First Singapore blog

Welcome to my first ever blog! I am the most terrible writer and most of you will be appalled by my spelling and grammar, but I would say this is probably the best way to keep everyone up-to-date with what I am up to half way across the world. For those of you who prefer a more detailed and sophisticated account of what Singapore is like then I would suggest reading Brian’s blog.

With what appeared to be the longest flight in history I arrived safely with Brian waiting for me at the gate. The first thing he wanted to do was take me to a “typical food court” within the airport. It was much like what you would expect from a food court, except everything you can order has a picture, which is great as you can actually see what you’re going to eat! Being tired and confused I got Brian to go and he ordered me roast duck and rice. This will probably be the only time I will mention my day to day eating unless it happens to be amazing. However, I thought this was worth a mention as it was my first Singaporean meal. We spent our first night in our Condo, which is VERY big and fairly warm without the Air Conditioning. But we have a spectacular view of our pool, tall buildings and general Singapore cosmopolitaness.

I spent most of my first day being too nervous to leave the flat, but I had to wait for our mattress to arrive anyway so it was a good excuse to hide away. Around 4pm when I finally braved the outdoors I began to realize just how not-scary it really was. Being the whitest, blondest person to exist I imagined staring and pointing but was pleasantly surprised to fit straight in and even asked for directions! I had been told that most locals under 50 do all speak very good English, so even when I entered the shops for cleaning products it was very easy. In the evening Brian and Chris (the third housemate) took me down to the “Raffles area”, I didn’t actually see the Hotel (where the infamous Singapore Sling was invented) but there is a whole area dedicated to that name with a very beautiful river with Dumboats and a good mix of locals and tourists. This is also a good spot for people to run around the river in the evenings (it is waaaaayyyyy too hot to run in the day).

I awoke on my second day feeling far less daunted and somewhat normal. Everything is as convenient as people say it is. Every part of town has giant shopping centers and our flat is very close to a big shopping centre (bigger than Brent Cross!) with some recognizable shops, a supermarket, a gym and pretty much everything we need. I can also get the tube (MRT) here which easily connects me to all corners of the city. I am yet to venture out on this by myself, but it was definitely easier than the tube back home with less lines and no black lungs!

Mostly I walk around being confused and hot. This incidentally is the one of the first thing I noticed about Singapore, the humidity. You are constantly sweating. I literally cannot get the shine out of my face. Chris pointed out that people talk about Singapore being a very a fast paced city, but when you look closely you realize that this is true only in the evenings and in very well air conned buildings. If you observe the locals in the day, outside, you will notice they move very slowly. The second thing I noticed is that they don’t really have proper signage to places….(you have to walk right up to the station to know that it’s there).

Overall, I am pretty excited to be here. It’s my first time being far from home this and I’m feeling the odd pangs of homesickness but I already feel so comfortable on my second day I imagine it can only get easier. Anyway, leave comments on a postcard, I complained and Brian’s blog being so long and yet I whittled on for 5 paragraphs. Hoping to make them much shorter next time!