Singapore

November 27th – November 30th 2011

We caught the train from KL Central train station and read magazines on the journey to Singapore. Once there we disembarked and realised yet again that we didn’t have a clue where we were in relation to the city! We really need to do a bit more research before we arrive at our destination! We spoke to an unhelpful and grumpy bus driver but undeterred spoke to another one who was much friendlier. We boarded his bus which took us to the train station; we boarded a train and waited a long time before getting off in Little India where our hostel was meant to be. We wandered around the bustling streets for ages with our big rucksacks on our backs and couldn’t find the address we were after. Luckily we found an internet cafe and tried to call the hostel manager to no avail as there was no answer. We were pointed to exactly the address that we were given on hostelbookers.com and realised that the hostel was no longer there even though we booked online just days before. After looking on another hostel booking website we noticed a note which stated how they had moved to another address in the last few days. With aching backs we walked to the underground train station, boarded and rode a few stops and then had another 15 minute walk to get the hostel which had no sign so we still had to ask a local if it was the right place! What a nightmare, we explained to the girl in the hostel but she was unsympathetic.

National Museum of Singapore

Not a very good start to the city but we decided to make the most of our few days here even though the new hostel was a lot further out of town than we wanted. For our first day we went to the National Museum of Singapore where I had read about an exhibition called Dreams and Reality involving paintings loaned from the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. We paid the $11 to get in and wandered around all the paintings and drawings which were mostly from the Impressionist period. Once we’d looked around the paintings we left the exhibition and went on to the History and Living Galleries which charted the history of Singapore. We had audio guides which were great and the place was filled with so much information, if we had listened to everything we would have been in there for days! After lunch we went to historic Raffles Hotel which was beautifully decorated for Christmas. We went inside and had a look around the free little museum which appealed to my love of the nostalgic and featured many items from the ‘Golden Age’ of travel.

Raffles Hotel

Unfortunately we couldn’t afford a famous Singapore Sling cocktail so we left and went to the Bugis Street night market which was very lively. Craig bought a hot dog from a stand which had unusual ketchup and mustard dispensers where you squeeze the tube like you would milk a cow, very strange! We bought an umbrella as we have noticed since being here that when it rains it pours and we don’t want to be caught in the rain again like we were today after lunch.

Unusual ketchup dispenser in Bugis Street Market

The following day we decided to go to famous Orchard Road. We strolled up and down the street making the most of the air conditioning as it was another very hot and humid day. It was rather bizarre as it was so hot but there were Christmas decorations everywhere as it’s just a few days till December. After Orchard Road we went to vibrant Chinatown and looked around the shops before wandering into an internet cafe to do some research and catch up on emails.

Orchard Road

Chinatown

It was our last day in Singapore and we were quite grateful for it, not because we don’t like the city but more because it is just too expensive for us! With Australia as our next country we realised that we need every penny that we can get so we weren’t able to really make the most of what Singapore has to offer. We decided to go to the Singapore Art Museum where we paid $10 to see an exhibition by Hyung Koo Kang called The Burning Gaze. The artist focuses on portraits of himself or of celebrities, some ultra realistic and some caricatures. We watched a documentary whilst in the gallery of the artist making his work which was really interesting and provided a great insight into his mind. Craig was especially impressed by how realistic the work was. Also showing in the galleries was the Signature Art Prize which involves work by many Asian and Pacific artists competing for the prize.  Some of the work exhibited was spectacular and ranged all different media from photograph to sculpture to installation to video. After the fascinating exhibitions we made our way back to the hostel to pick up our things and head to the airport to begin our three month Australian adventure.