Wednesday, October 11 2006, 23:30

Leaving London and beginning my Singapore fling

Tuesday was a frenzy of packing. Pete had taken the day off to help me squeeze what's left of my worldly goods into a few bags. It was quite a slog, but we got there in the end, packed my iPod with tunes and stuffed my hard drive with yet more music.

By the time we reached Heathrow, I'd accumulated a small entourage - Warren, Pete, Chris, Ross, Scott, and Tony, with a surprise arrival later - Craig.

Two years ago in March, I had to say goodbye to a bunch of friends in Sydney and I couldn't believe I could be so unhappy again. This week I've done exactly the same thing again, but this time it's been through my own choice. And although I know I'm going to be so happy to be back in Sydney with all my friends, I wonder if I will always feel split between two wonderful places and two groups of the dearest friends I could have ever imagined having.

So this time I hustled myself along, through those airport hugs and saved everyone the expected scene - at least until I was through security ;) The plane journey went quite quickly, in no small part due to The Devil Wears Prada and 10mg of Diazepam (thanks, Tony). Neil, who's here with work for two months, picked me up from Changi, a prince among airports, and whisked me back to his fabulous apartment, before taking me to the world-famous Raffles Hotel for its equally famous concoction, the Singapore Sling, and then to dinner nearby. I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

Thursday, October 12 2006, 23:30

Taking in the many flavours of Singapore

So here I am in Singapore - my second day in this hot and humid city-state. Neil and I were talking about how comfortably and familiarly Western this Asian nation is. Nothing is too dissimilar from our European paradigm, and everything's in English. The city is truly multicultural too - awash with Europeans and South Asians as much as Chinese and Malays.

I began yesterday with a stroll up Serangoon Road into Little India. The street is hung with bright Diwali lights and peacock decorations. As I walked past shops stuffed full of bright bolts of cloth, the sultry smells of spices mingled with the incense sticks burning outside the two Hindu temples I'd come to see. Sri Veeramakaliamman, dedicated to ferocious Kali, and then Sri Srinivasa Perumal with its magnificent rajagopuram (ornamental gateway).

From there I took the gleaming air-conditioned MRT subway to the start of Orchard Road, the famous shopping district. There you can find mall after mall after mall, Prada, Versace, M & S, and a myriad small independent shops selling everything from cameras to candles. I just had some lunch before having a look around the Raffles City mall, then meeting Neil in the financial district to get the hotel key and return "home" for a snooze.

In the evening, Neil and I took a cruise down the Singapore River to take in the colonial buildings, the city's famous Merlion, and the new durian-shaped theatre buildings on the Esplanade, before feasting on some delicious Indonesian food ("What, no vegetables?!") under the trees on the riverside.

Photos from Singapore

Friday, October 13 2006, 23:55

Temples and hot air

Today I took the train to Raffles Place and began my exploration of Chinatown. I stopped at the Fuk Tak Chi Temple Museum in Far East Square before finding what I'd come to see. In a very small area, you can find temples of three different religions - the 19th Century Nagore Durgha shrine, now quite dilapidated and looking like it had been transplanted from India, next to a small park, an oasis of peace and quiet amid the noise and haste.

A little further on is the Thian Hock Keng Temple - a fabulously ornate Chinese edifice, filled with dark and gilded woods, brightly painted dragons balancing their sinuous bodies on the gables of each curving roof, and statues and paintings of the ferocious and startling figures of Chinese mythology. Even though I could still hear life going on outside the gates, the tranquillity within complemented the temple's beauty.

Just a short walk away, I found the Sri Mariamman Temple. This is the oldest and largest of Singapore's Hindu temples. Mariamman is (among other things) the goddess prayed to in times of drought, so I shouldn't have been surprised that I had a good forty minutes to admire the frescoes and painted temple roofs while I sheltered from the sudden downpour outside!

I walked the distinctive streets of Chinatown to the Amoy Food Court (and yes, lunch was straight from the wok, but it was chicken biryani) and then the People's Park Centre, where I found a small, dark internet café, ringing with the shouts of sub-teenage Oriental boys playing network games as loudly as their PC sound cards would allow them. Everywhere in my peripheral vision, cute Hello Kitty-style Japanimation avatars pounded each other happily and noisily. I endured it for half an hour before stalking off to find St Andrew's Cathedral, where a nice lady gave me a quick and personal tour while sneakily proselytising.

