Homeless But Not Hopeless: Singapore.

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Singapore.

Having cycled the 2250km from Bangkok I somewhat expected a welcoming party to celebrate my arrival to this very expensive, small and sterile country; however like always when reaching my final destination on these cycling endeavors I have to engage others to join in the crazy festivities for the completion of cycling such a vast distance.
When I say crazy, I would normally mean many celebratory drinks and a drunken state of mind to share my experiences with other backpackers from around the world, this was not the case here in Singapore because a. it really isn't my final destination and b. it's just damn too expensive for even one night of alcohol consumption.
As this was a time for me to see family and celebrate my grandpas 90th birthday it was time to be tame and enjoy what singapore had to offer on a strict budget.
I spent the first two nights at a hostel where I met a few people before my cousin Victoria and friend Julia (from Scotland) showed up where we were able to run about the city going to places like the 154 year old Botanic gardens, Harbor front view and Santosa island to enjoy the waterpark that we all got for free due to the weather closing it down and my actions to convince the parks office personnel to refund all our money, even though we got a good few hours of riding the rides.
Seeing my relatives who many of them I have not seen in close to fifteen years was nice however most of them with conservative values questioned the choices in my life (where I get to travel the world for 9 months a year) and somewhat disagreed to this. My response to all my family members who tried to convince me to return home and lead a typical and non-exciting lifestyle unlike the one I am living and pursuing was that I am doing what 95% of people say they wanted to do when they were young and that is simply to travel the world.
Still, despite this I still enjoyed myself in their company.
Grandpas dinner party was held in a restaurant where the food was less than mediocre but the following day where a bunch of my relatives got together at grandpas place I got one thing I have missed since I first left Australia and that is a proper Ong (my mothers maiden name) dinner where every bite sends you close to orgasmic pleasure. So so so good. It's making my mouth water just by thinking about it.
I spent some days with Mum and dad, they are the same as always however our time together was short and sweet.
My last evening in Singapore I caught up with a girl (Serene) I met in Columbia many years ago where we enjoyed some of the bars near orchard road, it was fantastic catching up with her but next time I see her I will pay for the drinks, got that Serene!?
I changed some of my plans and booked a flight to Jakarta where I would continue this bike trip, I initially thought I would just backpack there but it was only another 30 Dollars to take my bike so, why not!; besides I need to clock up the kilometers to cycle the 40,000km that it is for the circumference of earth before I am 30... Or before I reach 31 years of age.