Singapore…

Had my original plans come to fruition, Singapore would have been my final stop in Asia before flying to Australia…

Riding the Big Fella into Singapore would have cost in the region of $500, to cover Road Taxes, foreign registration and many other charges that the authorities here use to control traffic flow in the city… Both Trevor and I decided that taking the bikes over the Causeway was not a great idea and had chosen to make use of the bus services which run between Johor Bahru and Singapore instead…

With Rory as our guide, we walked the bustling streets of Singapore...

Orchard Road is a shoppers paradise, if you have a well padded credit card...

I had hoped to ride the Big Fella all the way from South Africa to Singapore, and only then concern myself with the harrowing task of crating and air-freighting the bike to Sydney… Due to a long list of unforeseen circumstances, we had already made three unplanned for flights before I even set foot in South East Asia…!!

Singapore seems to have shed the "Strictly Business" tag that I remembered from many years ago...

It felt a little strange therefore to be arriving in Singapore with only a small rucksack on my back, that contained no more than a clean shirt, a change of underwear and a toothbrush…!! This certainly gave a whole new meaning to the term “traveling light”…

With Rory in tow, we arrived at the bus terminus close to Orchard Road and then made our way to the lobby of the Hilton Hotel where we had arranged to meet Trevor, Chenty and Phil…

Rory had courageously agreed to act as our guide for the afternoon before returning home that same evening, while I planned to spend the evening in the city, and return to Johor Bahru the following day…

Even so, alcohol is a lot more expensive here than what we were used to...

Longer Happy Hours enforced the perception that Singapore was a fun destination...

My friends had struggled to find a place to stay the previous evening and had finally settled into a hotel room sometime after midnight, having walked themselves silly all evening searching for a place that would suit us all…

It had been almost ten years since my last visit to Singapore, and I was immediately struck by a few changes that had occurred since then…

The most striking thing was the many sex shops that had sprung up on Orchard Road, the busiest and most famous stretch of roadway on the island… It seemed strange when you consider that Singapore is surrounded by Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim dominated countries, and here was this little island of apparent permissiveness…!!

We strolled through the many shopping malls that line Orchard Road, Trevor searching for a lens for his camera, and Phil trying to buy a pair of board shorts… I was hoping to find another Canon D10 camera as the one I had started this trip with had already taken over 25 000 photos and I wondered how much longer it would hold up… Each camera store owner I met lamented the fact that despite this being one of their top-selling cameras, Canon had discontinued the model, so chances of me finding another were exceedingly slim…

I do not think that this coffee shop would go down well with the authorities back home...!!

Exactly what do they serve here to make it so...??

A visit to Singapore would be incomplete if you did not have at least one drink at the famous Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel...

We battled our way along the overcrowded sidewalks, hardly ever able to walk in a straight line amongst the thousands of Saturday afternoon shoppers… I think we all felt out of sorts by the crowded conditions we were experiencing…

It had been a very long time since we had been in such a bustling city, and I for one began yearning for some peace and quiet…

We walked down to the end of Orchard Road and turned off onto Bras Basah, passing the South African Embassy… I stood watching our flag flying proudly from the pole and had one of those emotional moments, thinking about home…

We stood outside the Cathedral of the Good Shepard, Singapore’s first purpose built Catholic Church, completed in 1847 and consecrated exactly 50 years later… The convent which once stood behind the church, has been converted into a series of restaurants and boutiques, and we made our way to the where the Raffles Hotel with it’s famous Long Bar was located…

I guess running could result in a very unfortunate injury...!!

Rory insisted that we have a drink there and we happily agreed, as the heat and humidity had climbed steadily while we had been walking… We hung around long enough to enjoy a beer before shelling out almost $100 for the privilege of the five drinks we had ordered…!!

Transgressing the law can prove costly...!!

Wherever we walked in Singapore, we saw signs warning people not to break any of the many laws that make this such a “fine” city…

CCTV cameras watch your every move, so ignoring the many signs posted on the streets would be unwise… Chewing gum has long been outlawed here, and eating and drinking in public places is seriously frowned upon… As a result, Singapore is one of the cleanest cities you will every walk the streets of…

CCTV cameras abound... The city fathers are watching you every step of the way...

We bid Rory goodbye as the sun was going down, and then had a light supper before walking down to the Esplanade Park on the edge of Marina Bay…

The lifeblood of the city used to flow through here and up the river to the old Colonial District… But that was long ago and far away…!! The entire area is now the cultural heart of Singapore, where many of its museums and both indoor and outdoor theatres can be found…

The lights of the city had begun flickering on as we walked and the downtown area was bathed in bright light and neon…  It was an impressive sight, and we stopped on the edge of the Esplanade to take a few photos and drink in the sight…

Singapore's Central Business District by night...

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino Resort dominates the skyline here, and one cannot help but marvel at the sight of this amazing structure…It features three 55-storey hotel towers, connected by a massive sky terrace, looking like a surfboard balanced on top of them… It is the world’s most expensive standalone casino property, and cost more than $8 Billion to build…!!

The Marina Bay Casino complex is an engineering marvel...

We stopped at the edge of Marina Bay to take the obligatory "We were here" photos.....

The sky terrace contains the world’s longest elevated swimming pool, and is over 200 metres above the ground… There was a light show in progress when we visited, and we stood captivated by the sight of the surrounding buildings changing colour every few seconds…

The streets were still crowded with people and remained so until much later that night… We walked to the nearest metro station and took the train to a station closest to our hotel…

The newly opened V hotel had more than it's fair share of teething problems to deal with...

The V Hotel had only just opened for business, and was experiencing a number of teething problems, which had guests milling about the lobby in confusion… The automatic key card system had malfunctioned, and most people could not get into their rooms…!!

Then the lift began acting up… We pressed the button for the fifth floor, only to discover that it had no intention of ever letting us off there… Phil and I spent almost half an hour riding up and down between floors, and only got back down to the lobby by pure chance it seemed…!! Chenty and Trevor took even longer to gain access to their room…!! Not a good start for the V Hotel…!!

Could not have said it better myself...!!

Phil’s flight back to Vancouver was leaving early the next morning, and Trevor had decided to take full advantage of the opportunity to send some kit that he no longer thought he needed, back to Canada… This included Chenty’s cold weather “plug-in jacket” which caused some consternation, as she was sure she would need it later… Turns out she was quite right, as by the time they landed in Perth a few days later, temperatures there had dropped to single figures…!!

Early the next morning, after an emotional farewell to Phil, Chenty and Trevor went back to the hotel, while Phil and I headed for the station, he to take the train to the airport, while I went in the opposite direction to the bus terminus to get back to Jahor Bahru in Malaysia…

The train to the airport pulled in first, and after a big hug to Phil, I waved him goodbye with a promise to meet him on Saltspring next year, ostensibly to do some fishing, but mainly to share a few beers…!! The last month had literally flown by for all of us, and I am sure he was as sad to be leaving as we were to see him go… Take care, Phil…!! See you next year, Buddy…!!

With Sunday morning traffic being almost non-existent, the bus made it back to the causeway leading to Malaysia in barely 20 minutes, and I breezed through immigration, got back onto the bus and a few minutes later was standing in a very long queue on the Malaysian side of the border… Things were not running as smoothly as they had on Singapore side, and it took another half hour before I could hail a taxi to get me back to Rory’s apartment…

©GBWT 2011