I made a 1042 megapixel image out of the photos I took of the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Only took about 45 hours to render on a Quad Core desktop with Autopano.
December, 2009
28
Dec 09
Heading home
Since I was leaving at 11pm back to the US and had crossed off all the touristy things to do, I wanted to be lazy today, and yet still see tourist things. Or even just parts of Singapore I haven’t seen before. So what’s a guy to do for a random adventure? Hop on the first bus he sees and see where it takes me.
I had no idea where I was going, and I just sort of went with it. The bus was for the Causeway, so it took me north across the north side of Singapore near the frontier with Malaysia. I figured, if I wanted to be a douchenozzle, I could have seen how many border crossings I could have made without getting beaten to death first. But instead, I had some bubble tea, hung out and checked out a cool little market before wandering around some more. I forget what it’s like to actually wander and enjoy a cold beverage and just chill. Lots of fun.
Around 3pm, I hopped back on the MRT to head back to the hostel, and enjoy a beer while I typed up some notes, organized my photos in Lightroom and gossiped with my travelers before my 7pm bus back to the airport. I was told 3+ hours at the airport, so with 4 hours from the time I left the hostel, I’d be on schedule.
The problem whenever I leave ample enough time to get to the airport is that I always make record time in getting there and completing in the check-in formalities. So naturally, the shuttle bus ride took a mere 15 minutes and dropped me off near the JAL counter. I found the business class check-in line and apparently, there’s a dedicated facility for premium passengers checking in. Awesome. More of a time saver. Passport control? Five minutes tops. Sonofabitch. 3 hours 30 mins until the flight takes off.
I made a bee-line for the lounges and popped into the combined BA/Qantas lounge. THEY HAD ICE CREAM! Hell yeah! So I got bored and made Coke floats and drank beer. After about an hour, I got bored and decided to take advantage of status and go to check out all the lounges I could get into and not get kicked out. I went to the JL business class lounge, which was a combined premium lounge for other airlines. It sucked, so I had a beer and decided to go wander around some more. Eventually, the Cathay Pacific lounge, and had some snacks, a beer and read a bit before getting on the plane. I made smalltalk with another passenger, who, like me, actually said please and thank you to the staff in the lounge and that caught his attention.
After a few drinks, I boarded the plane and was pleased at how professional everything was by the folks at the airport. I’d miss it – it was a rare display of awesomeness and considering that I’ve grown accustomed to the mediocrity of airports I transit through, this would be a mess. JAL was nice and put me in the “First class but not” seats I got on the way down, and I enjoyed being able to recline the seat for once. The door on the plane shut, so I kicked off my shoes and dozed off.
The 6 hour layover in Tokyo was boring. I went through passport control with the grand ambition of hopping on a train to Narita, but immediately said “screw this.” Passport control in Tokyo is different now – they take your fingerprints of your index fingers – neat. So – back to the airport. I wandered around the airport – it was cold and rainy outside, so being cold (with only a light jacket to keep me warm) didn’t appeal. I went to the observation lounges so perhaps I could get some awesome plane photos, but it was fenced in so I couldn’t get a good shot if I wanted to. Crap.
Eventually I got lazy, and went back through passport control and went to the JL First lounge for snacks, the amazing beer machine, and piping fast internet. Then the hike to the American flight to Dallas. Again, it was your standard boring flight on AA – I dozed off, had some snacks, had a few cans of Coke and caught up on bad movies. I wish I could equate the business class experience to something orgasmic, but it was just a flight to me.
DFW was the same – breezed through passport control, got harassed by customs (par for the course), grabbed some Pizza Hut and went to the Admiral’s Club near the gate for the flight back to Chicago. I used to think that the Admiral’s Club was awesome, but I miss the people watching and the energy of the terminal. I like seeing groups of people, I like seeing those adorable kids pulling kid-sized luggage along. I like seeing couples in love… It’s a great way to spend time and invent stories for everyone that walks by. Plus, (travel tip) there are more cute women in the airport terminal than in the lounges.
The flight home was the same – your standard Super-80 between Dallas and Chicago, a flight I’ve taken more than enough times. It’s two hours of bliss – just the proper time to zone out and disconnect without feeling like I’m missing some vital world event or email or something. I like that quiet time, but then the ADD kicks in and wants to do something.
