet his mates for breakfast (where we had juice since we already ate all the food we could) after food we headed to Little India for the guys to get some Indian get up for the wedding they are in town for the boys all found bright coloured bejewelled Kurtas in the first shop we looked in and the girls found beautiful saris in the second shop with jobs done we were free to explore.

We jumped on the MRT and headed to the Marina area where we went to the cloud garden it’s a tall skinny dome with a mountain rainforest inside so called a cloud garden as it’s the fauna that would be found at the very top of mountains complete with a roaring waterfall raining down from the very top. You go inside and take a lift up to the sixth floor and from there walk up to the seventh floor and then walk all the way down along walkways suspended above the gardens. It was really rather spectacular and very informative with lots of information about rainforests, climate change and sustainability. At the very end there is a movie that documents what would happen if the world temperature was raised by just five degrees which was shocking and interesting.

Around the outside of the cloud garden are free gardens full of sculptures, plants and information there is also a second dome called the flower garden but we didn’t go in that one as we were saving pennies and also a treetop walkway along vertical gardens that we didn’t go up because of the weather.

After the cloud garden we got a taxi back to the hostel and shortly after Dan headed off to his mates stag do and I headed out in an evening food waking tour. I set out for Maxwell’s food hall which was about a 20mins walk away which was a recommendation from one of Dan’s mates along the way I passed near to the Sri Mariaman temple the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore built way back in 1827 it was perfect timing as they were just beginning the evening arti so I stopped by and watched that before heading on to the food hall.

Once there I realised there weren’t very many veggie options as they seemed to be closed but I did get two sweet potato balls one peanut one veggie both delicious. I decided to head back via the Chinatown food street and I was not disappointed, next up I had egg prata with vegetable curry and then four mini veggie samosas all that food and it was less than SGD$6!

Back at the hostel feeling stuffed after a shower I crept into my sleep pod and streamed movies until I fell asleep.

 Sri Mariaman Temple

Friday 28^th November 2014

Sometimes it’s good to have a lazy day and that was exactly what today was. Dan slept super late after the stag do last night so it was about 1pm before we headed off down the road to check him into his new hotel.

Once there we headed up to the pool terrace where everyone had gathered and spent most of the afternoon chilling out by the pool before the mission that was getting a taxi for nine people. Eventually we made a bargain with a hotel and they drove us in their hotel mini bus which had exactly the right amount of seats.

Our destination was Tim Ho Wan the world’s cheapest Michelin star restaurant, it’s a dim sum place and it was soon pretty evident that veggie options weren’t really high on the chef’s mind. Everyone else ordered for the table and we ended up with a ton of food left over and everyone feeling stuffed (except me I felt pretty good because all I could eat was steamed bok choy, a vermicelli roll with nothing inside and a piece of steamed egg cake which was just sponge cake)

We left the restaurant and headed to Clark quay where there a whole row of bars on the waterfront there we found a bar and had a few drinks and people watched and listened to the live music.

Saturday 29^th November 2014

Today was another pretty quiet day I got up early and met Dan at his hotel where three taxi loads of us headed into town for them to all meet up for their Haka practice (they are performing at the wedding) I ended up going shopping with the girls although I didn’t buy anything I don’t have money or space for anything I don’t need.

We got back and met the boys and from there all headed to little India on the MRT (train) as some of the guys still needed their Kurtas and also to have some lunch. I love Indian food as there are always plenty of veggie options! After lunch the boys were headed back to their hotel to drink by the pool and get ready for the wedding and I headed off to the botanic gardens

When I arrived there the sky was almost black with heavy rain clouds and there was plenty of thunder and lightning but I decided to go in anyway. I wandered about seeing approximately half of the park by dashing between pagodas and small shelters when the rain was heavier and meandering when it eased off. During my walk I saw loads of birds most of them bright colours beautiful colours, a squirrel rushing about, loads of roosters and (my absolute favourite) giant monitor lizard

On the way back to the MRT station I saw a sign pointing me in what I knew to be the wrong direction but decided to follow it anyway, as I walked the opposite way I wondered to myself why the universe was sending me a longer route, Then I came across a bamboo garden and felt certain that was it (since I’m crazy obsessed with pandas) until I looked to my left and saw this reflexology path. Of course I immediately took off my jandals and walked the length of it. Lately I have been feeling a bit lost and I think the universe knew I needed to have my feet on the earth and feel grounded. We are all one and we are all exactly where we need to be.

Back at the hostel I spent a while plotting my travels for Myanmar and eventually fell asleep watching a movie.

 One of the many sections of the garderns

 Pay special notice to the last sign...

 Monitor lizard!

 Selection of plants in the gardens

 Timeline of earth

 More plants 

 The reflexology pathway

Bamboo forest

Sunday 30^th November 2014

Waterpark waterpark waterpark! Did I mention that today we went to the waterpark! It wasn’t a great waterpark but it was a waterpark and I do love a waterpark! Did you get how excited I am for the waterpark!?!

