Singapore 2000

We are now in our last day in Indonesia. It has been the greatest 5 weeks of this tour!
Tomorrow we head for the Islamic Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. 

Anyway, here's what we did in Singapore...


SATURDAY MAY 

Took the 9am bus to Singapore. It took about five hours, including the trouble free border
crossing. I'm gonna have to re-evaluate the "No. 1"  rule of border crossings!

On the bus I read a very sad thing about Singapore. Did you know that in Singapore there are extra
incentives to having children if the parents have university degrees? Sickening, I think. 

From the bus station, took the ultra modern metro to a youth hostel that cost a whopping USD6 each
for  dorm beds! After checking in, went straight for the Sultan Masjid, the oldest in the country,
praying Zuhr there.

I then came across the rudest waiter I have ever had the misfortune to meet. After bluntly telling
us that they didn't have anything vegetarian, he had a go at me about the inconsistency, as he saw
it, of being a vegetarian and eating eggs! Of course, being the ignorant type, he didn't wanna
listen to what I had to say. They had liver, which I was prepared to eat. (I know, that must have
totally confused him!). Mustafa was gonna have some other meat. The dishes were cold and so we
asked that they be heated. "No, can't heat up. Do you want it or not?" Following 'no's from us he
violently took away the dishes. 

That guy was the rudest I have met on this tour. I'm afraid it was no coincidence that he was an
Indian. In all the countries that I have been to, on this trip and on previous ones, I have found
the Indians to be the rudest. 

Ate a great lunch at a very friendly Malay place not far from the place with the rude Indian. It
was also very good value, for Singapore that is, at only USD1.50 for a meal. But we had to pay for
drinking water! Singapore imports all it's drinking water from Johor Bharu, Malaysia, so that is
understandable. 

We then went for a walk in the Muslim quarter of Singapore. Despite having names such as Baghdad,
Kandahar, Haji and Bussorah Streets the area wasn't all that exciting. Met a proud Singapore born
Patan who told us about the name Khan. I used to think, without much thought, that the Patans were
descendants of Ghengis and his mates. But it turns out, according to him anyway but it seems very
plausible, that the name was taken by the Patans from the Mongols following the former's victory
over Kubla and his mates.

Prayed Asr at a very well facilitated masjid in the Muslim quarter and then went to Little India.
Despite the promise of it being colourful, noisy, smelling of spices and curries, it was very
Singaporean. Prayed Maghrib at a neat little masjid with the predominantly Tamil Muslims of the
area. 

After Maghrib, we went to look for a friend of mine from my UCL days. (You know whom, Imran). I
had an old address but no phone number and we'd been out of contact since graduating in 1998. Went
to the address only to be told by the current owners that they'd all moved out and didn't leave a
forwarding address. I left a message and sent a postcard the following day. (They still come to
collect their mail, apparently.). UCL alumni had the latest address but I was just too damn lazy
to get it. Damn!

Prayed Isha at another Wat-like masjid. After the prayer hung around for some talks on Islam given
in Bengali. Only after we'd left did Mustafa mention that he might have asked the Bengalis about a
relative of his who works in the city. 

Returned to Little India for another helping of dhal and rice. Sleep tried to follow soon.


SUNDAY MAY

Missed breakfast again but got ready before lunch so had brunch again. Even though many days we
only have brunch we still end up having three full meals. It's sleep that we lack.

Following Zuhr at the Sultan masjid we were ready for a "full" day's sightseeing. First went to
the CBD but not much was happening there. It was a Sunday, after all. Next was Clifford Pier. (The
rain had stopped by then, thankfully.) We then walked along the Singapore River for a while,
pausing, unfortunately as Mustafa lost his sun-hat there, by Merlion the lion type sea creature. 

Walking past the statues of the "genius" Stamford Raffles, we came to the Parliament and the
Supreme Court. The latter was much the more impressive. 

Next up was the Fort Canning Park. Good views of the skyline from the top. There were many
jackfruits there and having never been involved in the "picking process"; Mustafa fancied one of
them. None looked ripe but he insisted and so I got up a tree and picked one. I was right.

Near the top of the fort was the grave of a Sultan of Singapore from four centuries back.
Unfortunately, the inscription said that, as well as being for Hindus and Buddhists, it was also a
religious site for Muslims. Sad. 

On the way down from the fort we came across a children's show (Hansel & Gretel, I think)
performed by students from a drama school. We got birdseye views of the performance and the
backstage. It was interesting to watch the difference between the students' behavior on and off
the stage.

Went to a mosque run by sub-continent Muslims to pray Asr. It was obvious that the mosque was
sub-continental from the urinals - they had no doors and so it was impossible to urinate sitting
down if one wasn't wearing a sarong or a shalwar! Did it really quickly so that nobody saw!

Ate lunch/dinner at a relatively polite Indian place opposite the masjid, prayed Maghrib and
headed for the main shopping street, Orchard Road. Besides buying a camera battery, didn't do any
shopping of course. The prices were way beyond what we could afford. Not much of interest in
Orchard Road - a swanky version of our Oxford Street. 

On the way back to the hostel, met another Patan - most of the Pakistanis I've met outside of
Pakistan have been Patan. They sure do get around. This one wanted to know how to get back to
Malaysia having spent just a day in Singapore.


MONDAY MAY 

Had enough of the concrete jungle on Sunday. Needed to get away to a green jungle. Spent the bulk
of the day cycling in the Island of Ubin. But first I went to the Australian embassy to get a
visa. 

Before starting on this tour I worked for the British government and took advantage of the Queen's
birthday, having the day off. This was payback time! The embassy was closed in Liz's honour! 

Arrived at the Island at about 1pm. Hired a couple of cheap bikes and headed for an exciting day's
worth of cycling. First headed East to a Malay village. Most of the ride was on paved road but the
fun bit was the dirt track through the forest, of course. Prayed Zuhr at a masjid by the beach.
The water was not comfortable enough to swim. 

We then cycled to the North of the Island and another beach - fun tracks through the forest all
the way but this beach wasn't good enough either. Went past a couple of quarries, a police academy
for youngsters and "keep to the right, keep to the right, keep to the right:" chanting cadets!

Came down South on to the road and headed west for another two quarries and the site of Outward
Bound Singapore (OBS). The quarries weren't much but the bike rides were as fun as usual! There
were "no trespassing" signs before the OSB land but Mustafa was wearing his OS Eskdale t-shirt so
we persevered. Went to look for the headquarters. There were no directing signs, just "OSB land,
no trespassing". We kept cycling. And then some more. We cycled way beyond our map and on to a
working quarry but the OSB HQ was no where to be found. We started heading back. 

I mentioned that our bikes were cheap. They were too cheap. Well, mine was OK but Mustafa's was a
real banger! Though he had his doubts even before hiring he took it as he didn't think we'd do so
much cycling. The bike got progressively worse and in the end it was impossible to ride uphill
with it. I rode his bike from the quarry but it was no better. But we did make it back at exactly
5pm, just as we'd planned.

After a much-needed (late) lunch we headed back to the mainland. There was a major accident en
route (not involving our bus) and so it was maghrib time that we got to the same Wat-like masjid
of Saturday. After Asr and Magrib went to the "Galaxy" headquarters of the Singapore Converts
(Muslims) Association. I wasn't in the mood to meet people though now I very much wish I were.
Picked up some very useful booklets about the basics of Islam, which I still need to learn.    

I headed back to our cheap hostel; Mustafa went to the lavish Raffles hotel! (But only to look!)
England played Portugal but sleep followed a light dinner.