Arriving in Singapore

I flew in to Singapore on January 27th with my motorcycle still in a crate waiting for Dangerous Goods declaration to be completed prior to airlifting it to follow me. Having spent the last two weeks in Mount Isa prepared me for the temperature, but not the humidity.

At Brisbane Airport before my QANTAS flight to Singapore

Taking a taxi from the airport with all my bags (two - one normal backpack and one with my helmet and leathers, etc), I spoke to the taxi driver who was happy to inform me that he had lived in Singapore all his life and that it would only take me 2 days to see all it had to offer. I suspect Singaporean tourism might get some value out of marketing to the taxi drivers. He could have given me a list of twenty things to look at (or just had a brief page or two from Lonely Planet), but every time I asked about a temple or a monument, he didn't even know about it. I ended up selling Singapore to him.

Immediately, the beauty of the city was obvious, with trees and tropical forest growing around and over the city. The taxi took me to Pagoda Street, which is in Singapore's Chinatown. I am used to a sparse mall called Chinatown in Brisbane, but this was bustling with people and sounds and sights of wonderment, a sea of red and gold, with snakes depicted everywhere. I soon came to realise it is to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake.

The scene right outside my hostel on Pagoda Street

The bustle and energy is vibrant and it is a tourist hot spot with haggling and photographers all around. My initial purchase of a SIM card for my phone was a disaster and I ended up paying only $2 less than the asking price, but a little later, I made a much better haggle over a thumb drive and power adaptor. Initially, the thumb drive was SGD $75 and this was too expensive, so I wondered away and came back a little later to ask if they had a universal power adaptor. When I asked how much they were together, I was quoted SGD $66. Logic failed me. I offered SGD $60 which he accepted. Only later did I think I really could have gone much lower in price, but there are places where haggling is accepted, even expected, and places where it is absolutely not appreciated (like supermarkets).

At the hostel (Beary Good Hostel) I met a delicious British backpacker (you know who you are) who was also on a solo adventure, but for her it was to get to Australia with 3 days in Singapore outbound and 3 days in Hong Kong on her way back home. We became exploration buddies and wondered around checking Singapore out for days before she moved on to Perth, Australia. We explored Chinatown and the Marina and Orchard Road. We ate different foods and got ourselves lost - well, that was mostly me, convinced of my own navigation skills, but still not quite getting north and south. I forgot the compass I had intended to take and my head hasn't quite got it right yet.

Laser light show at the Singapore Marina

I met up with an old work colleague and we had a wonderful chat about politics and future opportunities, including a remote store in China and a writing hut in Cambodia. It is always good to meet a true friend after more than 10 years and feel as if not a day has gone past. These people will always be friends. They are the most valuable friends you can have even if you don't talk to them every day. These friends are friends regardless of the maintenance requirements of surface friendship. It should be that true friends do not need constant reinforcement of that friendship.

Merlion in the background

There are so many different facets to Singapore with the mixing of Malay, India, Chinese, and European influences. For a while I was wondering why I was getting strange looks, but then I looked around and realised I was the only Caucasian for as far as I could see. The effort of the Singaporean to communicate is visible and I think it is a key part of the culture. Many people here speak multiple languages and make me feel a little like a barbarian who can only speak one fluently. I shall have to remedy this in the future.

The motorcycle is still in Brisbane, waiting Customs clearance to leave for Singapore, so I am chilling my heels while I try to sort that out. I am starting to feel a little restless and this morning, I find I have a sore throat and feel a little vague. I think I am coming down with a flu and I hope it is not Avian. My immune system is still good, so I am hoping I will overcome it over the weekend and be ready to face next week. I cannot imagine I will get my bike here before Monday, but I will still hope and wish. I am feeling a little hampered without my transport.

And while I am on that topic, if you intend to do a motorcycle tour in the region and you are in Singapore, you should definitely stop by Big Loud Rides and talk to Juha. He is a wealth of great information about motorcycles in the region and was able to give me some hints and advice on border crossings and gave me some local and recent information on the routes I am intending to take. He gave me information about road conditions and some tips on what I should be taking with me in preparation for the trials ahead. I am planning on taking all his advice as it all made sense and some of it I had not even thought of. In return, I will be updating him on my challenges and any information that will help him out, for example, if I can get into Myanmar with a motorcycle he would like to know how. We shall see how it all goes.