I took a taxi home, and hopped in the shower, in what’s turning into a ritual: get rid of the polyester, put on cotton. No hotel upgrade can ever match the feeling I get when I come home to my shoebox filled with clutter.
27
Dec 09
In defense of the American traveler
The American tourist. Ah, who doesn’t love them? I mean, when we’re in foreign countries – we stick out like sore thumbs. Our goofy baseball caps, our fanny packs, the inexplicable white running shoes with jeans – we’re just plain obvious. We may not know our world events, but we’re not all bad. No matter where I go in the world, my American accent carries and I get to be the American apologist. I used to take offense to it, but I don’t anymore.
I never got to travel out of the country as a kid (well, except to Canada) and growing up in the midwest, our traveling was done with road trips. Road trips, as every American knows, are what makes the country great. From my home growing up, we could drive 6 hours in any direction and still be in the States. And for the most part, it’s homogeneous. Iowa, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan… well, except for Wisconsin. There’s not much to separate us other than culture and sports teams affiliations. Drive 12 hours in any direction and we’re still in the US, except for the incursion into Ontario. Even then, there’s not much difference culturally. Sure, there’s beer differences – you know you’re cultural when you discuss what microbrews are in specific states. That’s about it.
The driving distance from London to Rome is virtually the same distance as going from NW Indiana to Orlando. The drive from London to Rome (via Google Maps) takes you through countries like France and Switzerland – multiple currencies and multiple languages. The drive from Indiana to Orlando takes you through Georgia and Tennessee. I think the London to Rome trip wins. Again, such a large distance in the US, and not much changes other than the food.
The overall point is that the US is huge. There’s not a real language barrier until you get to Mexico. So yes, we’re stupid for not knowing multiple languages but why? Functionally, it’s not needed unless you need it for work. If Illinois spoke another language than Indiana did, I would have studied that in school because of the close proximity of the state. If I lived in The Netherlands, things would be different because I would have studied languages of countries in close proximity. However, if Europe spoke all one language, would you have studied some other language in the off-chance that it might come in handy?
The biggest source of disdain for Americans overseas is our future: the students “studying abroad.” For the most part, they’re morons, but then again, I was at that age too. I cringe when I see them, and like any college students, they’re “young, dumb and full of cum” and you wish you can punch them. Instead of studying overseas, the loud and obnoxious ones take it as an excuse to party and become obnoxious. I’m sorry about that. However, there are good ones in the bunch, who take it as an opportunity to broaden their horizons and use it for growth. Sadly, the jackasses overshadow the good ones.
Another sticking point is that Americans are naive about world affairs. That’s true. We may suck at geography, and our media may cram useless information about pop culture down our throats that we’re oblivious to the state of the world. Our media is awful (I’ve been told making people listen to MSNBC is our new “enhanced interrogation” technique at Gitmo.) So if an American asks you a question while abroad that may sound dumb, be nice to us and answer. We’re curious, and that’s why we asked. Tell us about you, your life, your culture, and everything there is to know and we’ll listen.
Traveling outside of the US is pricey, but we’re getting there. Unless you really make it a priority, going abroad is on the list of things to do but is bumped down because life just gets in the way. And the thought is that if you’re going from Indiana to say, France, you want to stay for weeks because you want to see everything and you might not get the chance to go back. Sadly, the cost and time of a trip of that magnitude is sometimes not doable – due to vacation time, life events and various circumstances. It’s one of those events – as soon as you get the money saved, blammo, a major home appliance dies or something happens. Back to square one.
For the most part, Americans abroad are good people. Sure, we stick out and are prone to asking stupid questions, but overall we’re good folks. We’re friendly to the point of aggressiveness, but at the same time, we freak out when being harassed (by touts, for example.) We’re a little weird to deal with, but hey, we’re trying.
26
Dec 09
Sentosa
On my last full day in Singapore, I decided to head out to Sentosa Island, a completely redeveloped island that’s been turned into a playground with all the authenticity of Disneyworld. It was listed as a playground for the residents of Singapore, so I figured – why not?
