Singa-poor Pearce

Singapore Part 1: September 12th

We arrived in Singapore’s Woodlands Train station just after 6am for the first phase of our Singapore experience. We had slept some on the train, a lot compared to our two other brutal overnights, but Pearce was starting to feel sick. As we couldn’t check in to the Drop Inn Hostel we decided to head to the Hilton where we would stay our last night(ish) in Singapore. Our thought was we could consolidate our bags into one and store the other safely while we were at our final vacation destination. Plus it would allow Pearce the chance to rest in a comfortable environment.
Pearce and I were very impressed with the drive to the shopping district where the Hilton was located on Orchard Road. The highways all seemed landscaped, the cars drove in an orderly fashion and everything seemed shiny and brand new. Singapore is known for a whole host of Big-Brother-like rules. There is no smoking in public; jaywalking will earn you a $50 fine; and being gay is illegal?!? We were also told, but have not officially confirmed that you are not allowed to drive a car older than five years old. It certainly seemed like this was the case.
The themes of order and control were only reaffirmed as we walked around the Orchard area. There was no trash, people side-stepped out of your way and it was eerily quiet. Even in Singapore’s Chinatown which we visited in search of dim sum, everything was carefully crafted and staged, with the “real” Chinese element somehow left out of the equation. Another unique feature is that everyone speaks English in addition to a variety of other languages including Chinese, Malay and “Singlish”. We were no longer in an Asian city, but some strange Bizarro-world version of an Asian city. Not that we really minded. In fact, as quickly as Kuala Lumpur turned us off, we were lured in by the very different version of Asian city that is Singapore. There was only one problem. To spend any great amount of time here, also required you to spend a great amount of money. For instance, our hostel which is was in Little India, a 10-15 minutes subway ride from some of the main attractions, cost us just over $40. For that price we had a dingy, although private room with twin beds, shared bathroom and aircon that could only be used from 6pm to noon. We also got the bonus of hearing everything in the lounge area which seemed to be filled at all hours of the night. Hilton it was not. In fact, it was by far the most expensive place we had stayed in (and paid for ourselves) and probably the worst.
After Chinatown, Pearce was beginning to feel really bad. There was no way he could relax in our sketchy hostel without air-conditioning so our strategy was to hole up in a Borders we had seen earlier. He could possibly grab a cat nap and I could window shop through the endless floors of (I think there was 8?) the mall it was in. A sucker for sushi we (or I) got side tracked by a sushi place we passed on the way to the bookstore. It may have been the best sushi I have ever eater. Salmon, tuna, and scallop all melted in my mouth. Sated, we took off looking for Borders which ended up being a waste of time. It had closed months before. We did find another local bookstore where Pearce settled in for the few hours that remained before the aircon at the hostel would be turned on. I powerwalked through the mall, happy to get some exercise and being a cheapy, I was able to easily resist the ridiculous prices. I almost caved to an adorable pair of shoes, but I couldn’t justify the $49 “sale” price. I would rather keep eating sushi.

We spent the rest of the evening holed up in our room watching Season Two of Justified and resting for our flight the next day. For the last hurrah over our three month trip we decided on a place we (and many other people) had dreamed of going to, but wasn’t originally on our list as we thought it was too far. Apparently, it isn’t because here I sit on the plane.

I’ll give you a few hints:
It is an island.
It is located in Indonesia.
There is a song with its name in South Pacific (That one's for you Grana!)