After the longest Netflix binge session yet on the long journey from Kathmandu, which included a 7 hour layover in New Delhi, we arrived in Singapore at 3am. I’d been looking forward to Singapore for a few weeks as we were fortunate enough to be hosted by one of Ben’s uni housemates, another Ben and his wife Zanna.
The airport was dead so we were able to quickly jump in a taxi, keen to get as much sleep as possible before seeing what Singapore had to offer. In the space of just hours we transitioned from Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world, to Singapore completely on the other end of the spectrum. Everything was so easy, advanced, and extremely clean. The abundance of sign posts, smooth roads with some sort of traffic laws, the availability of toilet paper… It really is the small every day things that make a difference. English is spoken as an official language there so communication was no longer an issue. The simple thing of having seatbelts in the taxi put a smile on my face, as in Nepal the only person in the car who actually has the opportunity to save their life with a seatbelt is the driver. They were always so confused when we would be scrabbling around in the back seat trying our best to retrieve the belts which had been stowed away as they are seen as an inconvenience, that is if they hadn’t been removed completely. Taxi drivers always commented “don’t worry it’s only the law for the driver to wear one”, they didn’t seem to comprehend it was more our death from being launched through the windscreen we were trying to avoid… Not a petty fine from the police!
Ben very kindly woke up to let us in when the taxi pulled up to their house on a quiet little side street in East Singapore in the middle of the night. Tiptoeing upstairs in the dark, we could instantly tell that their place is gorgeous and very modern, much nicer than our house back in the UK! It was such a welcome contrast to hostels and trekking lodges. Even though they were moving house the day after we left so most of their possessions were in boxes, it still felt extremely homely, we even had the whole top floor to ourselves.
After some kip we were eager to become properly acquainted with our hosts who had been so kind to open their home to us. We spent the morning chatting; us girls getting to know each other and the boys catching up on life since they last saw each other, while enjoying breakfast smoothies made by Evan their home helper. We had been looking forward to having access to a washing machine after our trekking in Nepal, but we were even luckier when Evan did our laundry for us! We were taken out for some delicious Dim Sum for lunch, followed by a stroll through the city to take in some of the iconic sites. The chilled and relaxed day ended with very posh rooftop drinks and a gorgeous dinner. With our now tired and worn travelling clothes and lack of any luxuries even closely resembling makeup for me, we didn’t really fit in! In fact upon the realisation that Ben doesn’t have a shirt, and shoes that aren’t trainers, the initial place in mind for drinks had to be scrapped as we wouldn’t have been allowed in.
For the next couple of days, Ben and Zanna had to work so we ventured out to places on their recommendations. We visited The Battlebox, a museum about the history of Singapore during WW2 and the surrender of British forces to the Japanese; took a stroll around the botanical gardens; ate at local hawker markets and window shopped in the big malls. In the 2 evenings we ate a delicious dinner at home made by Evan, and for the other we met Ben and Zanna in the city after work in an English pub, after a pint of draft we ate mexican in a very trendy part of town by the river.
I found Singapore to be quite an awe inspiring place, it is immaculate and there is so much extravagance. After Nepal everything seemed so easy and no one tried to rip us off, the relaxed feeling was like a released pressure valve. One of the main things we really enjoyed was living in a house, being able to make our own breakfast and coffee and having the luxury of a living room made such a difference…I even got to use conditioner in my hair for the first time in 4 months! 😀
Before we knew it our 3 days in the city were over. Singapore in general wasn’t one of the big hitters that we will remember for it’s culture or landscapes, but we will look back on our time there very fondly. Getting to know Ben and Zanna was a definite highlight, they were unbelievably kind and generous to us, we were so lucky to be able to spend time with them.
We managed to board a bus bound for the airport to get our flight to Jakarta, most people use taxis to get everywhere here especially ex-pats so we were the only foreigners on the bus. We have 4 weeks in Indonesia planned which will mark the end of our 5 months in Asia.
