Singapore

Singapore - Drinks on the 57th floor, Dehydration and How the Other Half Live

Prologue

Work pottered on as usual, I finally visited the notorious Beach Club in KL and was hit on by 7-12 prostitutes walking to and from the bar, while a few of us booked a new holiday in January to Southern India for 8 days.

Right, down to the interesting stuff....

Singapore

After another hard day hustling at work, we caught the night train (the best way to travel around Malaysia) down to Singapore for a long and expensive weekend in the extremely westernised city. After crossing the border over the river we grabbed the MRT for an hour long journey to Little India where our hostel, The Little Red Dot was located. 

Seductive Night Train - Stolen from Pooja

George, a new UK intern who had started work a few weeks previously with the company joined at the 11th hour, and myself along with Pooja, Keith, Bret-Lee and James were making the trip down together.

Map of Singapore

Singapore is located just South of Malaysia, with a population of only 5 million, made up of 63 islands and separated from Malaysia to the north by the straits of Johor. Founded by the East India Trading Company in 1819 it had now grown far beyond it's original designs, and promised to be a great trip.

Throughout my time here which by then was nearly reaching the 4 month mark by now I had heard a lot of great comments about the place, with KL usually being described as "Singapore's scummy little brother". Not to say I don't like KL, or at least parts of it but I was looking forward to the change.

Firstly, some big differences between Malaysia and Singapore were apparent to us all the moment we stepped into the city:

• The air isn't toxic
• The people don't stare at you like your a piece of meat
• No 10 foot drops into the abyss in the middle of almost any pavement
• The skyline is intense, and the water doesn't look like something you might sprak out after a night dominated by Tequila Slammers.

Photo: Little Red Dot

Busting

Dropping our bags at the surprisingly unskanky cheap Little Red Dot we hit the town and journeyed to the top of Marina Bay Sands, realising immediately that a piece of architecture so outrageous must have a bar that serves half decent cocktails.

Behold, the Ku De Ta.

Infinity Pool

Marina Bay Sands from a boat cruise we took later.
The Bar and pool are on top of that thing.

 Located on the 57th floor with absolutely outstanding views of the city skyline, the bar was complete with a breath taking infinity pool  following the curve of the boat like structure looking inwards towards the centre of the city and out to the busy harbour.

Group photo on the 57th

Suitably loosened, we soaked in some of the city atmosphere and by this time late evening got back to the hotel, showered and began to get surprisingly drunk. At some point we decided to attend a Singapore pub crawl advertised in our hostel and with us at the lead of our inebriated group stumbled towards the MRT. 

In retrospect what probably amounted to verbal abuse we began excitedly shouting at first German, then any other foreign language at one of our German pub Crawl Colleagues, made it to the bar district some where in the city and presented ourselves to the Notorious V-Man who would provide us with shots for the evening. Reaching the first bar, a change occurred in me. The constant tiredness which before had been at it's peak had subsided, subdued by the alcohol, and an urge to get totalled had won the battle.

The notorious V Man - Stolen from Pooja

Tequila happened, how many in how many bars i am unaware, but things got out of hand when even my T-Total erstwhile Irish colleague Keith got slaughtered. We stumbled from bar to bar, at some point chugging a bottle of wine, at others crouching on the floor as Bacardi was poured into our mouths.

Bacardi Pouring - Stolen from Pooja

Drinking games involving a shot of Sake resting on chopsticks over a glass of beer, stealing free shots from the bar and accidentally ordering 8 tequilas for myself culminated in one unashamedly very drunk intern. On my part it was much needed, work has been/ still is gruelling, 6 days a week saps all your energy and I hadn't had a night out  since I had lost a game of 5's and had to spread my cheeks in front of a couple of security guards.

Inebriated Grin

My memory from the night is sketchy at best, but we got to the club that i believe was called Arena, V-Man and his promise of free shots vanished and undoubtedly the Gangnam style was played. The club was actually pretty intense, there was a live group/dance act on stage that were awesome, and that;s as far as I go. Most of the night is a blur, the next thing i was awake in the hostel, shaking in a cold air con sweat and after a brief glance in the mirror, looking like a crack addict that had just crawled out of a council flat in East Slough.


Rather hilariously throughout the night Pooja (eternally sober) had been pleading with us to accompany her to a restaurant to get some food as she hadn't eaten in about 24 hours. Apparently we denied her request every time replacing food with countless shots and restaurants with an endless supply of bars. Nevermind aye. 

Arena Club

Hydration. Cereal. Tea. Repeat.

My body was shaking, waves of pain were washing over me and my head was spinning. Half recovered, we headed out once again. This time we headed for the Singapore Flyer, a large Ferris wheel on the Coast by Marina Bay Sands. Unfortunately I spent most of the time starring intently on the floor trying not to chunder, but the views were once again spectacular and accompanied with a boat cruise it was an especially easy going day.

The Singapore Flyer

By early evening we were growing weary and made for the archaic Fort Canning, built by the British and now situated with a charming par  in the heart of the old city. Unwittingly we stumbled into the worlds international Acapella folk music festival, the crowd consisting of us and a group of disinterested school children. The music was beautiful, supplied by Kongero: a 4 piece female folk group from Sweden, while the weather in the pale afternoon sun made the setting very idyllic. We laid down and slept and I bought my first CD in 4 years.

The Singapore Flyer

Singapore is a very well kept city; the streets are clean, the traffic is minimal and the atmosphere is much less claustrophobic than KL. You can relax here and breathe a little deeper without fear of coughing up exhaust fumes or a handful of Dengue mosquito's.

Kongero

Over the course of the day we had missed a BBQ that our friend Charlie had thrown, rather annoyingly the days events and our fatigue had caused us to run far later than planned. That night, just after witnessing the light show around the Marina Bay area we headed over to his place, and holy shit it was incredible. A 3 story penthouse at the top of a skyscraper  we exited the private lift and were met with a beautiful apartment, complete with a private roof garden with outstanding views over the city.

Marina Bay Sands at night

A Bar. Moreover a fully stocked bar. My hopes of a sober night focused on hangover recovery dwindled as i reached for the gin. Before i knew it a G&T was in my hand and i was spread on the sofa. Charlie's a really stand out guy, and after a tour round his place we settled back down for a few more bevvies with Ryan, James and Jerry.

Photo: Shisha bar

A stunted night later that i bailed from due to exhaustion, and a great meal of Dim Sum with Keith's friend who lives in the city we found ourselves on the bus heading for home. Getting back at 2:30am and getting up for 5:50am was a slap in the face, but it was worth it.

Singapore is a spectacular place and a lot of fun if you're not afraid of blowing a lot of money. Congestion is absent, the people are generally friendly, the air is good and the skyline is gorgeous. I don't consider myself a well travelled individual by a long mark, but it's one of my favourite cities I've visited and I'd be more than willing to make another trip if the opportunity arises. 

Marina Bay

Many More and better
photos on my Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glenncook/sets/72157632067033774/

Next stop : Loughborough Loose in Laos