Singapore

Went towards Singapore with out actually knowing too much about the little country, except that chewing gum there wasn't a good idea and it was supposed to be pretty clean. I also thought it was about the size of a few skyscrapers, but you live and learn.
Flying in over the country I realized that there are quite a few islands, and looking at the map of Singapore in the plane, well, those islands are part of Singapore too, all 63 of them. Also I didn't know how long to stay there, because how long would it take to visit all the places there? Ok, Singapore is not that big, around 700mk2, but still they are around 5 million people, only a little less than Denmark, hmm.
There were also like a million ships anchored waiting to get into Singapore harbor, it looked almost like when we passed the Panama canal on our way home from Peru, but far more ships here.
This was also my first time I was going to stay at a hostel, ever! I spent a lot of time finding just the right one, a bad experience the first time would mean I would ditch the entire hostel world and live in luxury hotels the rest of my trip - that would ruin me though. I chose a place called BearyNiceHostel, in Singapore's Chinatown, had the best reviews for the buck.
The place was big dorm rooms, with 12-16 beds, girls and guys with metal bunk beds. Two showers and a toilet to share among the guys seemed a little too few, but people got up at different times so there was never any wait. The theme was apparently bears, because there was quite a lot of them, I don't know if people feel it makes them feel at home? There was everything people needed, living room, PlayStation, free computers to use, large tv with lots of DVDs, a small kitchen, 24 hour staff, all in all pretty good. On the 3rd floor it was also a bonus that there was an elevator. There was a massage place on top of the hostel, every now and then someone came into the hostel looking very confused asking for a massage. The expression of some people faces was quite funny when they saw people sitting watching movies with big bears around, haha
I went out for something to eat and found it quite different from Thailand I had just left where the restaurant had people hi-jacking costumers from the street. Here I had to find a place of my own to eat, wtf? Walked around the area and found a huge shopping mall kind of building with lots of small shops in the ground level. Upstairs I could see some food restaurants and I walked up there to find hundreds of different food and drink stores. A huge food court kind of setup, where people would buy from different places and sit and eat together. Even though I was in Chinatown, I was quite surprised about the amount of Chinese people here, haha
Walking down the streets outside Chinatown, closer to the business area the ethnicity of people started changing. There were people from all over the world, still a lot of Asians though. They were all very neatly dressed and one girl after the other looked beautiful. All men ran around it tailored suits and slowly I felt like a bum in my shorts and old worn t-shirt. Hey, but at least if someone would be mugged, they wouldn't go for me then, right? haha
One day for lunch I ate with all the business people, wow the selection of foods and drinks was massive and the quality was good. Not only Chinese foods this time, but from all over the world to satisfy the international crowd there. There was a shortage of tables so a few minutes after sitting down a few other guys had joined my little table, looking very busy even during their lunch. Singapore seems to be the place where some young Italian guy can put on his finest suit and suddenly feel important... with no specific person in mind, haha
It is very clean around here, I have to admit that. But not as excessively as described everywhere, they still have leaves from the trees flying around, but admitted, there are not that many chewing gum deposits and not too many cigarette buds either. It is kind of nice and how it should be in the first place.
I went around the business area, there is absolutely nothing to look at, except tall buildings are nice girls everywhere so I walked around that area for a while, haha
A hotel built a few years ago was finished just before a terrible big wave washed a big ship up on top of the building. Yeah, it landed right on top of the building, where they decided to let it sit and make it an attraction instead. There I had to get up. The ticket was $20 to get up and that used to give access to the entire top floor, but the accessible area now was limited to a view point, a bar and a restaurant.
Oh well, I didn't have my swimsuit with me anyways, so no regrets. Would have been nice to see it up close though, the pool in the middle of the ship. The view from up there was phenomenal, I bet I could see more than just the entire Singapore, I could see all the way to Malaysia. Not quite sure why people would go in this huge ferris wheel which was located close by, the view here was much better.
I had to order a beer her to enjoy the view and also to check how the stomach was doing now. The 400ml Hoegarden cost me $17, but then again, someone had to bring the beer all the way from down there up to where I was sitting. After sipping the beer having contemplated on why it was I bought that beer in the first place and other more international matters to complex to describe here as well.
Left the big boat on the hotel on the elevator with 2 Swedish couples who had been dining in the restaurant. At least I only spent $12 more than I should have, they must have spent something like a months rent or close to. The lower part of the hotel consisted of a huge shopping mall, same kind of style as in Las Vegas, and it didn't take long before I found a big casino either. Oh well, this didn't surprise me since it was a Las Vegas company who had built the hotel a few years ago.

On one corner of the harbor I saw from above a stretch of street I had to walk on, it was part of the yearly Formula 1 race that takes place in Singapore. Now I can check that off in my book too, still missing driving on a track and in a Formula 1 car as well, but one thing at a time, right?
A little more sightseeing in the same area revealed a floating soccer field, yeah why not.
A lot of people seemed to be flocking around a statue or something spewing water. Turned out that was the Merlion, the Singaporean symbol to welcome people, I guess tourists, to Singapore. Must have been old then I thought, but nope, something they put up in the 70's I think it was. When is something old enough to be interesting?
Every day around 15:30 or so, it started raining, not just a shower, but pouring down for a couple of hours. Something that just built up every day and then eventually just had to give way, lightning and thunder and lots of it. People were used to it for sure, I was not
There were a few parks and a lot of people went to these places, I guess everyone searching for something to do in Singapore. When reading one of the in-flight magazines on the airplane, it said that the people in Singapore were always moaning that there was nothing to do in Singapore, but to eat and shop. After having spent a few days there, I am actually pretty sure they are wrong. When I say it is a small place, it is of course relative. But there just isn't too much to do unless you are ready to spend big bucks in fancy night clubs with millionaires or other extravagance activities, but as a traveler passing through I don't find that many interesting things to do either. Read a lot of TripAdvisor entries and many of the places people suggested to go, there were always a lot of people who had commented: "Not that interesting", "Boring", "Don't waste your time or money". I know it is all in the eye of the beholder, but still, I had the same kind of feeling. I guess it is a place that could be fun to visit if you knew someone living there, that could really show you the spots to go in the city.
In all fairness, maybe a little studying of Singapore before going there would help too, I knew absolutely nothing before I went there. Lesson learned.
But I survived my first hostel experience, even though the beds were screeching like crazy whenever someone moved anywhere in the room