When Neil got home we went straight to the DHL balloon near Bugis Street. This is an absolute bargain experience that you mustn't miss if you visit Singapore. For $23, we ascended under the giant helium balloon (I know, I know, EXCITING!) to 150m above the ground and the view was AMAZING. It was a great start to the night.

From there, we went on to explore gay Singapore - we started with Tantric, a smallish bar that filled up quickly, then Backstage Bar, a nice venue but already empty, before going to Taboo - the club of choice apparently. It wasn't half bad. Small, but we expected that, busy, friendly, with music that was a bit industrial with funky moments. Naturally Neil whipped his shirt off ASAP and cajoled me into doing the same, although we were much in the minority. Pleasantly surprised, we made an early night of it and headed home to bed.

Photos from Singapore

Saturday, October 14 2006, 22:26

One last day in Singapore

Neil and I didn't get up until after 1pm so there was no way we'd make it to the zoo as planned. Instead, we had lunch in one of the nearby malls, got me a camera case from the huge electronics mall at Sim Lim Square, and then strolled off to find the Sultan Mosque in the Kampong Glam area of the city. We'd picked the wrong time to go in, so we walked around it and its neighbourhood, which is so different to the other parts of Singapore that I'd seen, then went home to pack.

And that's pretty much it for Singapore. I've really enjoyed my stay with Neil; it's been great to see him, and of course it's been good to do so much sightseeing (ow - my feet hurt). He came to the airport to see me off, and we had a cheeky Burger King together (mm Beef Rendang Burger!) before I went through the gates. And now here I am on my snazzy new Qantas jet bound for Adelaide. That's right, Adelaide. I just found out that my flight is to Melbourne via Adelaide and Sydney. Doh! I'll write again on the other side...

Photos from Singapore

Saturday, October 21 2006, 13:53

Quick update

Well here I am at last. It's been a weird week. Because my flight was via Adelaide, most of the other passengers were Aussies, so the Johnny Foreigner queue at immigration was quite small, and I was through so quickly that I arrived before my welcoming entourage! There's a first. I think I must have been a bit dazed on arrival, but it was great to see Tim, James, Marty, Bryan, Beth, and Mikey straight away. My first day went by in a bit of a blur, with a bit of sleeping, a bit of socialising, and then more sleeping.

Since then, the days have been a bit odd. Everyone's been at work, and my UK chums have been in bed when I've been up, so I actually felt a bit lonely and glum on my own to begin with, but that seems to have worn off now, as I knew it would. I stayed at Bryan's to begin with since there was a bit of a mix-up with the keys to Brian & Darren's flat - yes, they left behind some keys that might have worked before the locks were changed - what a hilarious wheeze that was! But I'm all moved in now, and settling into something of a routine of getting up, jobhunting, etc., and today I added a swim to my list of things to do to start the day. I don't know how long that will last ;) In the evenings, I've been my usual sociable self, when I haven't been struck dead by jetlag. I think I'm nearly over it...

The job hunt is going well too - I've had a few interviews and they've been promising! I really should have more faith in myself. More details to come later!

Monday, October 30 2006, 18:47

Mm. Kilo pots of yoghurt! I've missed you!

Do you ever wake up and wonder where the hell you are? I woke up one morning at 3am last week and thought I was in the room I shared with my brother when we were kids! That hasn't happened to me in a long time. I think I'm used to waking up here now though - it's been just over two weeks now since I arrived, and I'm starting to get a tan, and I'm just as attractive to the local mosquitoes as I always was...

Cautious celebrations are in order, ladies and gentlemen. I have been offered a job, and my visa application has been submitted - it could take two to six weeks to arrive, so I've got some holiday time to kill until then. But for now, no fate-tempting celebrations until I see that visa with my own eyes. But, just cautiously - it's happened! :) I half dreaded that I couldn't do it, but it seems I was wrong!

So now I can settle in and enjoy the next few weeks. That includes rekindling my love affair with kilo pots of yoghurt, shunning bananas at $13/kilo (that's about 80p each), catching up with old friends, making new friends, and going out for decadent lunches at seagull-battered Doyles in Watson's Bay with Curtis (who's just moved to Australia from Chicago) and Pete and Chris, who are visiting for a couple of weeks (and replenishing my wardrobe with 20kg of my favourite clothes)! Hurray!