Singapore is a place I have wanted to visit for a long time.
Not because of a specific culture or specific attractions but because it
sounded like a place of the future and I wanted to see it for myself!
I certainly was not disappointed. It’s a nation of only one
city, millions of people all of whom seem to hail from a different corner of
the world and buildings that test the imagination. It’s clean… almost too
clean! This is the result of heavy penalties for littering, chewing gum and
eating and drinking on public transport. I certainly have nothing against these
restrictions, especially after Indonesia and watching people through their
garbage out of train windows and bathe in rivers that could pass as garbage
dumps. Pristine Singapore was the breath of fresh air we all needed. Sadly we
only really had one full day to explore and there was a couple hours where I
thought I may have less than that as the big bad bug I had picked up in
Yogyakarta made a big bad comeback.
Lucky for me I woke up feeling much better and pushed myself to
head out with Ally and Mia. Where did we go? Well the zoo of course! Singapore
Zoo is by far the nicest I have ever seen and after seeing other Asian zoo’s it
was great to see one that worked, one that seemed to be more for the animals
than the homo-sapiens and one that made the spectator jealous of the creature
comforts the animals were exposed to! I went off on my own and just soaked up
the atmosphere. Although there were clearly thousands of guests mulling about
(it was a Saturday) I never once felt crowded or like I had to strain to see
something. If you ever find yourself in Singapore don’t miss the zoo!
After the zoo we cleaned up and headed out for our last big
meal as a group. Naturally we hit up Little India and all ate until we nearly
exploded. It was my first non-toast based meal in sometime and although perhaps
Chicken Tikka wasn’t the best choice it was still a delicious one!
The next day we boarded a bus to Kuala Lumpur, but not just any
bus, a luxurious, first class bus. This bus was extreme. We each had a message
seat that could lay nearly flat and a VOD screen with movies and old school
Nintendo games like Mario Kart.
Once in Kuala Lumpur we headed to our hostel. I was in Kuala
Lumpur in 2009 with another friend and we had stayed at Backhome Hostel so I
had booked it for the girls and I again. It was strange because the first time
I was in KL I wasn’t too impressed. I mean the towers were amazing and I could
have spent hours just looking up at them but KL itself wasn’t much. The second
time however I found myself with more of an appreciation for the city. I felt
completely comfortable even when I went out walking alone. It was still
incredibly familiar! I could totally see myself living in Kuala Lumpur or
Singapore in the future!
Before we knew it though it was time to
board our flight to Laos and begin the last 3 months of our South East Asian
adventure!