We arrived about midday and only stayed about three hours and didn’t actually go on all the flumes but it was still a day out at the waterpark and I do love a good waterpark!

After fluming for a few hours we grabbed a super late lunch and then taxied back to the hostel to chill for a few hours before we went to the Gardens by the bay to see the light show at the super tree grove and to see the Christmas market (which wasn't very Christmassy at all except for the carols and Christmas trees…) we wandered about taking it all in then watched the show from below before heading up to the walkway suspended in the air, the view from up there was pretty cool as we could see for miles and everything was all lit up and pretty

After we came back down we attempted to go to the casino but we didn’t have passports with us so we got declined. So we headed into the marina bay mall and ate dinner at about 10.30pm before making a massive trek through a never ending closed mall to the MRT and home.

 Gardens by the bay supertree grove light show

Christmas market sign

 Views from up on the walkway

Chilling at the Christmas market

 Several ridiculous selfies

Tree top walkway

Marina bay at night and this clown (me)

Monday 1^st December 2014

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! Only 13 days till my birthday 25 till Christmas and 28 till the start of the Rickshaw Run, man this year is just flying by!

I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain it had been raining solidly all night and hadn’t stopped which was disappointing as I wanted to hit up the River Safari park today. I got up and did some personal admin and waited out the rain a bit then eventually it eased up.

About 11am I set off according to google maps it was to take me almost two hours to get to the park by public transport so I put in my headphones and set off I had to get two trains and a bus but it was a fairly painless journey and the bus went right to the door.

I got my ticket (fairly cheap compared to other Singapore attractions at SGD $25) and headed in the park was pretty empty and for the first wee chunk I enjoyed the peace and quiet and the experience of being the only person at each enclosure. The park is mapped out well you follow a path that winds around each river habitat meaning there is no way to miss anything out.

I had chosen the River Safari Park as it had pandas and the exhibit did not disappoint. They are housed in a giant climate controlled dome which was a bit cold for my liking but pretty perfect for the bears that live there. I only saw the male panda Kai Kai as the female Jia Jia was asleep in her den out the back. When I first got in he was pretty chilled and just sleeping then waking up having  stretch getting comfy and going back to sleep but pretty soon the place became crowded and despite the many many signs asking for quiet everyone was squealing and yelling and clapping and stomping to try and wake him up. Pretty soon he had retreated to the back corner of his enclosure where he sat turned away from the crowd with his paw over his face. I felt quite upset by this. Where was the staff to tell everyone off?

After the pandas I was feeling a bit dejected about the behaviour of everyone which really came to a head in the last enclosure which was a huge tank enclosing several types of fish and loads of manatees. I walked in and every single person in a room of about 20 was face down on their phones or in the kid’s case running about screaming despite the huge signs asking for quiet. I walked around to the other side where there was no people and sat on the floor and watched these beautiful manatees swim about the mother always so careful to keep her calf close by, as I watched I cried my heart out for the injustice we have inflicted and for the fact that these creatures have sacrificed their freedom for a race who couldn’t care less. Every day we rape our planet and kill our animals and pretty soon we won’t have anything left which makes my heart ache. I just hope mankind will realize its mistakes before it’s too late.

The park is informative and has a huge focus on the environment but it didn’t really seem as if anyone cared here we all were walking around a park full of beautiful majestic animals that we have put in cages for our own amusement (yes I do appreciate zoos have a huge impact on breeding and environmental research etc.) and most people were too busy on fb or making jokes about how many pairs of shoes a croc would make to even notice the animals.

After the park I headed back to the hostel and packed up my stuff then I headed to meet Dan at his hotel and we sat on the roof by the pool having a few drinks with his mates before having a final dinner at a wee local.

 Also used to make imatation vanilla yummy!

 Always love a good tale about a giant man eating fish!

Stop staring its rude! yea i do that all the time...exactly no fucks given.

 The two Red Pandas were pretty active and so darn cute!

 Myself and some giant catfish and fresh water stingrays

 Me and Kai Kai chilling like besties

 My new family

 What a sneeze!

 Kai Kai Chilling 

 Did you know there are only between 1600 and 2000 pandas left in the wild today thankfully in China steps are in place to protect these beautiful animals and their numbers are slowly on the rise thanks in part to the above initiatives.

 Beautiful Manatee mother and Calf

Panda bun filled with chocolate! 

Tuesday 2nd December 2014

My last day in Singapore, this morning I said goodbye to Dan and he headed off to the airport then packed up my things and checked out of my hostel now I’m just sorting out my plans for Myanmar with the thought in mind that there won’t be much internet there. In a few hours ill trek to the airport and head into my third country in as many weeks my first new country for a while and my last stop before India!