I am the Burgerfan!

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April 25th, 2005: 12:32 pm

Our four days in Singapore have been a fantastic experience. When we stepped out of the airplane the intense (and very humid) heat took a beating on us, as we still had to walk around with all our packs and stuff on. Heck, the backpacks were sweating, never mind us.  While it was enjoyably uncomfortable, the only escape from the heat was to go anywhere air conditioned… trains, stores, you name it. I think that any company manufacturing air conditioning units must use Singapore as the acid test.

We stayed at a quiet bed and breakfast which was out of the way of any major traffic and craziness, and was fairly cheap! Actually, quite a few things are a good price — you can get a dish of local fast food (ie: Steamed Chicken and Rice) for S$3 (Maybe CDN$2.25).

Given that chewing gum is prohibited (actually, sugar free gum can now be prescribed), and that there are heavy fines for many things (I think S$1000 – S$2000 for littering, spitting, etc), the city is very clean, and you are not walking on anything sticky on the sidewalks. We did find that sometimes finding a garbage can was a challenge, which was interesting…

There are markets for everything, and the main ones I was interested in were the electronics ones. They have entire malls dedicated to electronic gadgets, which is most certainly a part of my utopian world. Each floor is packed with vendors, mostly selling the same thing over, and depending on the mall, with varying degrees of aggressiveness, credibility, and ability to bargain.

All of the major sign-age is in English, so getting by is not much of a problem at all. We spent much time riding around on the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport) train system, which costs peanuts per ride. I think that under the entire city there must be at least three layers of transit tracks, and one level of shopping, as it seems there is always multiple levels when you descend, and it feels like you go a fair ways underground.

We are currently in the Singapore Changi Airport, which has been voted Top Airport in the World for a long time (maybe over 10 years). It has some pretty neat perks here, like free internet, movie lounges (its a TV in a lounge with a movie channel playing), free video game lounge, and other services. We indulged in some massage treatment at the spa. Think of it as thanking the ol’ back for carrying that overpacked backpack.

In just a few hours, we head out for the second long-haul flight on our trip. First its a 12 hour flight up to London, only to turn around and fly another 5 hours to Cyprus, in the Mediterranean.