Slinging it in Singapore!

9-12 October 2010

If you’ve ever wondered what Singapore is like, head straight to the nearest, nicest, and largest mall you know of and then multiply it by the size of San Francisco. We spent three days wandering the streets of Singapore, through Little India, Chinatown, to the botanic garden, the main shopping district, the riverfront, and the Marina district. It is a beautiful, bright, and clean city. It is so nice and so clean, we could live there in an instant; though we would never chew gum again and would waste days of our lives waiting to cross the street (jaywalking and gum are forbidden). But, I would own so many pairs of shoes! If you like warm weather, are a shopaholic, and love Asian cuisine- Singapore was made for you. It has out-done the US in many ways, and to be honest, it makes us look a little like fakers (or maybe that’s the other way around).

We spent a lot of time “shopping”. Not because we planned to and not even because we actually bought anything, but because we often had no choice but to cross the street via underground mall throughways, and because the cheaper restaurants were always in a mall. Many of the malls are interconnected and we got lost traveling through underground passages that connect one mall to another. It makes me wonder if mall navigation is a required course in school here. One evening, we were lost for 30 minutes just trying to find our way out of a mall made up of five separate towers with the world’s largest fountain at its center. Ugh. I’ve only ever felt that hopeless chopping my way through willow thickets in riparian forest.

Beyond the mall culture…

We stayed in a nice little hostel in Little India and enjoyed watching the preparations for Deepavali – a Hindu festival of light. We were able to get a very organized and clean preview of our upcoming stint in India. One evening after dinner we forced our way thorough ten blocks of thousands of Indian men out celebrating for Deepavali- it was a little overwhelming.

We felt compelled to partake in “a piece of history” and walked ourselves to the 1940’s inspired “Long Bar” at the beautiful Raffles Hotel to order a Singapore Sling, where it was first created. At Long Bar, they whip up these red elixirs en masse, and to be honest the drink was super syrupy, sweet, and not all that great -not to mention the 25 Singaporean dollar price tag. Syrup aside, we enjoyed the upscale atmosphere of the bar and ate peanuts to our hearts content, tossing the shells on the fancy tiled floor as we snacked.

We took advantage of one of Singapore’s national pastimes: Going to the movies. In pure Singaporean fashion, we saw two movies “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Dinner with Schmucks”. At least the seats in a movie theater are cushier than in a baseball stadium. Movie piracy is rampant here and at our second movie they confiscated Nick’s new camera (he must look like a pirate) but returned it to us after we watched the film.

One afternoon we took the very clean subway (the MRT) to the Singapore botanic gardens and wandered through that exquisite place, marveling at the large ponds, tracks of rainforest, sculptures, waterfalls, and plant collections.

We ate beautiful meals in mall food courts – a delicious and cheap way to sample the diversity of Asian cuisine here in Singapore, where a single entrée can run upwards of $20. We were especially fond of sharing a pastry from one of the bakeries that features Asian and European inspired pastry delights. Sweet sesame croissants, pandan (a unique spice that is a cross between coconut and green tea) chocolate cake, red bean pancakes, and almond croissants, to name a few. Mmmm.

Even leaving Singapore was a pleasure. At Changi International Airport, directly after checking ourselves through security (usually a frustrating and annoying task) we were greeted by live piano music. I felt like I was in the Nordstrom shoe section. As we sought to spend our remaining 14 Singapore dollars, a sign for a butterfly garden, a free movie, and, of course, more shops steered us along. The airport also has a gym and a swimming pool. We felt the airport was a little over the top…but who can complain?

We were not looking forward to a hellish flight, Singapore to Delhi, Delhi to Kathmandu, with a layover from 2:30am until 6:30am in the Delhi airport. To our surprise, the newly built or renovated Delhi airport (likely for the 2010 Commonwealth Games) was an easy place to spend a few hours. And we got to people watch as members the Kenyan Olympic team roamed the airport, heading home after competing in the ongoing games. Of course, in pure Indian fashion, our flight was delayed by two hours.

We arrived in Kathmandu tired but happy to be greeted by Santaman, our guide for our upcoming trek to Everest Base Camp. As he placed marigold lais around our necks we felt refreshed and ready to experience the busy city of Kathmandu. We will enjoy the sights and smells of Kathmandu and the arrival of our good friend Betsy for a few days before walking 27 days for a view of the roof of the world.