the Eye of the Lion

Now that I'm fully practiced in speaking Australian, it was time for a lil further cultural exploration. Throwing a dart on the map landed directly on Bangkok, Thailand. You may have heard of Bangkok from such films as the Hangover 2, Bangkok Dangerous and Rambo. Let's commence playing travel agent!

#LessMoneyMoreProblems

Cheap only scratches the surfaces in how cheap I have become. Thus, after an exhaustive pricing search on Asia airfare, turns out we gots to fly budget airlines Jetstar and AirAsia. And of course, adding on a short stop-over in Singapore is do-able. (The LCCT, or Low Cost Carrier Terminal, at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia airport leaves everything to the imagination. Luckily, I was able to stretch my legs out in the mile-long walk from airplane to stiff terminal seat.) Un-recommending it.

Welcome to Singapore, the Lion City!

Singapore's 5.4 million folks bus, train and drive about on their wee island country which is 15,000 times smaller than America. The friendly folks at the Changi International airport use their AK-47's to ensure you don't j-walk or burst through immigration. Thankfully, the Singapore MRT trains speak like 19 languages so we can easily find our way (like we really had any idea where our way was). After waiting in the airplane queue for 20 minutes to land, our 8 hour flight landed at 5pm and we successfully managed to use public transport and a lot of our own legs (walking) to check-in to our windowless hotel room.

To my own surprise, Singapore isn't as built-up as I'd imagined. The MRT system lets us travel to all the tourist spots, and with 36 hours we had to get our bums-a-movin'! A shower and a rumbling tummy, we ventured outside again to stuff our face with some strange Singaporean food at a hole-in-the-wall. It was a block from our hotel, but my goodness I felt like I'd just run a marathon - the air warmer than an oven after a Christmas baking fest. (It was delicious.)

Now, according to the locals, the Srivijayan Empire King decided to make a new capitol. So, he meanders about and lands on this wee island. During a hunting excursion, he sees a fast moving cat-like animal. The hunting party assumes it's a lion and because a lion is seen as good fortune, the King decides to build his new capitol here, naming it Singapura ("Singa" for lion and "pura" for city). Take that educational tid-bit for your school holidays!

She's a beaut! and really a Merlion

P.S: a Merlion (as pictured above) has the head of a lion and a body of a fish. It has become Singapore's national symbol as "Mer" means sea and "lion" means, well, lion. Singapore was first established as a fishing village, before transforming in to a financial and business centre it is today.

Further exploration found us in Chinatown, shopping through the markets. This is where I discovered two interesting situations I have never, ever encountered:

• Here's a new sales tactic: a customer would walk up to an ATM to withdraw cash. The bank staff would wait for the customer to complete their transaction, and while walking away approach the customer to pitch more products or services to them. How annoying?!
• We were in the Chinese market, looking at electronics. Me mate David was interested in purchasing a very affordable, unlocked Samsung smartphone. Well, they left me standing at the counter while they took David to some back room to try and get him to hand over his identification documents and sign-up to their "plan" in order to even use the phone. Before taking him back, they even showed us the entire book of people who had already done it (which included clear copies of passports, drivers license and other photo IDs). 45 minutes of me standing alone at the counter, and David finally walks out empty handed, and after hearing his story, we quickly left - but not until we snapped a picture of me:

After this lil excursion, we explored the city centre/downtown core/central/downtown:

Singapore bench art v American

More finance.

One giant tourist trap aka Marina Sands Towers

NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THE PUBLIC VIEWING DECK ON TOP OF THE SURF BOARD!!!!!!! (I write that in all caps on purpose, because I am literally shouting at myself for missing this).

Cool kids sit under bridges.

David on Marina Bay Pedestrian Bridge...it literally sways heavily

Nearby, we visited Gardens by the Bay to poke around some gardens. Beautifully done and well maintained. The only problem was I was bloody hot, tired, and exhausted from a full day of hiking around. Needless to say, it was still worth it! (It's really gardens and park area that was reclaimed from those pesky buildings). Here are some garden pics for your viewing leisure:

Now, we spent only one full day in Singapore. I'd recommend 2-3 full days, just to be able to leisurely see everything. Guess that means I just has to goes backsies :-) Here are a few other memorable moments from our 36 hours in the Lion City: 

A vending machine displaying soda choices.

Singapore subway. Everyone is so happy to line up and enter the doors in single-file.

Many public toilets required you to grab your toilet paper before entering a stall. You also dried your hands with this same roll after washing.

Now I did pretty well on all my Geography courses through life. But as it turns out I am gettin' a wee rusty in my old age, so I need some map assistance to figure out where the hell I was in the world. I figured you may need some as well (cough, cough):

Let's not forget about our 10-day Thailand excursion, coming soon to a screen near you!

Hope your weather treats ya nice!

Ciao for now,
:D