SOMEHOW…
…I didn’t psych myself out of going on this trip. Im one of those people that checks my flight time 3 times every day the week preceding said flight. In other words, I get pretty anxious about traveling, even if its just a week long trip. So this 45 day adventure knocked all others out of the park for me. How do I pack 6 weeks worth of stuff into one backpack?? Did I bring enough deodorant (the answer was no)? Do I have space to bring stuff home (again, the answer was no)? Is my first aid kit well enough filled? How many packets of Pepto Bismol is too many?
I questioned myself everyday before this trip, if following through with this was a good idea. Looking back on it now it’s laughable. I overpacked and over thought everything. But honestly it made the trip that much better. Learning the simplicity of traveling through over preparation= bliss.
I’ll skip over the extensive details of my oh so delightful 20+ hours of flight travel. All I’ll say is the Shanghai airport is one of my new least favorite places to spend any amount of time.
SINGAPORE
My first stop: Singapore, the most expensive place in the world to buy a damn beer (I’m assuming). Singapore was a fascinating country that I would love to return to when my wallet is a bit bigger. This hyper-clean place offered a wonderfully simplified version of the places I would soon visit. Everyone spoke English, the subway system allowed me easy access to all of the city and there were just enough free activities to keep me entertained without having to dip too deep into my sweaty pockets.
As I walked through customs on my way out they only had two questions for me; was I carrying pepper spray and did I have gum with me? Surprisingly they were more worried about the gum than the mace and I had to try and hide my amusement. In case you aren’t privy to oddity of this question, gum is illegal in Singapore in one of their vast attempts to keep the city clean (which they have successfully done as far as I could tell).
I jumped on a bus and road an hour into the city. My hostel was located in Little India and as I got off the bus, the intense humid heat hit me almost as hard as the overwhelming smell of spices that were wafting from down the road. Upon trying to check into my hostel I realized that the lady at the exchange station in Shanghai had given me Chinese Yuan instead of Singapore Dollars (even though I had made myself extensively clear about needing money for Singapore). Frustrated and jet-lagged I trudged down the road to an exchange place that the hostel lady had pointed me to. Finally I retuned and was able to check in. As I was placing my bags on my bed the lady informed me that there was one opening on the free scooter tour that the hostel hosted. Confirming that there was indeed a dinner stop I eagerly signed up, excited to have a free four hour tour of Singapore.
Naive and tired me had assumed that by scooter tour they had meant something along the lines of the of a Segway. Nope. Scooter tour meant 4 hours of pushing yourself around on one of the scooters we used as kids. We saw lots of the city including a light show at Gardens By The Bay and another light show over Marina Bay. It turned out to be way more fun than I had planned but I did end up falling asleep sitting up during the last light show over the bay (yay jetlag!).
I adventured around the big attractions of Sinagpore; Chinatown, Ion Orchard, Sentosa (highly recommend skipping this place unless you like expensive theme parks on man made islands), but my top 2 places in this city would have to be Ion Sky and Har Paw Villa.
Ion Sky is a a 55 story sky scraper popping out of the 4 story mall at Ion Orchard. I love a good view and so did the Canadian, Mary, that I had met at my hostel. I was lucky enough to spend the last day of her trip with her and we stumbled upon this awesome (and free!) gem. A lot of places charge some stupid fee to get to the top of a sky scraper so we were stoked that there was no charge. Ion Sky offered a 360 stunning view of Singapore. I had not realized just how expansive the city truly was until we walked out the first steps from the elevator. It spreads out for miles! Not only did we have a limitless view but the locations of where you were looking were written on the windows along with a number of sky/cloud related quotes and miscellaneous facts about the city. This one was my favorite one that I found:
Now Har Paw Villa is by far one of the stranger places I have ever visited. It is also not high up on the list of places to visit for people enjoying Singapore which is partially why I decided to go. I like finding the weird and obscure shit to go see while traveling and Har Paw Villa did not disappoint.
Before I left one of the girls from my hostel heard me discussing my plans for the day with someone and asked to join me. Her name was Lexie and we ended up having quite the adventure that day but I think we both were quite intrigued and a little bit perplexed by this site. Har Paw Villa was in 1926 by the brothers who created Tiger Balm. This “theme park” is made up of hundreds of statues and dioramas depicting scenes from Chinese mythology and various aspects of Confucianism. The most famous attraction here is a walk through cave gallery depicting The Ten Courts of Hell which entails various aspects of hell depending upon the crimes you committed before dying. Really odd, like most of this park, but it is so interesting and unique that its easy to spend 2 hours wandering around. The park evokes laughs, confusion and sometimes a bit of disgust.
So I wasn’t kidding though when I mentioned the expensive beer. On one of my last nights I decided to join in on watching some of the World Cup (Wales vs England) with people from my hostel. We went to supermarket around the corner and I proceeded to engage in the most complex alcohol math I have ever done. My end result was a 4 pack of 8% regular sized beers for the equivalent of $18 USD. Not the best beer I’ve ever had but its taste matched my enthusiasm for soccer so hey, who can complain. I ended up not really watching the game at all, but watching the 2 guys from Wales berate and yell at the 2 guys from England. Is this what soccer is all about? If so I may be more down to watch these games.
Life of K2 