Singapore Day 1, Flight in, Riverwalk, and a Day at the Gardens

Today I am leaving Kuala Lumpar for Singapore. I am excited to see a new city, hearing only the highest praises for Singapore. My flight was supposed to be at 9:30am, and the airport is a 45 minute drive out of the city, and because I was traveling internationally, it made sense for me to leave my place at 6am. So I had a 5am wake up call, and ran out ot my cab as they always come so early (15 minutes before the actual time you request) and I feel so bad for making them wait. The ride was smooth, and same with the airport as I made it through security, immigration (again no stamp because of the high tech), and I found a coffee place to kill my time until my flight and to take a call with another college friend, Michelle. We had planned on catching up as I haven’t talked to her since graduation day when I desperately searched the whole grounds of Camp Randall to find her and some other friends in the massive L&S section. I missed her so it was great to chat with her for almost two hours and fill each other in on the last two months of our lives (when we used to it daily).

While on the phone with her, my flight got delayed and then delayed again. So, I hung up with her at 9am just in case to check if it left without me, but it was confirmed that I now wasn’t leaving until almost 11am. I was bummed because I wanted the time to explore Singapore as it deserved it more viewing than the KL airport. When I got off the phone with Michelle, I opened a text from my mom that was the image of Donald Trump on the news with blood dripping down his ear. There was no way. When I saw the word “shooting” in the photo, I immediately looked up articles and called my family to hear about the happenings in America. I could not believe what I was reading and what I was hearing. 

Here I am, halfway around the world, hearing news about my country in which no one around me probably knows about or really cares that much about because it’s a place they will likely never see. I was alone with this bundle of news and all of this brain fog trying to comprehend and realize that this actually happened, something that will for sure go into history books.

I got on the phone with my family to get some news about the shooting, but just as the articles I read had, there wasn’t much that they knew as the investigators didn’t know as well. So much up in the air, except that I knew Trump was shot in the ear, survived, but sadly one person died and two others injured. There’s something so crazy about keeping up with American news when you are so physically far from the US. At times, I don’t really care how the markets are moving or the latest fortune 500 merger, as it has nothing to do with my travels and I’d rather spend the time searching for vibey cafes. But this was different. What is happening in my home country? The place I am from yet left for the summer. I struggled to keep up with news because I am not around it in the same way, and in this very moment it pains me to be so out of the loop from it. 

I had that in the back of my mind all day, as I boarded my flight and got ready to go to another country. I slept on my flight, my book just put me in a further state of lull and there was no waking me (current read: started a second book A Court of Mist and Fury). I opened my eyes and stared out the window when we got closer to the city, knowing that my curiosity was burning about this country and how it operates so efficiently compared to others. This city was an enigma to me and during my time here I sought to see just how this utopian-like society came about and is still so prolific. 

I landed and was itching to see this airport as it has the famous waterfall and is one of the coolest airports in the world. Sadly that waterfall wasn’t in international arrivals, and of course no stamp because no duh the most advanced society would have the tech to get you right through. I got myself a cab, not ready to learn public transport with all of my luggage on me. It was so nice to see the city from the car, my eyes out the window the whole time. I was brought safely to my hostel, there really weren’t any cars out which surprised me for how populous this city is, at least then there wasn’t any bout of traffic. 

I got to my bed right away and set my stuff down and regrouped before heading out and exploring the city. I changed, reorganized my backpack, and scouted out a dinner place. Most food joints are found in malls, which makes sense because there's not a lot of space for little restaurants on the ground level, but boy does that make them hard to find. I had vegan chicken and rice at the nearby mall. I routed out a walking trail that would take me from the mall, along the river, and to the Gardens at the Bay, the main thing I wanted to see while here. Again, prank on myself for doing unnecessary amounts of walking. This walk, just to any main sights, was over an hour, and I had a heavy pack on my back and a big camera around my neck. I got so tired from this walk before arriving to those highlight spots. At least I was getting some exercise, but I had quite the walk. I must have found the more local part of town because everyone I walked past stared at me. Obviously it's because I stick out like a sore thumb, but I was still so surprised by how long the stares lasted. I was curious to know the source of this attention, thinking it must be due to the novelty of my appearance. 

I finally made it to the main attraction area. I walked across a famous bridge, into the Marina by the Bay Mall, and then up and around to Gardens by the Bay. It was just more and more walking that was depleting my energy levels but I tried so hard to keep pressing on, as I had so little time in the city and wasn’t going to waste a full day due to a bit of fatigue. 

Once I got to the gardens, my energy revived a bit. It was so cool to see. The one thing though is these gardens are so expansive and I didn’t want to be brought out too far so I stayed close to the Supertree Grove and the entrance in case I wanted to leave on a whim. I did get so hot and tired that I needed a bit of a reset and my only options were Shake Shack and Starbucks. There was nothing vegan at Shack Shake, so there I was getting Starbucks again. It was packed in there, but I got a mango dragon fruit drink (the one in Singapore gives you chunks of both dried dragon fruit and mango) and I chilled there until I reached a normal body temperature and my energy boosted up to a more acceptable level.

I walked around a bit more, but then I was stopped by an older man with some decent English that must have been curious about me because he charmed up conversation. He didn’t look threatening and I feel like he actually had good intentions and just wanted to talk to someone, but in a tourist hotspot as such, I am surprised he selected me. He gave me a good rec for where to watch the light show so at least I had that new information in my arsenal. But, I continued on with my walk and departed from him, kindly saying that I wanted to see the rest of the park when in actuality I went to the giftshop to get my postcard, sat under a tree outside the entrance while researching dinner places to find a good looking falafel place and ordering my cab right to there. 

I got a female driver and she was actually so nice. We got talking and I was asking her more about the city. She gave me some good recs such as a club on the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, she also informed me of the city’s safety and the emergency number being 999. All helpful things. But what was so great was when she dropped me off at my place for dinner place, it happened to be the Arab part of town, so there were tons of cute shops and eateries. I walked around on the hunt for my jewelry and sadly nothing piqued my interest. But this square with shops was adorable and backed up to a mosque that was closed for inside viewing but I admired it from the outside. Finally, I went back to my original restaurant that I got dropped off at and got my pita falafel. It was so tasty, I ordered it with medium spice, it had some heat but I feel as though I ate it with a badge of honor and leveled up. I walked home because it wasn’t too far and I was sort of hoping I would stumble on a good dessert place. Sadly there is not a popping vegan scene like in Vietnam and some cities in Thailand, so without dessert I would go, but that is alright because I certainly had my fair share of sugar in the form of mango sticky rice already on this trip.

That night I had my second book club with my friend Cole and we rehashed our thoughts on Shonda Rhimes Year of Yes. I love book club, I can’t believe I haven’t done this earlier, and I find it so fun to do non-fiction books as there is so much to tie to your personal life and see how it was applicable and where it can be. Three hours later, after catching up with a friend and book clubbing the book, I hit the hay. It was a cool day being able to see a city and hear so many great things about, and also to catch up with friends and do something I enjoy so much, chatting about a good read.