Singapore was quite a change from Australia. On my first day in town I visited Chinatown. Why is it that Chinatowns around the world are all filled with tacky cheap souvenirs aimed at tourists? I ate lunch at the Chinatown Complex, which has a market on the first floor and something like a cafeteria on the second floor, except that it has many stalls, each one run by a different person and selling a different food. This set-up is called hawker stalls. To be honest, I really struggle with eating in places that look less than clean, and this was no exception. A lot of the food was sitting out at room temperature and the place was just generally really filthy. Once I managed to find some food that was being cooked fresh I was alright though. I had some pork dumplings that were being made fresh in the stall — I watched them being made and steamed. And for dessert I had longan and grass jelly with crushed ice! After lunch I went to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which houses an incisor that is supposed to have belonged to the Buddha. It was a beautiful temple. I also visited the Tiong Bahru wet market — a wet market sells food like veggies and meat. In the evening I went to a bar called Druggists and had a beer that became my new favorite beer of all time. The beer was Yeastus Christus, which is a farmhouse IPA from Tool, a brewery in Denmark. Good thing I loved it, because it was S$19 per pint! I chatted with the bartender a bit and he said it is so expensive because it is heavily taxed. 

The next day I visited Little India and the Arabian neighborhood Kampong Glam. I loved Little India — it was quite busy and chaotic, with loud music blaring from many of the shops. I visited the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, an Indian Hindu temple. There were so many people all over the place inside doing all kinds of things I didn’t understand. I really wanted to know what was going on and what the significance of everything was! I also visited the Abdul Gafoor Mosque, a mainly Indian mosque. I had an amazing conversation with a volunteer there that lasted at least an hour. I asked him lots of questions about what the muslim faith says about violence and women’s rights, and he invited me to stay to watch the afternoon prayers. It was a brilliant cultural experience. I visited the National Gallery, a great art museum in the beautiful old Supreme Court and City Hall buildings. The museum showcases Asian art and does a great job providing context with sinage. In the evening I went to the Gardens by the Bay, a city garden which has two massive domes with gardens inside. There is the Flower Dome, which is a more traditional botanical garden with different types of plants in different areas. I loved the succulents (of course). The Cloud Forest dome was really spectacular. It has a mountain covered in plants that recreates the cloud forest ecosystem, with each level being held at the correct temperature and humidity for the types of plants there. Then finally I went to see the evening light show at the Supertrees, which are these massive tree sculptures covered in plants that light up at night. The sculptures were cool, but the light show was underwhelming. This was an exhausting day. I slept really well!

My third day I spent mostly in the hostel, making some phone calls and doing some bookings. I did get out for lunch and I tried curry laksa, an important local dish. I loved the broth but couldn’t bring myself to eat some questionable looking meaty things that were in there (maybe some kind of organ??). 

I liked Singapore. It has mix of cultures, and I enjoyed exploring the different neighborhoods and sampling the different cuisine (when I wasn’t worrying about getting sick). The main problem I had there was the heat and humidity. It felt like Florida in August! I’m a northerner now and I can’t take that kind of heat! I really liked the hostel I stayed in while I was there. It was pod style, so I had a tiny little room roughly the size of a twin bed all to myself! It was so nice to have some personal space after months of staying in hostels. Also the sleeping room had AMAZING air conditioning. Singapore has an incredibly nice airport and excellent, reliable, clean public transit. It was strange knowing how restrictive and severe the government is there. When you enter the country, there are signs warning you that you that they have the death penalty for drug trafficing. I don’t agree with their methods, but things certainly are orderly there.