Day 153 (Sunday 16th) - Wandering around Singapore
Bored of waiting for a bed, I went for a wander at about 10, after sorting out free citywide wireless (this place is the future, honestly). I walked through Little india (vibrant & aromatic) to the Raffles Hotel (fancy & historical) and on to Suntec City Hall Mall, where I remained for a while due to the intermittent rain. I was in there for hours, partly due to weather and partly due to being really lost. Inside I found the DC comics store, a cosplay shop specialising in Naruto, the fountain of wealth, which is apparently the largest fountain in the world, & the enormous Harris bookstore - which stocked an 8 volume Manga account of the Buddha's life by Osama Tezuka, which I read a bit of and liked a lot. Also I read loads in the Bali & Lombok Lonely Planet - I think I'll go back and purchase it at some point. The shopping here is crazy, I've never seen so much stuff I wanted, although all I need is a pair of Havaianas (I broke one in Pai and my replacements are rubbish and uncomfortable), & they're the one thing I can't find. Anyway, when the rain ceased I kept walking, down to the Esplanade Theatre complex (looks like a giant Durian) 7 on to the Merlion statue, before finding an MRT station & heading to Chinatown. Chinatown was cool and muticoloured (although it was pretty cloudy so all my pictures look a little grey) with loads of food stalls and intriguing little shops. I walked in what I thought was the right direction to get back, but was in fact exactly the wrong way. I got back to Little India along with loads of Indian men returning (I assume) from work. They had roughly an 80% moustache rate - I must have seen well over 1000 moustaches in the space of 10 minutes, which is awesome. I went round the corner for dinner, where I was bullied into having what the guy next to me was having. Here's how it went:
Waiter (urgently): Hello, what you want?
Me (sitting down): Hi, I'm just having a look at the menu.
W (gesticulating at the man next to me): You want that? Same? It's good, special today!
M (flustered): Well, I was thinking about the Coco...
W (interrupting): Chicken Dum Biryani yes? Very good, coming right up!
M (defeated): Yes, fine, sure...
It came on a banana leaf, a fried chicken wing/breast, some curry sauce of some kind, an egg, coleslaw and a huge mound of yellow biryani rice, all of which to be eaten with one hand - the right, as this is a muslim restaurant. As it turns out, it was very good, and only cost me about S$4, which is pretty cheap. I've had an oddly eclectic food day - jam on toast for breakfast, a BBQ pork floss bun and a cream cheese bun from a Chinese bakery for lunch, and Chicken Dum Biryani for dinner. All of which were delicious, especially the BBQ bun.
Day 154 (Monday 17th) - Happy Birthday Birdie!
I was up at 8 and breakfasting by 9, ready to shoot off to Qantas and sort out my flight. I walked towards the MRT, only to get hopelessly lost and ended up getting a cab to the office. My cabbie was very chatty and cheery, and was of Malay/Javanese origin, and so was very interested when I said I'd come from Malaysia and was headed to Bali. He taught me Selamat Pagi (good morning) and Terimah Kasi (thank you), the only two phrases I already knew, and Apa khabar? (how are you?). Nice of him anyway though. I managed to change my flight with no difficulty, and I'm now flying to Bali on the 22nd. Spent the rest of the day exploring Orchard Street, the main shopping street in Singapore. I decided that one thing I needed was a voltage transformer so I could charge & play my Game Boy micro, which I haven't been able to do since Japan. I was variously quotes S$89, S$50+, and eventually S$40 (which I haggled to 30 and accepted), which all seemed a little steep as the thing only cost me the equivalent of S$ in the first place. I then embarked on a Havaiana & shorts search, which failed, but I don't really mind as I got to see all the other Malls, which were reasonably diverse - my favourites were the dodgy chinese ones crammed with tiny shops - I felt much more at home there than among all the Gucci and Louis Vuitton stores. I stopped in McDonalds to use the free Wi-Fi to compare some prices with home, and had a Chicken McSpicy Burger (which certainly was) to justify my presence. I'm back at the hostel now wondering if I'll see the girls again, as that would avoid me having to go out for solo St. Patrick's day drinks. Also I am wondering what all these little bumps on my elbows are, which are itching a little and concerning me a little as well.
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