After taking the MRT and a special monorail (at SGD4 each way), I ended up running into boredom after a few minutes. It was quite strange – here I am, in a highly modern city and now I’m in a completely fake resort that’s half under construction and it just smacked of being gaudy. “Hey look! An artificial beach! Hey look! An aquarium!” There was nothing that stood out as something unique. There was a downhill racetrack for carts, but you weren’t allowed to really fast and/or run over children, which sort of sucked for me.
The only real part of Sentosa that I enjoyed was Fort Siloso which was the main coastal artillery battery. The Brits were planning for a defense that involved a sea attack to the south, so when the Japanese invaded during WW II, they got caught with their pants down when the Japanese invaded from the north. Oops. It also gave Sentosa a really weird feel – “Hey look! Death and destruction over here, and a trance party over there!”
Sentosa Island also has “The Southernmost Point in Continental Asia.” See?
The only problem with this is a) you have to cross a bridge to get to this point and b) there are island further south that you could have easily built bridges to. I don’t get it.
After my fun was fulfilled, I went back to the hostel, had a beer, and met my new roommate, a Canadian guy. How did I know he was Canadian, you may ask? Well, when you have a MEC bag, you’re pretty much saying “I’m Canadian.” Since he just arrived in town, and I was anxious to get photos of Orchard Road all lit up with the Christmas lights, I was able to get him to come with.
We stumbled upon a free tourist bus that promised a bus ride along Orchard Road and you got to see the Christmas lights – naturally being lazy and it still being hot as balls out, I cajoled my new friend into getting on the bus so we could check out the lights without walking (win.)
The bus ride was surreal. Here I am, in Singapore, which is not particularly a Christian country and thus, shouldn’t celebrate Christmas, was lit up better than anything I’ve seen in the States. And our guide, a younger Singapore girl who had to be in college and acted like she was coked up on a gallon of Red Bull. We’re driving down the street, yelling at shoppers and wishing them Merry Christmas. And there was no alcohol involved. It was bizarre, but loads of fun (more videos are at YouTube.) After some food, we headed back to the hostel for some beers and chillin’ with other hostelmates. It was my last night in Singapore, and although I should have done something totally amazing, I got lazy. But it was ok.
24
Dec 09
Night safaris
I got up ass early again to hop on the bus back to Singapore at the Puduraya bus station. My bus back to Singapore cost 42 ringgit ($13), so I can’t complain too much. I had contemplated taking the train back, keeping with the 2009 theme of “take the train as much as possible” but it was 2+ hours slower and more expensive. Sorry.
The bus ride back was uneventful, except for that I sat in front of some Indian Malay kids who were entertaining as hell. I napped a bit, read and didn’t do anything of excitement. Got back into Singapore, checked back into the hostel and restaged for the Singapore Night Safari. Sure, it’s kitschy, and I’ve done safaris before, but hey, not like this. The photos are at Fotki, but rather disappointing. Sorry about that.
Night safari tip: Try to take one of the express buses from downtown hotels instead of mass transit because it’s a bit of a pain to get to – metro to bus to bus.
I decided to opt for the walking tour so I could take a gander at the animals and actually take the photos I wanted. I wisely left the 100-400mm big gun at home because I didn’t want to put up with the aches and pains of dealing with it. Shooting was a pain in the ass: Extreme low light with nocturnal moving animals makes it hell. Your only real options are NV lenses ($$$$$$) or high ISO + fast lens and try to deal with the noise in post. I took the latter option since I can’t drop $7k or more for NV lenses (although they are sexy.) My photos still look like crap, but hey, I did what I could.
23
Dec 09
The last day of KL
Since my grand plan for checking out the Petronas Tower Skybridge was defeated by my ability to be lazy in the morning, I decided to take a chill day and wander around KL. I spent the morning in Chinatown, where I avoided the gauntlet of people offering me massages and bad knockoffs. I’m not much of a shopper, otherwise I would have bought souvenirs. Also, after 5 days of walking around and having disgusting, blister-ridden feet, you don’t want people touching them. In fact, if I did want someone to touch them, what they were charging wasn’t enough. I was hot, gross and sweaty. Please stand clear.
Instead, I went to the KL Tower (the Menara Kuala Lumpur), the world’s now 5th highest freestanding tower in the world (Canadians should be proud in knowing the CN Tower is #2.) I figured that it’d be more touristy, less of a wait and honestly, I’d rather pay an entry fee than sit around and wait.
