Singapore

Singapore
Now, the flights from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore can be incredibily cheap. I saw some for like $30 CAD, but I've heard they have literally been as low as $1 with taxes. I voted to see more of Malaysia by taking the bus. On the bus, I met a doctor who highly recommended I check out Borneo, an island shared between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, containing one of the biggest, thickest, most full-on jungles in the world, and the highest mountain in South East Asia. He said he had a friend from Germany who had made camp on one of the hundreds of uninhabited islands off the coast, and stayed there for 2 years, never once told to leave, or hassled in the least, all at no charge. Sweet.

Now, my Singaporean experience was very focused on one specific thing that was very far out of my control. Food. The guy I was staying with, Jeffrey, who happened to be friends with Chin Chin, was a chef turned investment banker, who was very much a food enthousiast. He was wealthy, and would take his family on 'food tours' in different asian countries every few months for over a week at a time, which often involved taking along a chef from that country. It was a non-stop feast for 3 days, starting with 'half-boiled egg's....basically egg yoke with seasoning that he made me drink in Rocky-esque fashion to prep my stomach for the days to come. He even brought me over to Malaysia just to show me the top restaurants of the country; an elite list that he'd compiled after more than 30 years of careful 'research'. One of these places even let me prepare some of the food. Before I'd even finish half of one thing, he'd drop another plate in front of me, or drag me off to another restaurant to try half of something else.

I was a little worried before arriving at his place on that first night, because judging by his couchsurfing profile, he seemed like a bit of a clean freak. He was very clear that he expected me to change my full outfit at least twice a day, and shower the same number of times, at least, and wash everything I had before arriving. A tad excessive, I thought, but it turned out to be with just cause, due to the slew of stinky travelers they'd hosted in the past who had stunk up a number of different mattresses. Escaping the smelliness in the constant heat did indeed require quite the effort, but the cold showers were more than welcome. He and his family turned out to be amazingly friendly and generous people. I left there with not only fond memories, but souvenirs, bags of snacks, and a pack of delicious instant malaysian coffee (they've mastered their instant coffee over there). He also chauffeured me around Singapore, taking me hiking and sightseeing, and sending me to some other really cool spots.

Singapore can be described as a chain of rooms with air conditioning, between which you dash only when absolutely necessary. It's very close to the equator....it is HOT!

On my last night, in the wee-est hours of the morning, after a late night nap, Jeffrey took me out to coffee shops for a tour of the night life. And believe me, there was nightlife. The city was booming. And the lights were all set up for the annual Formula 1 nighttime race all around town, which is featured in many video games.


Trip home
At around 3am, Jeff brought me to the airport. I was in terminal 3, which is the newest and most modern of the terminals at the Singapore airport, which is the most modern airport in the world. Not a bad place to wait around for a few hours until my 6am flight. However, after a few minutes of laying down, I started feeling something brewing inside me. Started as mild abdominal pain, and ended in gut wretching indigestion, feverish sweats, dizziness, and severe diarheaa. At this point, I really couldn't tell if I had H1N1 or food poisoning, and wasn't sure if I should be getting on this flight. I decided to suck it up and hope for the best. Luckily, the guy I was seated next too was from Hamilton and we had lots to talk about, so it kept my mind off of it, and he didn't seem to notice my trips to washroom in 10 minute intervals. We landed in Hong Kong, I managed to get some dry food and water in me, and I started to feel peachy again.

After a few delays, as we were sitting in the plane awaiting the taxi, we received an announcement to remove ourselves from the plane right away, because the crew coulnd't locate the emergency axe, and one of the passengers may have yoinked it. They searched all of our bags very very thoroughly (again), and 3 hours later, we were back on the plane ready to take off. 15 hours later, in and out of sleep, random movies playing on the big screen at the front, an hour wait at US customs in Chicago, another hour wait to have my baggage rechecked, and I missed my connecting flight by several hours (duh). For the first time that I can remember, the woman at the desk was actually nice, and helpful! Rather than have me wait for the midnight flight, she offered to put me on a less packed flight at 9am, and set me up with a nice hotel room and a free meal. Best sleep I've ever had. Other than almost missing my flight in the morning (waiting in the mammoth line with what I thought was a flight ticket, but was actually a receipt I needed to exchange for a ticket, but they let me in anyway) the last leg home was splendid. I had a seat in the middle of the emergency row with an empty seat next to me. Leg room! It's not a myth! Another beautiful nap, and I landed in TO, tracked down my bags that I was convinced were still somewhere in Asia because everyone else was long gone, and was greeted by my sister and her boyfriend. We headed straight to my friend Chris's cottage, where Ash and Andrew were chilling for the weekend. Perfect end. A weekend of music, wakeboarding, camping food and beer, and I was Canadian again.


What I Learnt
Everywhere is different, but everywhere is the same.
I am the same person no matter where I am.
Everywhere is beautiful.


Thanks for reading. Stayed tuned for the next trip :)