Hello Singapore. Have we met before?

The first time I went to Asia, landing in Korea in January of last year, I felt culture shock immediately. I was strongly aware that I was on the other side of the world and that I stuck out significantly in the crowd of black hair and brown eyes. I remember my heart racing from the moment I stepped onto the streets of Seoul, not out of fear, but out of thrill. But this time something was different. It was more like “Hey Singapore, what’s up?” It felt comfortable and familiar. Of course the prominence of English and the friendliness of the taxi driver helped out with that.

me in front of the spitting lion in downtown Singapore

I arrived at my hostel at 2am, and I guess I kind of slept for a few hours. By 9am, I was out and about exploring Singapore with the short amount of time I had. The best way to do that was by walking from my neighborhood, Little India, to the downtown marina area. On the way I passed by many churches, mosques, and temples, showing how truly diverse Singapore is. The city-state is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and more. Most everything is written in English, but the second most popular language is Chinese. At times I felt like I was in London or Hong Kong.

Hindu temple in Little India

Walking around Singapore was a great way for me to get reacquainted with Southeast Asia. It is truly a shock to the system to go from 60 degree Pittsburgh to 100 degree Singapore. I had to relearn very quickly how to survive in such heat, which is pretty easy to pick up from the locals. The first and most crucial rule is: do not stand in the sun unless you have to. When waiting to cross a street, do not stand on the corner if it is sunny. Stand back as far as you need to in order to be in the shade. I also fell into the Asian umbrella trick, which is really pretty great. It’s amazing how much money I can save on sunblock if I just whip out the umbrella more often.

Lunch in Singapore meant one thing to me: find Anthony Bourdain’s favorite chicken rice. Chicken rice is exactly what it sounds like. There are some sauces to it, and I guess the chicken is boiled or something to make it really juicy. But it’s a very straightforward dish. I went to the food stall area that Tony loves, but I wasn’t sure which chicken rice vendor was his. They all looked the same! So I picked one randomly and it turned out pretty good! Thanks Tony.

Singapore Parliament

boat on the Singapore River going past all the restaurants

I guess the coolest things I saw in Singapore were the Merlion and the riverwalk. The Merlion is like a mermaid lion, tail and all. It spits out water. It’s really big and you can get sprayed with the water if the wind is blowing, which is a great relief in the heat. He’s facing the other side of the bay, where the giant ferris wheel and the new double helix bridge stand. There is also a huge building that I think is a casino. It looks like three buildings with a boat on top connecting them all. The riverwalk is all around the Singapore River, and it’s covered in restaurants and bars that look like they would be quite fun with friends or at nighttime. There are boats going down the river and under the pretty white bridges that apparently were made in Scotland.

I took the wonderful subway system to the airport that afternoon. I went through some seriously wealthy neighborhoods with luxury high-rises. The airport is very impressive as well. It feels more like a hotel than an airport! I highly recommend it. From Singapore, I boarded my final flight on this crazy-long journey: to Surabaya, Indonesia.