I met Sean on the plane, he was sitting next to me. He is an ozzie guy who comes to Thailand and Nepal as often as he can to do volunteer work. At the moment they are building a school in a very small village near Pai in Thailand.
He invited me to come and help, of course I will join the group in March after I finished the muay thai kickboxing camp in Phuket.
His grilfriend also works in Nepal in earthquake regions to help the people rebuilding there life. After exchanging contact details with Sean to make sure I will be able to join the group in Thailand, I went to the bus station to catch a ride from the airport to my couchsurfing host in Singapore. I have done couchsurfing before but it is always very exciting since you never know who the person is and how it will be.
I got very lucky! Charmeh was a great host. She picked me up from the bus station and we had delicious singaporean food with her family. Everybody was really nice to me and I felt very welcomed. After dinner Char took me out into the city to explore a little bit. We were friends from the very beginning and I really enjoy spending time with her! Couchsurfing is such a great thing.
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| The couchsurfing place |
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| Charmaine and I |
Singapore is not very big. Actually, it is very tiny but still, more than 5 million people are living there and the final aim is 7 million. Since there is not much space, most of the people live in apartment blocks, some of them public some of them private.
Education is a very imprtant thing in the singaporean culture. If you want to be successful, you need to study. This is why parents are happy to send their children overseas to study if they can afford it.
Singapore is also a very multicultural city. In little India you can find Hindu temples, Indian shops and restaurants everywhere and it feels like how I imagine India to be. Not far from little India there is the Arab Street, the ara/muslim centre of Singapore. There are some beautiful Mosques and some pretty unique shops selling Arab fabrics and souverniers. And then there is China Town. Crowded, cheap and full of people, this amazing place has lots to offer. From food to clothes to electronics- everything you need.
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| Getting ready for Chinese New Year |
I spent three nights at Chars place before I headed further to Malaysia. I really loved Singapore and I had some very special experiences.
Somehow it happened that I had to visit a dentist in Singapore. After getting lost multiple times we finally found the right dentist that I had called an hour before. At first I was a little nervous but when I entered the patient room there was a ~60year old woman smiling at me and telling me to take a seat. She was so happy and friendly to me and very concerned if my insurance would cover. After getting my tooth fixed on Singaporean way and $140 less in my pocket I went into the city centre to explore little India.
Little India is full of colour, people and shops. It is possible to get everyhinges there – from indian cuisine to clothes to jewelry and mobile phones. When I was taking a picture of some street art a woman told me about the artwalk festival and invited me to come later and watch the dance show and get a free henna tattoo. Unfortunately Char and I missed the dance show because we went into one of the Hindu temples but we got to make some sand arts and got a free henna tattoo each.
Later in the evening we went to watch the lightshow at the super trees in the Gardens by the Bay. The Gardens are righ next to ther Marina Bay Sands – the most famous building and most expensive hotel in Singapore. I definitely recommend the lightshow, it is really beautiful and it is free. There are always two shows per night, I recommend the second one because it is completely dark by that time and the trees look more magical. The super trees are powered by solar panels which sit on top of the super trees and make it possible to enjoy the lights every night without wasting too much power.
After the lightshow we had dinner and went to the rooftop bar of the Marina Bay Sands. This is what I love about Singapore. Even though everything is very fancy and luxury, it is open for everybody and most of the attractions are for free. Obviously I didn’t have any nice clothes since I am a backpacker and so we went on top of the most luxurious building in Singapore in flip flops – for free. On top we had a very beautiful panoramic view over the whole city.
On my second day in Singapore I went to explore Chinatown. Funny enough, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore is right in the middle of Chinatown. It is a very crowded and interesting place. It smells like food everywhere and all the shops sell Chinese things. After I visited the second temple, it started pouring down with rain all of a sudden and a thunderstorm was about to turn up – completely normal at this time of the year. Do you know those Chinese tourists in Europe who always wear those funny plastic raincovers? Well, now I was one the weird European tourist with the funny raincoat!
When I was walking through the streets and trying some chinese food, a guy offered me to try a peach jelly sort of thing. I didn't like it and when I told him that he looked at me, shocked about my honesty. I started laughing and offered him some of the pineapple tart cookies which I had just bought. He started laughing and we had some cookies together before I left to go back to little India.
In little India I met a guy from Pakistan who wanted me to take a picture of him. And then he wanted to take a selfie with me. I don't get why so many people want to take selfie with me but why not!
I really loved my stay in Singapore. Especially meeting Char and spending time with her was really fun. She was my best couchsurfing host so far :)
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