Our mission: we want to go to New Zealand to work and travel for approximately one year. But on our way to NZ we want to see some other places of this world like Singapore, Jakarta and Bali.
The beginning
On Tuesday 21 June 2005 we met at the airport in Frankfurt. On the same day Germany was playing versus Argentina in the Confederation Cup. When we met the score was 1:1. After we have checked in the score was 2:2. We missed two goals, but in the end there was no winner. So it doesn’t matter.
The flight was ok. Departure time was 23:55, so we were flying through the night and were sleeping a lot and time passed by very quickly. The food was ok. And the enternainment as well.
Our first meal
In Singapore we took a Taxi from the airport to the hotel. The hotel we have booked for our 2 nights stay was called Hotel 81 Bencoolen. The Hotel 81 is a low budget hotel chain in Singapore which is quite economical. Unfortunately we had to find out that our hotel room was not as big as it looked like on the website of the hotel. But it was ok for our short stay.
After having a quick shower we decided to eat out somewhere in the city. We walked down the street and found a few little restaurants in Chinatown. We passed through that little street of restaurants and at every place the waitresses asked us to take a seat. Finally we sat down at one chinese place (actually all these places were chinese as we were in Chinatown) and ordered some food which was nice and cheap. And we tried some chinese beer.
Nightlife
After that meal we wanted to see more of the city and asked a taxi driver to take us to a place with bars and pubs. He took us to a very touristic place. Yes, there were many bars and pubs and music and people. But the prices were quite high as well. We paid 15.00 SGD for one pint of beer. Before we paid 26.00 SGD for three meals including drinks/beers. We were astonished at this price difference. So we decided one overpriced beer shoud be enough for this evening and we preferred to walk along the river and have a look around the harbour. Singapore is a quite amazing city with lots of skyscrapers, office buildings and hotels which give a nice skyline. Carsten our photographer took some nice photos of it! As you can see.
One day in Singapore.
Next morning we got up a bit late. We had breakfast at a chinese restaurant opposite to the hotel. After that we took a Taxi up to a hill from where you can take a cable car to Sentosa which is a touristic island in the south of Singapore. Unfortunately, the cable car did not work because of construction works. The taxi driver told us that one cabin fell down and therefore they decided to make the whole system saver.
Sentosa
However, we took a taxi to Sentosa island and went to the aquarium. There we saw many fishes: huge fishes from the amazone, small tiny fishes which looked like angels, colourful fishes, grey fishes and we could also stroke fishes in a little touch basin. After leaving the Aquarium I made the guys walking to a huge statue of the mare lion which is a kind of symbol of Singapore and serves as a observation tower. But the entrance fee was quite expensive so we left it and decided to go back to the city and make a boat trip on the river and around the harbour. Here we passed some places which we have seen and been to the night before. The trip took 30 minutes and gave us some nice views from the waterside over the city.
Little India
Than we became hungry again and asked a taxi driver to take us to a place where we can have local food with local people at local prices. He gave us a lift to Little India which is a part of Singapore with many markets and restaurants. There we were walking around between hundreds of little restaurants with all kinds of asian food. We didn’t have a clue what to eat as we did not know what all these names for the dishes were standing for. In the end we had some food at an Indian place. We had some very spicy fish, some medium spicy meat and some chicken which was not spicy at all. The chef told us that Indian people cook like this to have various options of food for all there guests.
Night Safari
Afterwards we took a(nother) taxi to the zoo to go on a Night Safari. This started at 7.30pm and took approxamately 1.5 hours. A little train took us through the zoo and a woman gave a commentary on which animals we could see on the left- and righthand side. It was quite interesting to see the animals at night time and some of them were standing very closed to the street. And I just remember what one of the taxi drivers told us: You can go to the zoo during the day, you pay your entrance fee and watch the animals. Or you can go to the Night Safari, you still pay your entrance fee, but the animal is watching you!
Taxi Drivers
There are different types of taxi drivers in Singapore. Most of them are friendly and chatty. They give you advises what to do, where to go and how you can go on cheap trips. One taxi driver we met was a supporter of the German national football team and he just couldn’t understand why Asamoha is playing in the German national team. He went almost mad about it. It was so funny. Guys, you should have heard him shouting! One guy was very strange. I was sitting next to the driver and as the air conditioning was just blowing this freezing air into my face I tried to switch it off. He told me off, I shouldn’t do that.. Well, I just sat there and kept silent. I thought it might be better not to argue with him. You never know. Another suggestion by a taxi driver was to visit a 24 hour market which is called Mustafa and where you can obviously find lots of bargains.
Mustafa
So we went to check out this Mustafa market. And this market turned out as a jung market. The best thing of it was that it was open 7 days a week for 24 hours. It seemed unorganized - technical things, household stuff, toys, medicine, clothes, bags - all mixed up. And no bargains at all. So we left the place quickly and something else to eat instead and returned to the hotel room.
Sim Ling Square
This is the story from my point of view. I am travelling with two guys who are mad about technical stuff (PCs, Software, Games, DVDs etc.). So we had to visit this big market at Sim Ling Square. It’s a tall 6-store-building with about 100 shops per floor. Well, the guys enjoyed themselves and bought some stuff. I read a newspaper which I found somewhere, took some pictures of this huge place and watched people, which was quite interesting. Afterwards we had some food at the ground floor foot court.
The Buddhistic Tent
When we left the Sim Ling Square we saw a big colourful tent down the street and decided to have a look. There were lots of colourful flags outside. Inside there were many little flags with prayers hanging down from the ceiling. On one side there was an altar with lots of candles and flowers. On the other side there was also an altar and about 15 eldery men sitting and praying. The space between the two altars was filled with red plastic chairs where some people were praying and others just watching - like we did.
Leaving Singapore
It was just time now to go back to the hotel, get our luggage and go to the airport where we spent our last Singapore Dollars at a McDonalds. The whole airport building is a non-smoking zone. At least indoor. But there is a little kind of terrace with a cactus garden, a bar and some seats. That’s the smoking island. Inside the airport it is cool (because of the air conditioner) and the air is clear. When you walk out it is as if you walk into a pub - it’s hot and smells like smoke and cigarettes. Thanks (our smoker) Edi we got to know this place. Finally, we got our plane and set off to Bali.