I was down to my last 20 Ringgits (US$6) and needed to find an ATM and get some cash for the rest of the day. After roaming around the complex at the base of the KL Tower, I finally found an ATM but in an effort to be all safety conscious, my ATM card was back at the hostel locked up with my passport. So begrudgingly, I had to use my credit card to pay for the admission. The very nice girl at the counter said “Sorry, there’s a minimum charge of 50 Ringgits (the entry was like 38 Ringgits)” pause “So how about I charge you 76 ringgits and give you 38 ringgits in notes?” Score. That’s badass customer service right there.
The tower itself was ok – the view was pretty cool and it was interesting to see how much redevelopment was going on in KL. Hell, they had a monorail FFS! The view was nice and was laid out really well. They had ample signage for tourists, which was helpful because I like knowing what I’m taking a look at.
At the bottom of the Tower was the rest of the fun attractions: The pony ride (if you weighed under 50 kilos), the Formula F-1 simulator (if you were under 100 kilos and if the machine wasn’t down for maintenance) and the animals. Oh yes, every tower experience should come with random animals. It was a disappointment compared to the KL Bird Park, but it was better than zoos I’ve been to. It also had a tiny monkey that liked to leap on people as you walked by.
The monkey was clingy, and I had a good conversation with it telling it that if it continued to jump on me, I’d spank it. It then took the opportunity to look into my lens as I snapped away.
Afterwards, the fucker bit me – not hard and it didn’t break the skin (luckily) but more of the “fuck you” bite that animals give.
The rest of the animals were in decent sized cages, and pretty bored. There were really cute marmosets that I wanted to take home with me, but the logistics of it were a bit baffling.
Regardless, I had a good time and I went back to the hostel for some beers and food in the Golden Triangle. I packed up my gear and prepared for the 5 hour bus ride back to Singapore in the morning. I wish I could have stayed longer. Next time.
22
Dec 09
Forgotten lessons
What was the thing that I mentioned first and foremost yesterday? Kuala Lumpur isn’t a walkable city. So what did I do? Walk around. I’m such an idiot.
The first stop for my first full day (outside of buying 3L of water to keep me hydrated until the afternoon) was the Masjid Jamek. The mosque itself was pretty interesting, and the domes reminded me of the mosques I’ve seen in Turkey. Not that I truly understand architecture, or even the difference in mosque construction, but I know what looks cool and what doesn’t look cool – if that makes any sense.
The next stop was Merdeka Square. The square itself was pretty cool – it’s one of those bigass parks that is surrounded by interesting architecture. One side was the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and the other was the Royal Selangor Club – sort of an odd contrast in architectural style. A bit further south was the National Mosque, and I was really impressed. It was not only large, but was built on a large garden complex. Naturally, when I went in they thought it a bit funny that I was the lone American who visited a mosque. Whatever – it was cool and on the recommended list of things to see in KL.
Before I grabbed some lunch, I stopped at the Old Railway Station, which was rather impressive because it was this neat fusion of Western and Eastern architectural styles. For the seemingly 10th straight meal, I had Indian food and was ok with it, but I didn’t really dive into the Malay food for some odd reason. But I refrained from eating at Western chains (except for Pizza Hut, natch) including McDonalds.
Sidetrack: I don’t eat at McDonalds ever never ever while abroad, but I reserve the right to grab a McCoke. FYI, the McDonalds in Malaysia have a “Prosperity Burger”, which is pretty cool.
The plan was to go to the KL Bird Park, which according to the map was only a few inches away so I was like “cool, a few inches, I’ll be there most ricky-tick.” And since I was off the ADD meds, I got distracted by the Islamic Arts Museum and since it was air conditioned, I made a detour. It was pretty cool – I still don’t know how to tell the difference between mosque styles, but there was a little section on people’s experiences from Hajj, and they featured Malcolm X’s experience. It was interesting, because until he got out of the myopic view of the Nation of Islam, he was a bit of a douchenozzle. Hajj sounded cool, but it’s never like I could visit there (Thanks Saudis!)
