I hadn’t originally intended to go to Singapore. Not for any particular reason – it was on my radar as a “nice to have” experience, but I’d intended to spend three weeks in Kuala Lumpur then head north to spend three weeks in Penang. After that, I had a plane ticket booked to Taipei as my proof of onward passage, which Malaysian customs never asked for.
Then I abruptly ran out of things to do in Kuala Lumpur. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the city. It’s a very neat place and a great introduction to Southeast Asia – I just ran out of places to explore after the first week. And after a week of sleeping in a room with no air conditioning, next to a large window opening onto a busy, constantly illuminated street, with no screen to keep the mosquitos out…I was ready to go. So I booked a flight to Singapore.
My first impression of Singapore was that it’s clean, eerily so. I’m used to a certain level of grunginess from Asia: a sort of “We’re too busy living to be cleaning” look throughout the buildings and sidewalks. Singapore is scrubbed and slick. Literally slick – the tile sidewalks can be treacherous after rain.
It’s also strangely quiet. The sidewalks of Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are always packed with people, and Singapore’s streets are deserted in comparison. I’m reminded of Calgary, where all the downtowners stayed in the skyscrapers and the +15 walkways, leaving the streets empty. I don’t know if that’s the case here, but it creates almost a facade of artificiality over the city’s vibrancy, an opaque plastic cover over its heart.
I started with a trek around the Marina, to get the touristy stuff out of the way before digging deeper into the city. The Marina is an absolute marvel, a flower of concrete and steel blossoming from a handful of islands on the tip of the Malay peninsula. Looking at the remarkable feats of engineering, though, you have to reflect on the incredible amount of wealth on display as well. The Marina Bay Sands complex – which is indescribably enormous – is primarily a high-rolling casino and luxury hotel, with a megamall to sell prestige brands at its feet.
It makes me wonder how the city will be treated by the passage of time. How will we look back on Singapore’s towers in a century or two? A twentieth-century Gardens of Babylon? A Tower of Babel, testifying to humanity’s hubris?
I’m being unfair…and pretentious. Beneath the veneer, Singapore is a lively and energetic city, and I really like it. If I was moving to Southeast Asia, Singapore would be top of my list of destinations. Even the heat and humidity feels more bearable than Kuala Lumpur, although admittedly it’s been overcast and rainy for my entire stay so far.
That the food is excellent almost goes without saying. I mentioned before that I’m trying to break out of my tendency to choose restaurants through research, and Singapore’s hawker centres have been useful training (although I have made a point of looking for the Michelin-rated ones, because when’s the next time I’ll be able to do that?). My winning strategy so far is to look for a stall that the locals are lining up to eat at and join them. Hasn’t failed me so far.
The Singaporean dollar being almost exactly 1:1 with the Canadian dollar is useful for keeping perspective on how much I’ve spent in Singapore, but sometimes it fools me. For example, “This hawker dish is only $2, it must be a small snack. I’ll grab another $3 dish to fill me up” is the kind of thought process that ends with me pairing a big bowl of rice porridge with a ball of sticky rice the size of my fists. But they were both delicious, so who am I to complain?
Singapore has also been the location of my best night travelling so far. Coming back to myhostel last night, I spotted a poster for a local comedy bar (The Merry Lion, if anybody feels like retracing my footsteps) with free admission on Mondays. With the hostel lounge deserted, I decided to check it out. The alcohol prices were extortionary, naturally, but the open mic night show featured some great acts. Once the show was over, I ended up hovering around the bar and ended up hanging out with the regulars until it closed, chatting and listening to them play music and having a great time. Heading back to the hostel with a fellow Canadian backpacker, we ran into another pair of Canadians, freshly landed in Singapore and sporting Western t-shirts. Together, we went to grab a uniquely Singaporean dish: A McDonald’s McSpicy, which turned out to be an incredibly juicy McChicken with a really nice spicy sauce. We chatted about the Raptors and Don Cherry and I got home around 1:30 in the morning – not bad for a spur-of-the-moment decision to check out a comedy night.
Today was a quiet day thanks to a heavy rain (and, let’s be honest, a mild hangover), but it seems to have let up so I’m hoping to check out Little India. I have one full day left in Singapore. After that, I head to Malacca for a couple days, and then on to Penang. Onward!
Harmon Moon 