It ain't half hot..

As some of you may know, Singapore is a very hot and generally quite humid country. Typically, the low temperate is around 4.01am in the morning and that is still a pretty balmy 28C at the moment. The reason I know it’s this time is that’s the time I wake up pretty much most mornings with my tongue stuck to the mattress with not a single drop of moisture left in my body as it’s all been sucked into the bed clothes. I imagine it to be how vampires feel when they end up getting caught out in the sunrise and end up turning into shrivelled columns of dust in the films.
Anyway, I digress. From what I've heard it's about that temperature for the vast majority of the year and seeing as it's only a couple of hundred miles from the Equator it gets dark around 7pm most nights as well, which is an odd sensation. Having grown up with balmy summer days when it is still light at 9:30pm and the BBQ fires keeping the midges at bay, I've found it quite odd to be shrouded in darkness in the early evening whilst still mopping rivers of sweat from the back of my neck.
Most Singaporeans once they've discovered you’re a Brit ask you "So, how are you coping with the heat here then?". Whilst stood in a puddle of my own sweat I generally answer back " What heat?"
It's not so much the heat here, but the humidity. Often it's in the high 80's and sometimes it does reach 100. 100 of what you may ask?
Well, it's this if you must know.
"absolute humidity on a volume basis is the mass of dissolved water vapor, mw, per cubic meter of total moist air, Vnet."
Exciting stuff I know...
Having realised that this is a hot sweaty place the only obvious thing to go and do to make me even hotter and more sweaty was to sign up for some long distance runs. The reason for this was mostly not to turn into more of a porker than I currently am given that there is so much good food on offer here for very little money and secondly, as a way of getting to see some parts of the island and Malaysia that I've wanted to go and visit.
So, I've signed up for the mother of all runs being the Singapore Marathon in December this year. It's been a few years and a lot of pies since I undertook such a feat, so starting off from last week I've started to get prepared by, yes you guessed, eating less pies.
I'm going to try and get out a couple of times a week from next week once I've got my legs warmed up a bit. December is quite a way off, so I've got a couple of 10k and half’s along the way so that will be a bit of a yardstick of how I'm going to perform on the day. I think once I've done those few practice runs I'll be able to gauge how the formula of Age + Pies consumed + Christ it's Damn Hot / Sheer lack of Fitness = time lying on road panting equation is going to look.

It's not quite as mathematically scientific as the humidity one I'll grant you.

Arab St and little India.

So, one of the great things that separates out Singapore from other Asian countries I've visited is that it has a massive Indian influence which means one great thing above anything else. Curry.

Now, being a Brit, curry is almost second nature to me, so I've been itching to go and try and out some of the local curry hotspots, and no better place to do this than Little India.
Little India is a little gem of a place where the first Islamic communities rooted themselves in the Raffles era when Singapore was being carved up into the varying districts by the man himself. I'll get more on to Raffles another time as this blog is mostly about curry today.
Now being a SW Londoner and a fellow Blackburner I felt right smack at home amongst the hustle and bustle of the night time markets selling all manner of tat with the distinct aroma of exotic spices wafting through the air. I'd arranged to meet a few guys from work on a Saturday evening to have a few Tigers (the beer of choice here) and to eat my first Singaporean curry. I'd heard that Little India was a bit of a gem so I'd purposely starved myself in the afternoon for the delectation that was to present itself in the evening. I wasn't disappointed. The good thing about Little India, and pretty much most of Singapore in fact is that it is so friendly. You don't get the hassle of street vending touts trying to drag you in off the street which is so common in other curry meccas that I've visited. So, we trudged the streets for about 15 minutes until we saw somewhere that had been recommended to one of us and duly plonked ourselves down.
We ordered the usual amount of food (i.e far too much) and enjoyed it immensely.


After that we lolled down the road to to my new favourite place in Sing - Arab St.

Arab St is another carved out area so whereas the Tamils settled in Little India, the Arabs ended around, erm Arab St ?!? There are a couple of explanations as to why it's actually called Arab St but the one I like is that the area was once owned by an Arab merchant. It's mostly made up of some really striking shuttered shop fronts and eateries of Middle Eastern, Malay and Arabic flavours.

I spent a bit of the morning wandering the streets just browsing the amazing basket shops selling all manner of rattan, cane and straw niknaks. It's got quite a young bohemian feel to the place as well and has quite a few cool boutique type places selling stuff that is far too cool for me to even think about buying or trying to wear.

Incidentally, there are some really cool bars and restaurants to frequent here in the evening, which I duly did on the Saturday evening. I ended up with a couple of folks drinking G&T's and smoking far too much shisha at an open air jazz bar which took me back to my days dossing around as a dive bum in Egypt many years ago.

You can't really beat sitting outside watching the world go buy with a bubbling tower of apple flavoured shisha in one hand and a cool Bombay in the other.

On Sunday, I'd be given the kind offer of the loan of a mountain bike and to cycle the East Coast Park from my condo to Changi and back. So we set off at 5pm (the time it starts to cool down a bit to undertake such an activity) and started off on the 43km round trip. The East Coast park is a great little park on the South East coast with a cycleway/roller-blade path that snakes it's way along the coastal path all the way from Changi to Tanjong Rhu.

I love the East Coast for lots of reasons and it's very popular with all sorts. In particular runners, cyclists, rollerbladers and budding taxi drivers.