After a hike, I made it to the KL Bird Park, the world’s largest enclosed outdoor aviary. I figure that since I had chicken for lunch, I’ve come full-circle. The bird park was a bit pricy, but I walked in and was ready to shoot my fingers off, and a bit pissed that I didn’t bring my 100-400mm lens.
Immediately after walking in, there was this amazing peacock that stood within 50 feet of the door with full feathers on a really cool display.
The peacock was in the way and obstructing the path, so it wasn’t like you could push it out of the way or say “Excuse me, can I get through?” I guess when it’s your house, you make the rules. It wasn’t the only peacock running around, and it was cool just to hang out and see the birds running around and ignoring these stupid apes taking photos. Speaking of which, I had a good bonding moment with some sort of monkey, and we entertained each other by showing our teeth as an act of intimidation.
After our bonding, I had some ice cream and just watched the birds run around. It was nice to chill and try to cool down considering I was drinking water all the time and monitoring my output (when you drink 6 liters of fluid and barely have to piss, then things aren’t going well.) I grabbed a taxi and headed back to the hostel for relaxing with my hostelmates, staying in a relatively cool place and writing postcards. Tomorrow would be my last full day in KL, and I had no clue as to what to do.
21
Dec 09
The road to Kuala Lumpur
The staff at the hostel was nice enough to help me get a bus ticket from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur. Since I was still sort of not comfortable with my surroundings, they helped me get one that departed close to the hostel, from the nearby Mustafa Centre. Naturally, that didn’t help much because even with a good map it still took me 15 minutes to find. The bus ride itself was ticketed to be around 5 hours – with prior Section 8 roadtrips lasting a lot longer being a lot messier, I was feeling good. After all, I was able to survive a bus from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania in a small seat on bumpy roads.
The border crossing into Malaysia was rather nice – rather orderly, efficient and pretty slick. It mirrored the experience that you got when at the airport in Singapore. Exited Singapore, entered Malaysia – all in one amazingly efficient stretch. I found myself going “that’s it?” Regardless, it went smoothly. The bus itself was rather swank – AC, movies, but no bathroom. The legroom was something that you’d get on a domestic first class flight. Moronically, I didn’t think to bring snacks or get any Malaysia currency ahead of time so that when we did stop, I couldn’t buy anything. No big deal.
Finally after 5 hours, we arrived in KL at the Puduraya bus terminal. The hostel was within a km of a walk, so it was just a short little hump. Got some cash, and headed to the Red Palm hostel.
The hostel itself was rated as one of the top in Asia, and curiously, it lacked any sort of front door sign that said “hey, we’re an awesome hostel.” The price was amazing, less than US$10 a night for a dorm bed. The staff was great and bending over backwards in order to lend a hand. I could only wish I got this level of service at some of the higher end hotels I’ve stayed at throughout the years. Seriously, they rocked and I hope I’m back in KL at some point so I can visit again.
I restaged my gear and went out for a walk to go check out the Petronas Twin Towers, since there’s a point of contention that we Chicagoans have against it. The towers are technically higher than the Sears Tower (I’m not calling it the Willis Tower, never ever) only because decorative spires count and not telecommunications antennas. Anyway, of course that it’s a moot point now with the Burj Dubai in Dubai – but still, it’s nice to show some pride.
KL is not a walking city. It’s not really pedestrian friendly, but they do have a monorail. After what felt like a good hour walk with stops for food and water, I finally made it to the Petronas Towers.
There’s no observation deck, but you can go to the Skybridge on the 41st level – if you have a ticket. Tickets can’t be bought, but instead are handed out first come, first serve around 8am. I figured that I’d make it a point tomorrow to go and get the tickets. I was told to expect that, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise. I got my photo with it, took some photos that I hoped to stitch into a large panoramic photo, and then headed back with a stop along the malls along the way. KL seemed like a good shopping culture, if only to take advantage of the air conditioning. What was funny was that I found a bookstore in the mall behind the Petronas Twin Towers that had books from people I know. That was pretty slick.
I grabbed some Indian food and walked around the Bukit Bintang – the Golden Triangle, and eventually called it quits around 10pm and hung out at the hostel and watched “The Biggest Loser: Asia.” What an awful show! Here you have people who are overweight and want to lose weight, so you have people who injure them, berate them and make them feel horrible making them depressed. What do depressed people do? Eat.
