Free Internet.
Free XBOX.
Free movie theater.
Free swimming pool.
I'm in love with the Sinapore Airport! It's amazingly fabulous! Meanwhile, we weren't staying in Singapore, so we had our junk with us all during the morning and afternoon. This was the worst idea ever, and we were actually laughed at as we stayed on the bus yet again, because we had too much stuff to get off the bus in the limited time used for a stop. Did I mention we had a backpack and a wheelie? Yes, I rolled my way through Southeast Asia. In the backpacker society, this isn't done. In fact, we were the laughing stock of the backpacker nation.
This is me kicking Kari's butt on the free XBox in the S'pore Airport! (Actually, she was kicking my butt, but this is my blog, so I'll tell it like I want, OK?!)
These are pictures of S'pore at night. So pretty. The first picture is dedicated to the country's weird obsession to Durians (spikey fruit found in Southeast Asia, looks cool, smells nasty when opened). They actually modeled a building after one! The second picture is of the Merlion (you'll get it, give it time).
The first picture is of me after I fell into the S'pore river trying to get "up close and personal" pictures of the Merlion. That's the guard who kept pressing me to see if I was ok, if I would sue, etc. He was so worried for his job, because he was the one on duty. Good times. The second is us in the middle of Skyscraper City.
We flew to S'pore from the Philippines on New Year's Day. We flew in and got onto (as directly as we could) a ferry to Batam Island, Indonesia. We stayed the night in Indonesia and then came back to S'pore on the 7 a.m. ferry. We decided not to stay in Singapore, but to take a train at night, so we were stuck with all of our stuff since we didn't have a hostel to check into. (Big mistake...) Our train didn't leave until 11:25 p.m. so we had a day to play in S'pore. We got on the SIA Hop on Buss (Singapore Airlines) to see the sights. Our first stop was the Esplanade. That's where we saw the Merlion and the Durian theatre on the bay. We each took turns walking down the steps to show how big the Merlion was in a picture. Kari did quite well, and took a nice picture with no glitch. However, leave it to me to turn the smallest moment into a two hour fiasco... I walked down the steps towards the river, wanting to have my picture with me wading into the water. The last step was green – covered over in moss and algae. I saw the algae and moss, and stepped anyway. I don't know what I was thinking, but I ended up falling into the S'pore river backside first! It happened in less than a second. I don't even remember falling. Kari and the security guard rushed to my aid and kept asking me if I was ok. The only thing hurt was my pride, but he was absolutely terrified I would be hurt and sue. He stayed to help me for about 15 minutes! Alas, my entire backside was wet and all mossy, so I had to change. Random story of S'pore number one.
We got back on the bus with intentions to get off at Chinatown and the Sri Mariamman Temple. Keep in mind we had our backpacks on our laps and wheelies beside us on the bench in the crowded bus. We stood to get up, grab our backpacks and steer our obstinate wheelies to the aisle and rear door of the bus, since people were getting on in the front. As we approached the back door, it closed on us. We tried to yell to the front of the bus to have the guy open the door again, but we weren't heard. As we tried to call again, the driver moved away from the stop to merge in with traffic. We were still pretty close to the stop so we tried to call again, but our plight became to comical and all we could do was laugh. The stop came and went, and yet we remained, weighed down by our blasted luggage. That was our all time low, not able to get off the tour bus, because our wheelies weren't quick enough. That was random S'pore story number two. We decided to get off at the Singapore Botanic Gardens stop. It was a few stops away, but we didn't leave our stop next to the rear door for fear of another pathetic failure. When we got off this French guy got off with us. His name is Fab. He stayed with us the rest of the day acting as our tour guide. We're still not sure why. Was it because we were fun? Or was he scared we wouldn't make it without someone looking out for us. Either way we had no idea, but he started a tradition of tour guides staying with us for the length of our backpacking trip. The Botanic Gardens were so pretty. I saw swans and lovely flowers and foliage. The Ginger garden was lovely as well.
