On the Road Again
Guess whose back … back again
Phil is back … tell a friend
Guess whose back …
… Guess whose back …… … Guess whose back …
… … … Guess whose back …
… from “The Eminem Show”
Right, that’s enough of my attempts at singing. Not that you can even hear me. As you can see I am up to my old tricks again, diving straight in exactly where I left off in Singapore a month ago. I hope to spend 3-4 weeks traveling in Indonesia then off to Australia for who knows how long.
The flight out of Heathrow, on 26 August 2002, was a very long haul. All 12 hours of it. Even though it was a “daytime” flight I did manage to doze across my three seats for an hour or two. Nevertheless, once the plane touched down into Bangkok International Airport it was early morning (about 12 midnight, UK time) and I was feeling knackered.
Ever since I waxed on lyrically, way back in late June, about leaving Bangkok for the very last time, I have now passed through it’s airport twice. That’ll teach me to keep my big mouth shut.
I took a further flight south which was for the most part over the South China Sea. Once we passed over the Malaysian Peninsular I could gaze out over the heavily forested landscape far below. With a pang of regret I realized my headlong rush through Malaysia a month previously had missed out exploring much of this undeveloped countryside.
We landed and passed straight through the immigration formalities. I headed straight to the bus station located in the airport terminal’s basement to catch the 36 bus into the city center. Then I realized that the buses only take exact fare, i.e. no change is given, and I only had a S$50 note. So I had to waste precious minutes searching for a bank in the terminal building that would give me some change.
There is a convenient bus (no. 36) from Changi airport into the center of Singapore. Once again I was amazed to see how affluent this little island nation is. The bus route winds through modern and tasteful high rise apartment buildings with spacious, well kept grounds. No high walled prison-like complexes here. Interspersed amongst these shrines to the Asian economy are even more tasteful townhouses. They have even managed to fit a lush golf course in all this prime real estate. I would hate to hazard a guess at what the green fees cost.
I got a room again at the Waterloo hostel and fell exhausted onto my bed and tried to sleep for the afternoon.
Back to the old travel grindstone then. Except for shopping malls there is not a whole lot of things to do in Singapore. So appropriately enough, that evening I headed off to check out what is reputedly the biggest fountain in the world. Appropriately enough it is located in a shopping mall. I had spied it earlier from the bus and wanted to give it a closer look.
The Suntec City is a complex of high rise buildings laid out supposedly in the shape of a hand. The four tallest skyscrapers are the fingers, a smaller skyscraper the thumb. There is a squat exhibition center located at the wrist and in the middle of the palm is a huge circular fountain.
The Fountain of Wealth qualifies as the world’s largest fountain by virtue of its base area of 1683 sq. meters. From the base projects a huge 85-tonne (85,000kg) bronze frame resembling a tripod but with four legs. Water from the fountain shoots up to 30 meters high. Also, from the huge ring at the top of the structure, sprays of water sluice the fountain base much like a very heavy torrential downpour. Three times every day, you get a chance to go up real close to the fountain when it is turned off. Visitors can walk round the fountain touching its water. This ritual is said to bring good luck – some people will believe anything. I was lucky that night at the fountain with a free song dedication and multi-media laser show. Messages are projected in multi-color onto a 360� rotating water screen.
Next day, in best Bill Brysoneque manner, I followed the walking tour suggested on the complimentary map handed out to tourists. I was going to take the opportunity to take some photos of this vibrant metropolis. It was raining when I started walking but soon hotted up once the rain stopped. It was well worth it, taking in all the sites. The downtown skyline is most impressive as well as the parliament buildings and the lovely colonial Singapore Cricket Club, slap bang in the middle of the city.
The initial plan from Singapore was to hop on a ferry boat to Batam in the Riau Archipelago, then onto Java and overland to Bali. I scrapped that idea as too much like hard work. Instead I purchased a return flight to Denpasar on Garuda Indonesia for S$480. This would maximize my time on the tropical islands of Bali and Lombok and get me back to Singapore to eventually connect with my flight to Perth, Australia.
So a nice short update for a change. There wasn’t much else to do in Singapore. I was loathe to shop, not wanting load up my slimmed down luggage. I spent most of my remaining time updating travelogues in the nice air-conditioned internet caf� – hence the plethora of travel updates lately.