As I crawled into bed, I talked with one of the other dormmates about the Petronas Twin Towers, and he had said that despite getting there early, the wait in the line was 2 hours, then it’s for a specific entry time so essentially, all day was spent waiting to go to the skybridge. That’s not something that I wanted to hear, so I leaned back in bed, curled up with my pillow and fell asleep and thought that I’d have to come up with a good game plan for tomorrow instead of the Twin Towers.
20
Dec 09
Central Singapore
I spent another night being listless in Singapore. The hostel that I stayed at didn’t provide blankets, so it was really weird to manage to the room’s temperature and being considerate of the other person in the room at the same time. My new roommate, an 18 year old Aussie kid, was pretty hilarious. He was like a puppy, and I found him entertaining. And I felt old.
I decided to take a walk from the hostel down Serangoon Road to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, which I felt was pretty disappointing compared to the other temples I’ve been in. I did like the rather impressive front to the temple, though.
Feeling disappointed, I decided to hop on the MRT to my new favorite station, Dhoby Ghout, to take a walk along the river. After all, this is where it all got started, and Stamford Raffles started the architecture of Singapore. I took a nice river cruise and went down the remodeled buildings, which has been turned into a nightlife and dining area. Still rather pricy, but if you could afford to do it, then you should. What made me chuckle was finding a gourmet Burger King bar there, that was modeled like a fine steakhouse, complete with hardwood furniture and everything. The river cruise itself was nice – it allowed me to be lazy, stay cool and take good photos.
I decided to be a bit bold and walk to the Singapore Flyer, which is not really accessible via MRT. I wasn’t able to find a bus that would get me there, so I decided a spirited walk might help. I stopped off for Thai food along the way and had some delicious black pepper crab, which wasn’t as awesome as I thought it would be but still pretty good. The Singapore Flyer itself was pretty nice, and I didn’t realize that it was 100 feet higher than the London Eye. The view was more obscured due to the construction of a casino and more redevelopment, so it lacked the historical feel of the London Eye. No big deal – it was still quite impressive.
The final stop for the day was the Singapore Botanical Gardens, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I know it’s totally uncool to say, but I admire the effort and beauty of them, and I just wish I could relax in the grass and just chill. But I’m a tourist on a schedule, so I’ll have to save it for another time. I skipped the Orchid garden, after overdosing on them in Rio a few months ago. Plus, I lacked the camera tripod to take good photos of flowers. One of the cool things was watching swans chase after a dog that went for a quick swim in one of the lakes. The dog would be a few feet into the water, and the swans hauled ass over to the dog. The dog would run away, then move further down, and the swans would pursue. I was sort of hoping to see swans go nuts but alas, I didn’t.
It started to get dark, and I hit the point of being tired and worn out from 8 hours of running around in the sun and humidity. I took the MRT back to the hostel and started to pack my gear up. I had an early morning bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
19
Dec 09
Off to Singapore
Sometimes you have to wonder what the hell I’m actually doing on a plane. It’s this weird sort of cyclical feeling – I hate flying, I hate airports but if I don’t do it, I miss it.
I took the longer route to Singapore: Chicago to Dallas to Tokyo (on American Airlines) to Singapore (on Japan Airlines), mainly because I wanted my airline miles and to keep status. It’s that goal I try to get at every year because the benefits outweigh the cost. However, this meant that I’d be flying 10,553 miles to Singapore, which even in a premium cabin, is an asskicker.
The flight over was uneventful. It’s a mixture of bad food, bad alcohol, bad sleeping and bad movies. In a way, the 13 hours from Dallas to Tokyo felt a lot longer. The only good part was that I hit the lifetime mark of 2 million miles on American Airlines. A nice little goal, but in the end, it really doesn’t mean anything. Once in Tokyo, I got some snacks in the JAL First Class lounge, took a nap in a massage chair, and prepared to get on a 7 hour flight expecting cramped accommodations. Turns out that I got put in the premium cabin albeit with a coach ticket (it seemed to be a 4 class airplane – business, business sold as coach, premium economy and economy.) I wasn’t complaining at all, mind you, and fell asleep thanks to my friend Ambien. In retrospect, it was stupid to do because I was getting into Singapore at 12:30am. The plan was to get to the hostel by 2am, crash hard and be out the door by 8am on a day’s worth of adventures.
