So singapore didn't get off the to greatest start when I arrived at the hostel to find my passport wasn't with me buut was on a tour of the city with a taxi driver! I had arrived late in the muggy evening with Arvid - a sweedish guy i'D met on the plane and obviously wasn't entirely with it!
The woman on reception tried to be helpful but when two backackers ask you to track down a taxi without any idea of the company, colour or even what terminal they've come from its not the easiest of tasks...She said she'd do her best but the situatuion didn't look hopeful1 I sat wandering about embassys and communicating withiout a mobile or common language for a while. "And I had so many stamps in that one!" I thought, annnoyed!
"At least nobody's died" came a sweedish accent from next to me. I supposed he was right and there wasn't much I could do until the morning anyway so I jopined Arvid downstairs in the bar for our complimentary drink and tried to put it to the back of my mind after all I was only there for one night I may as well make the most of it!
The bar was really cute...if you canb call a bar cute! It was deciorated typically asianly with a few familiar western intruders l;iek the large jack daniels posters and the tv screen showing football. On a stage in the corner a couple of guys enthusiasticallt plyed pop classics from "Brown eyed girl" to "Wonderful tonight"! (Gaz would have loved it!) As we sang along and I tried to learn sweedish...which I'm getting pretty good at now (well that is if you need to say horse, knowledgable, rain or abuse somebody!)I felt a tap on my shoulder:
"Found taxi Driver with your passport miss, he want 20 dollar for petrol to bring back here"
I couldn't believe it! I was ecstatic! I almost jumped off my stool and hugged her but I restrained myself condsidering the size of the woman I would probably have crushed her and I thought that might be a bit rude!
That night I went to sleep clutching my passport to my breast and feeling incredibly lucky!
The next morning it was even hotter when we woke up and it was a relief when mid way through breakfast we heard the warning rumbles followed by the crashing of rain! Hopefully the air would feel a little thinner after the storm! That is if the storm ever finished!!! We waited for an hour or so before decided to brave it! It was like walking into a waterfall as we waded ankle deep to the bus stop!
Arvid and I had decided to spend the day exploring! We jumped on a bus heading for china town and sat right at the front on the top floor! It was really exciting! It was obvious that we weren't in Australia anymore, the buildings still looked kind of western but the tell tall exotiv\c plants which almost outnumbers the builings and the tall fingerlike skyscrapers which are iconiuc to sngapore gave it away! After about 30mins on the bus we realised we had no idea where we were meant to get off, and so decided to guess when stuff started to look chinese...quite the task in singapore! Luckily the bus terminated in Chinatown and we were kicked off anyway!
It was still raining but nowhere near as hard and you could feel the air thickening again already! 3 months of this heat and humidity was going to be tough!
China Town was really coo and we exploredthe hundreds of stalls all selling apparently useless but ppretty artifacts and wandered how any of the vendors actually made a living!
From here we ventured down to the marina where the skyline is made up of thousands of cranes...none of which seem to be in use! Ans oohed and ahhed at the opdd prickely building and merlion park...I'm surprised the water spouting lion hasn't been demolished by now it advicates spitting which is illegal in Singapore and can result in a $500 fine...other prohibited activities include: chewing gum, littering, parking almost anywhere and breathing!
After the difficult task of choosing we found ourselves with plates full of suspicious and interesting looking food! The tofu and dried fish didn't go down too well but the resty was lovely! Definantky a changhe from the fast food state of australia!
Then after another few hours gazing in awe at the size of the buildings here I had to bid Arvid goodbye and catch a plane to Bangkok!