Our next stop was Little India. We saw the Sri Krishnan Temple, which looked just lie the other temple we missed, so we were happy. Fab was kind enough to let us leave our stuff at his hotel, so we finally got rid of our junk for a little while. Kari and I realized immediately, never to walk around a city again without leaving our stuff at a hostel. (And we never did.) We went to Suntec City where the World's Largest Water Fountain is located. It's pretty awesome. And actually, Suntec City is made up of buildings located around a square to look like a hand. The water fountain is in the palm, and the five buildings rise out of the ground in varied heights to represent the thumb and fingers.
We got back on the bus with intentions to get off at Chinatown and the Sri Mariamman Temple. Keep in mind we had our backpacks on our laps and wheelies beside us on the bench in the crowded bus. We stood to get up, grab our backpacks and steer our obstinate wheelies to the aisle and rear door of the bus, since people were getting on in the front. As we approached the back door, it closed on us. We tried to yell to the front of the bus to have the guy open the door again, but we weren't heard. As we tried to call again, the driver moved away from the stop to merge in with traffic. We were still pretty close to the stop so we tried to call again, but our plight became to comical and all we could do was laugh. The stop came and went, and yet we remained, weighed down by our blasted luggage. That was our all time low, not able to get off the tour bus, because our wheelies weren't quick enough. That was random S'pore story number two. We decided to get off at the Singapore Botanic Gardens stop. It was a few stops away, but we didn't leave our stop next to the rear door for fear of another pathetic failure. When we got off this French guy got off with us. His name is Fab. He stayed with us the rest of the day acting as our tour guide. We're still not sure why. Was it because we were fun? Or was he scared we wouldn't make it without someone looking out for us. Either way we had no idea, but he started a tradition of tour guides staying with us for the length of our backpacking trip. The Botanic Gardens were so pretty. I saw swans and lovely flowers and foliage. The Ginger garden was lovely as well.
Our next stop was Little India. We saw the Sri Krishnan Temple, which looked just lie the other temple we missed, so we were happy. Fab was kind enough to let us leave our stuff at his hotel, so we finally got rid of our junk for a little while. Kari and I realized immediately, never to walk around a city again without leaving our stuff at a hostel. (And we never did.) We went to Suntec City where the World's Largest Water Fountain is located. It's pretty awesome. And actually, Suntec City is made up of buildings located around a square to look like a hand. The water fountain is in the palm, and the five buildings rise out of the ground in varied heights to represent the thumb and fingers.
We had a great dinner and then watched the laser light show at the fountain. We met a group of students from the Philippines. Since we just left the Philippines and missed it, we had a good conversation with them. It was time to say goodbye to S'pore and Fab.
A train leaves S'pore for KL (Kuala Lumpur), but it's cheaper if you catch the train in Malaysia, so we decided to walk across the border to save money. We asked how to get to the border of S'pore and Malaysia to catch the train in Johor Bahru (Malaysia) to KL. We got on the MRT and bus to the border. As an evil end to our lack of planning, we got on the wrong bus to the border and missed our train to KL. In fact, we were still on the MRT in the middle of S'pore when the train in Malaysia left! We finally got to the border between S’pore and Malaysia and it looked like we were trying to escape prison. Barbed wire, search lights and electrocuted fences lined the land as far we could see. It was at 12:18 a.m. we finally got to the border. It was the first time I’ve ever seen a border between two countries before. I’m not sure if the lengths they took was because of the bad blood between S’pore and Malaysia, or if that’s how all borders look at night. Either way, when we saw the scariness we wondered if we accidentally stepped into something we weren’t supposed to! We ended up getting an empty luxury bus to take us the 5 miles to Johor Bahru for 5 ringgits and then another nice bus to KL for 30 ringgits. One dollar is about 3.5 ringgits. Sadly, that was twice the price of the train. We were taken for a ride, and we about had it. When we got on the bus to Johor Bahru, we thought it was going to take us to KL. We even bargained for the 30 ringgits price, the price quoted was 40 ringgits.
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