Landing in Singapore itself was rather nice. The airport was immaculate and everyone was friendly, which, after all that flying, was a nice thing to do considering I was punchy and ready to crawl into a bed. I grabbed some cash, hopped on the airport shuttle bus and got to the hostel.
Sleep didn’t come to me, and instead I found myself using the hostel’s wifi connection to harass people on the other side of the globe with my Blackberry via text and phone calls. I tossed and turned and even another Ambien didn’t put me down. So at 7am after a bit of sleep, I decided to shower, grab coffee and toast and head out the door without a clue as to what to do.
The first stop was Chinatown, so I made it to the nearest MRT station and took the few minute ride there. The MRT was impressive: it’s everything you expect out of a mass transit rail from a top notch public transport system. You know it’s bad when you look at the El in Chicago and think, wow, this is halfway decent. I’m not sure whose metro is better, Hong Kong’s or Singapore’s, but they’re amazing.
Chinatown itself was rather quiet at 9 in the morning, but still pretty impressive. The replica temple they had was nice to walk through, and it’s always a sight to see. Buddhist temples are fascinating to me. I like sitting back and watching people pray to gods I’ve never heard of or don’t understand. Luckily, everyone was friendly enough to point me around to make sure I got the maximum experience.
I then headed to Thian Hock Keng Temple, seeing it’s one of the top 10 sights in Singapore according to my friends over at DK. Another cool temple, so I proceeded to do my thing and snap away with my camera. Of course, the staff saw me and told me where I could and can’t take photos – all the while ignoring people who were taking photos with their cameras in places where they shouldn’t. Sure, single out the guy who has a professional-looking camera. This made me have a flashback to Mongolia, where I almost got into a fight with a Buddhist monk about my camera. Damn Buddhists, always causing trouble.
After that, I hopped back on the MRT to go to the National Museum of Singapore. I’m a museum nerd, and was interested in learning about the history of Singapore and how it evolved into this world class city. Singapore itself is a diverse city, with Indians, Chinese and Malays all getting along just fine – even with the whiteys around. I was also interested in Stamford Raffles, the British man who founded Singapore. I figured since a lot of things are named after the man, I should figure out more about him. What was interesting is that despite doing a great job in making inroads in Singapore and establishing it as a duty free port, the British still screwed him and he was left penniless.
It’s important to bring up the Singapore heat and humidity. Going from cold in Chicago to 90′s and humidity was an ass kicker, and I was doing my best to push fluids but was still a mess. I realized early that if I was going to continue to have a good pace in Singapore, I’d have to duck into a shopping mall often just for the air conditioning.
The next stop on the day (after cooling down in a mall) was the infamous Raffles Hotel. It’s the home of the Singapore Sling invented in the hotel’s Long Bar, and I figured if I was going to come all this way, it’s time to have a drink in the place where it was invented. A few disappointments: the drink was pre-made from a mix and it cost me US$21. Damnit. It was delicious, but at $21, it’s not a drink you could truly savor. The glass that the drink came in was pretty impressive, and naturally, I thought that the $21 included a souvineer glass but alas, it didn’t. I was *so* tempted to take the glass with me, but with Singapore’s reputation for brutal punishment, I decided that getting caned on the first day in town wasn’t the brightest idea I’ve had. Damn. The glass itself was US$15. Damn.
After that, I decided to head up to the Sultan Mosque. I thought it was a pretty impressive mosque, but admittedly I don’t know enough to distinguish it between other mosques. Basically I suck at appreciating any house of worship in the world – churches blend together with other churches and mosques blend in with other mosques. I liked the open space and how friendly the staff was to non-Muslims and explaining things pretty well. I don’t have a problem with Islam, only the extremist crazy Islam.
At around 4:30, my body quit on me, and I decided to go back to the hostel, drop off my camera and lounge around until dinner time. I booked my bus ticket to Kuala Lumpur and chilled until dinner. It was a good day and a crash course on getting around Singapore, which is definitely a lot bigger than I had expected. Some dinner, beers with my hostelmates and an early evening. Tomorrow would be more ambitious.