Singapore

At the bus station in Malacca I was the only one going to Singapore. In a big coach there were only me and the driver for five hours. Finally in Singapore, one and a half hours too late, he sent me walking in the wrong direction of where I was supposed to go. I found out, turned around and when I finally got to the spot where I was meeting Bucket, I saw the coach parked 500 meters down the street. All sweaty and stressed I met a girl that had been waiting for more than two hours outside a pharmacy. She wasn't particularly happy, but I had one week to make it better. Turns out, adding all the times she was late during that week, we were even-steven at the end of my stay. We went walking around and checking out Singapore a bit, before we took the last train out to the east side. I jumped off a couple of stations before hers to find my Indian host from couch surfing. In a really nice residential area, I entered an apartment with three Indian guys working in Singapore. Nivas, the main host, who always smiles, gave me my own keys, bed, train card, map etc. Can one ask for more?

Second day in Singapore I went shopping with Bucket for a pair of trousers and a shirt. Since all my clothes look like they've been through the jungle, literally, I needed something nicer for Chinese new years. I met her at her school and got to try to eat in the cafeteria of an Asian college. The rest of the day we spent walking around in Singapore and sitting next to the river. We had bubble teas and duck rice, which were so good I had them multiple times during my stay. I also found out that I've been eating my noodles for a couple of months without mixing them properly with the sauce. At daytime I was alone most of the days and spent the days walking around in Singapore's residential and recreational areas. The urban planning of this city is great and if there is room for a tree or a patch of grass, they've planted it. It feels to me like a modern hanging gardens of Babylon. The Singaporean government is kind of like the Norwegian one in some aspects and does not acknowledge humans of having a mind on their own. Putting up signs that tell you "urinating in the elevator is prohibited" seems kind of unnecessary to me. The buildings in this city are also well taken care of.

One Saturday we tried to get dressed in nice clothes and go down to the old railway station and take some photos. Of course it was closed with barbed wire around it, and to make it complete, it started raining. We also went clubbing one night, but I'm not used to that anymore and was sleepwalking half of the night. Nivas left in a hurry to Kuala Lumpur to celebrate the new year and a new couch surfer came in. An American bloke. We went down to Chinatown and later we saw the fireworks together. In the evenings around new year, Bucket and I went to visit her family. I got to eat loads of good food and I got small red packages containing cash. Here married people give the less fortunate bachelors and bachelorettes gifts. The second last night we went to Ryan's place. I got to eat dinner with them and have some beers. I also saw for the very first time a tradition in which everyone helps mixing a noodle dish by throwing the food into the air with chop sticks. It was very nice. There's apparently always gambling involved and we played in-between. I don't know who enjoyed it the most, the women or the men, but it was hilarious. The term "Skadefryd" should also exist in other languages, because they were all laughing their asses off every time someone failed. The father of the house worked with Norwegians and had been in Norway several times. It was a great evening and I even got myself a Polaroid photo as a souvenir.

The last day in Singapore started with the arrival of Nivas. He was back from KL. Spending the afternoon beating him in chess and fixing my commie-cap for the jungle trek, I later went  up to Pasir Ris and met up with Bucket for the last time. Since she had promised Gung Pao Chicken, what better way to end the travel then by doing it the last day? After saying good bye to her father and dog, we visited Ranford, another friend. I left Singapore with the night bus for KL to meet up with Sloppyhands and Rainman. I will never forget my nine days in Singapore.

Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20120126Singapore?authkey=Gv1sRgCITY6L6M7fa-EA