Of Auckland to Singapore
I think I’ll write about this vacation in segments. I’m going to be in specific areas so it makes sense. And hopefully won’t be tedious to those who want to read about it.I flew out of Auckland Wednesday night.It was a great flight to Singapore. It wasn’t full and I had an entire row to myself. I think I probably got 7 hours sleep all up.I arrived and my friend was nowhere to be seen. He’d worked until midnight and then slept through his alarm. No dramas really. I had a plan B but I actually like airports and people-watching.It was great seeing where he lives now.
We then headed into the city to where he works, and I started my roaming. I’ll be posting about the different meals I eat, places I drink, buildings I see and other things that catch my attention.
By Friday I was starting to relax. I had to make a determined effort to not check work emails. Not that easy eh?Sam had plans for my... entertainment... on Friday night. We ate Indian before heading to his work’s local - Beaujolais on Club Street. Round after round of drinks flowed until midnight. We then headed to Clarke Quay to check out the Singaporean nightlife. Very cool place, lots of people, huge vibe. We ended up at Café Igunana drinking Margaritas. It all got a little strange when Sam answered the question “How do you know Simon”? with something along the lines of “I play clarinet and Simon plays xylophone..” and then segued into a discussion about Crochet. Crochet.Sam decided that no Singaporean experience would be complete without taking me to visit Orchard Towers. A place of ill-repute also known as the Four Floors of Whores. We made our way inside and up to a particularly nasty bar called Crazy Horse. Of course what Sam intended was the big surprise - that all the girls there were actually boys. Thankfully, I had guessed. We were approached as you’d expect. Sam was targeted by a regular-looking ‘girl’ and I was talked to... by a midget. With a penis. And no English at all. We bailed and went for a kebab which promptly exploded garlic yoghurt in the cab on the way home.Saturday? A very sluggish start after getting home at 4:30am...Mid-afternoon we went to check out the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Shoppes. It is an incredible mall. I’m so impressed with the attention to detail that these people have for retail fit-outs. The mall had an internal canal, and also a skating rink (made out of some heavy grade teflon or something). The hotel was something else. It has an infinity pool some 200m off the ground. We were able to sneak in and take a look...
For dinner we went to the East Coast Lagoon Food Centre, the Hawkers Market. Many small kitchens serving many different types of Cuisine. Amazing sights, sounds and smells.
I especially loved how they turned this:
into this:
Delicious.One thing I’d like to mention is how great transportation is here. The MRT flows beautifully, is easy to navigate and is very inexpensive. Linking trains and buses is straightforward. Taxis are plentiful and very cheap. I think you’d eradicate drink-driving in Auckland if the cab prices were realistic. I’m fascinated by the cab-drivers love of staying in 5th gear the entire journey though...Sunday. Sam and I headed in to the Botanic Gardens. One of the things I really wanted to do here was wander through their Orchid section. I was not disappointed. Here are some photos.
I also note that some people don’t mind being appalling ambassadors for their country...
From there we ate at Marché - a brilliant restaurant with fresh ingredients. You get a swipe card which you load up with your ridiculously overpriced purchases. Totally worth visiting though. Apparently you're not allowed to take photos though... oh well. My bad.
Then on to the Kikokuniya bookstore - an amazingly large shop with a huge selection of really high quality publications. Loved it.Then home for a nap before flying to the UK via Munich tonight. Will be a long trip.- S.