Singapore (Day 1): "No Phone. No Phone. I just want to be alone today."

Singapore is certainly a city of colour

         The lyrics above are taken from a band I used to like called CAKE. I lost interest in them-- I thought they seemed out of touch, sarcastically complaining about modern life, modern relationships, and the sad state of things. Strangely enough, ten years later, by myself in Singapore, these lyrics have a new meaning. Allow me to explain.

           In a world where everyone seems entitled to complain about anything, I found the song "No Phone" to be needlessly cynical. The lead singer wails throughout the song about the evilness of modern communication. Why on earth would you want no phone, and why do you so badly want to be alone?


         I left my phone, my laptop, everything in Australia. People place way more importance in their phone than they readily realize. Its more than a communication tool, for many its an extension of one's social existence. For me, I simply enjoy the comfort it allows. I have to ability to speak to someone I love, and to hear a familiar voice. There is little that is a familiar here.

          I arrived at 4:40 AM, and read "Angela's Ashes" in the terminal until the first city train left for downtown Singapore. Red-eye flights can certainly take their toll. I fell asleep, and started to dream that I was late for work in Brisbane. I awoke, to find myself on a passenger commuter train in downtown Singapore with businessman staring at me. Good start.

Western Business sticks out like a sore thumb

         I'm told that Singapore is the 2nd most densely populated country in the world. It sure didn't seem that way early in the morning. I feel I narrowly avoided the business rush. I reached into my pocket and remembered something useful. A friend of mine in Perth, had given me some notes regarding interesting neighbourhoods to find, tourist traps to avoid, and most immediately important: a cheap place to sleep. All signs pointed to Bencoolen St... Backpacker Central.

The sidewalk leading up to my hostel

         Apparently that was old news, as each Hostel turned me away saying they were full for the weekend. Not a worry, I ventured deeper into 'Little India' and found myself a place to stay. Keep in mind Singapore is widely regarded as the most expensive country in Southeast Asia, but $20 for a clean bed, breakfast, a guided tour, and a prime location sounds fine to me. I booked for three nights. Following an afternoon nap (this will become a tradition. It was 33 degrees centigrade at noon)  I awoke around 5pm to find a man across the room reading a local paper. I said "Hello," and it was easy sailing from there.

           He was a Malaysian man, who spoke very good English, because he had gone to university in Arizona. His name was Sam, and he had an undeniable aura of being a worldly traveler. He indeed was. He told me he had sold his house to travel the world, living in hostels along the way. His bunk was decked out, and he informed me he would be there for a few more months. When he found out I was new in town, he went out of his way to be helpful. Tomorrow, Sam is taking me on a personally guided food tour. I'm attempting to be a vegetarian this trip. To this he smiled and said, "Yes. We will see." As I have no phone, I wrote down his name in my travel book.

         Next I went to a lovely Indian restaurant around the corner. My goodness, it was good, and for less than three dollars I was stuffed with vegetarian goodness. I feel this trip is going to be incredible for my physical and mental health. I keep having little moments where I forget I am in Singapore. I will read my book for 10 minutes, forget where I am, then realize here I am all alone. But that is the Backpacker existence. We are all in the same boat. To quote myself, immediately after I had spoken with Sam, I walked out into the street and said:

" "Mica Prazak. That's the best thing you can do... just opening your damn mouth."

OBSERVATIONS:

The legend is true. The cleanest city I've yet to see.

- Singapore is truly multicultural. I am surrounded by places of worship. Freedom of religion is protected here. The dominate ethnicity is Chinese hovering just under 70%.

- As I anticipated, the city is spotless. Reasons for this include: garbage bins everywhere, an ever-present city cleaning system, but all things, a genuine expectation to clean up after yourself. It's true about the bubble gum, and you can even receive a $400 fine just for eating or drinking on public transit. $500 fine for smoking where you shouldn't be.

- I read somewhere, that in many communities in Singapore, eating with your hands is the norm. On top of that, it is expected to eat only with the right hand in certain restaurants. As I am new here, without being on some kind of  tour, I am playing it safe. Have you ever tried only eating with one hand? I have cheated, carrying a book around, and reading with my left hand while I eat with my right.

Taxi Drivers keep you well informed in Singapore

- Interestingly, taxi cabs have a very interesting quality in this city. In Canada, if the light is on, the cab is available. Here it is not so simple; the taxi cabs here are much more informative. Either red or green in colour, I have seen these messages so far:

(green) AVAILABLE
(red) HIRED
(red) ON CALL
(red) TAKING A BREAK


          All in all, it has been a fascinating first day. I'm really enjoying this lone wolf role. If nervousness or loneliness has time to catch up with me, I will take that on one step at a time. Since my traveling life is far more 'eye-opening' than working life was in Brisbane, you can expect far more entries now and far more pictures. I intend on filming everything, however I won't be able to edit any of that footage until I get back to Australia.

         Fine by me. I have fully embraced my backpacker lifestyle. Unlike Australia where black work pants and dress shirts were my required attire, here I am dressed like Mica Prazak likes to dress. Homemade T-shirt wearing, beard growing, headband sporting, backpack sporting, and knees breathing.


The journey begins my friends, my journey begins.