When I left Hungary on Tuesday, I still wasn’t sure where I was going to end up. I had a flight to Singapore thinking I would ultimately continue on to Auckland from there. I was hoping to find another farm stay somewhere in Oceania or the South Pacific along the lines of what I found in Hungary and was waiting for those plans to materialize to finalize my travel arrangements. The farm stay was not to be, however – everyone was already booked up through January, it seems. So, when I arrived in Singapore on Wednesday evening, I didn’t have any accommodation booked and I didn’t yet have a means out of the country.
Being unable to access either the airport wifi or data, I hit the reservations counter at the airport. I’ve never done this before and just the thought of using a reservations desk at an airport to book last minute accommodations in a foreign country was surreal to me. The women at the counter were very friendly, however, and soon had me booked into a very nice room at a price that seemed quite reasonable…that is, until I finally figured out what the exchange rate was…
Once deposited into my very nice room, I set about figuring out just where I was going to go. I thought Singapore would be a central hub for getting around the entire South Pacific region, but that was a poor assumption. To get to just about any of the South Pacific islands, you had to go through Australia, New Zealand, or both. And flights were expensive. One tropical island paradise stood out as the exception, with inexpensive, direct flights from Singapore still available less than 24 hours before departure and an outrageously low cost of living. I found a cheap room with an ocean view and that sealed the deal. More on this in my next post.
It took me ages to get all that worked out. By the time I did, it was rather late. But, I wasn’t tired. I had slept (poorly) on the plane and it was only early evening back in Hungary; my body just wasn’t ready for sleep. Making the most of my jetlag, I decided to hit the hotel gym. I was ravenous after my workout, so ordered some traditional (or so the menu claimed) Singaporean fare to sate my hunger.
I ended up getting to bed around 4am.
My flight the next day wasn’t until 5:30pm and I really wanted to get out to see some of the city before I left. My hotel was located conveniently close to the airport, but outside the city center and a ways away from what there is to see in Singapore. I was hoping my jetlag would wake me up nice and early so I could hop on Singapore’s world-class urban train system and get a quick tour around the city. Suffice it to say, that didn’t happen. I finally got out of bed at 1pm, which left me just enough time to pack up and grab some lunch before I had to hop my shuttle back to the airport.
I spent only a few brief hours there, but my impression of Singapore is a positive one. On the whole, I found the service workers to be friendly in the extreme and very pleasant to interact with. There’s obviously a lot of money in Singapore and, even from just the small bit I saw, there seems to be no end there to sensory delights to be enjoyed there. The city actually seems to exist to delight the senses, from the beautifully designed structures (no dull architecture there) to the world-class gardens, from the quality and variety of culinary options to the froofy bars and the raging nightclubs. It seems like a big playground for adults, kind of like Vegas but without the gambling…or maybe they do have gambling there, I don’t know. If you’re looking for modern convenience and creature comforts, Singapore would be hard to beat. If you can stand the heat, that is.
Would that I had even one more day to experience Singapore, but I’m not too chaffed about it. After all, creature comforts and sensory delights aren’t really what I’m after right now, though I do hope to get back there to properly enjoy it one of these days. I had my sights set on tropical islands, warm beaches, and solitude, and I wasn’t going to be taken off track by Singapore’s siren song.
TL;DR: Just passing through this time, Singapore, but I’ll see you again soon.