The budding taxi drivers are the f*ckwits that love walking aimlessley into the cycling lane as you go zipping past and cause you to crash in a heap by either hitting a tree or careering down the concrete on your arse. Now, so far, I've not actuallay crashed but I know that I'm a statistic waiting to happen. There is an actual defined cycle lane but nobody really pays any attention to it and people just mill about wherever they want. It makes it quite a hazardous ride especially when it's busy. The reason I call them budding taxi drivers is they show the same kind of lane discipline in youth as the adults in the taxis do. The first rule of lane discipline in Singapore is that there is none. My first new cycling purchase to bolt on to my bike frame is going to be an industrial duty bell. That or a lorry airhorn.
The other thing that is noticeably odd out here (for me anyway) is how popular roller-blading is. Now, I love the 80's, probably more than anyone I know in fact, but I remember roller-blading being slightly popular around 1989 and then anyone worth their salt who did actually own a pair figured out that they looked like a bit of a twat after 6 months of doing it and sent them off down to Dr Barnardos to probably get shipped off to some country for other less enabled children. Well - I've figured out where the f*ck Dr B sent them and it's here in Singapore. Anyone and nearly everyone dons a pair of blades here. It's like the land where time stood still here but instead of it being full of Dinosaurs like some Verne-esq setting it's full of leotards and tight fitting bright lycra. The only thing missing from the look is some big spongy Sony headphones and the theme tune to Fame. Granted, some of them are pretty damn good at it, but the majority are like an 8 wheeled pissed up Bambi on ice careering all over the place.
Maybe it's me and I never cottoned on to how popular it still is in places around the world, but the last time I was strolling in Battersea Park the only thing I remember whizzing past me was tooled up kids with staffy terriers on their way to mug someone.

Anyway, route wise, it's a really great ride all the way up to and behind Changi airport and then back again. Thnakfully, at Changi there is a great hawker stall to which to gulp down the customary three cans of 100 plus which is the drink of choice out here for before, after and during any kind of sport activity. That sounds like something out of a commercial I know. Actually, 100 pus is a pretty fine drink. It's a bit like a sugary sweeter fizzy version of Robinsons Barley water. It's probably really bad for you, but it hits the spot when you've sweated out your own body weight in fluids. Riding out past the airport is pretty cool as it gets a lot quieter once you get past the BBQ pits on the coast and the beach becomes less crowded. It becomes realtively safer as well due to the lack of numnuts getting in the way of the bike too. The path follows the entire length of the runway down one side, so you get to see all the planes come swooping in and landing alongside you which is quite cool.
As well as the East Coast path, there are some other good rides around here, but have not ventured on any of them yet. Once the bike arrives from England, I'll certainly look to give some of them a go. It's not as if there are many big hills here but the small mounds that there are here end up being just as hard as anything I've done prior, mostly down to the absolute effort it takes to get up the buggers due to the heat.

Speaking of belongings, should only be another 4 weeks hopefully until my stuff arrives, fingers crossed.
In the meantime, I'll dust off the roller-blades and get out the lycra.
I mean, it's not as if I Wanna Live Forever.... ;).

Booked it, Packed it, F*cked off!..

Well the day finally came when the fellas from Crown relocation came and boxed up my measly possesions that I'm taking to Singapore.
So the great big pile of fleeces, coats, jumpers, hats and scarves that I'm leaving behind have been put under the bed for an outing at a later date.
I was quite surprised to find out how much stuff I was actually taking, and seeing as I'm pretty much starting out again from scratch as far as furniture goes, it did end up filling up most of the van.
This picture shows only half of it.

Seeing most of my stuff boxed up in the living room was actually a bit sadder than I thought it would be. I can't quite put my finger on it, as I know that I'm doing the best thing in leaving and making a new start, but it was still a bit of a funny feeling knowing that I'm saying goodbye to this house and the memories that go with it. It's funny - as I had the same feeling when I moved out of my first flat in Brixton years ago. Maybe I'm just slightly more attached to piles of bricks and motor than I thought I was.
So today, seeing the house slightly barer of possessions makes me feel even more displaced than ever. It's funny how having a few of the things you cherish around you make a home a home and without them it feels like something not totally different, but ... different.
So as we speak, my stuff is on it's 6 week round the world trip by sea to Singapore. Actually, it's probably stuck in some industrial estate near Folkstone, but it's not really painting the same romantic picture is it?

Up In The Air.

Up in the air seems to be a fitting title at the moment. Not only do I seem to be spending most of the time being actually up in the air in an airplane/travelling kind of sense, but I also feel like it in terms of being not really having a place that I can call home yet. I’ve not really left London yet and I’ve not really arrived fully in Singapore either so it feels a bit like the long distance Salesmen (I’m sure that’s a film title) consistently living out of suitcases and using too much hotel shampoo.
Hopefully, that stage is now coming to an end, as as I write this, I’m sat in Changi airport departures lounge (economy, for those that it matters to) waiting for my return flight back to London to finish off the packing, moving and visiting of people that I started off so many months back. It does feel a bit odd as it’s starting to feel like it’s really about to happen and I have sat in my inbox a confirmed one way ticket (business class this time) back to Singapore scheduled for a week’s time.
There’s nothing more final than a one-way ticket I find. It’s some kind of statement of commitment for the modern man I think.
So yes, I’m back off home to try and cram as many things in to the next few days. Top of the list, is visiting my folks who I know I’m going to miss a bit, even if I am a bit of a crappy son and don’t visit them enough when I’m only 200 miles away rather than 3000.
So what have I been up to on this trip and what gainful insight can I share with you.
Well reader, I can tell you that for a small lump of rock, Singapore is quite diverse amongst its geography. From one end to other, you can pretty much cover the East to central part of it by taxi in less than 45 mins by the coastal freeway. I’ve not ventured much West yet, as those that I’ve spoken to say it’s not really that interesting, but I’m a great believer in trying things out for yourself so I’ll not comment too much on that yet. But – the East and Central regions I’ve explored a bit and am quite impressed. The big thing that I’ve really noticed is that the place is built up of lots and lots of small enclaves that all seem to link into each other in a little magic web of villages. You can start out at Changi (the airport, which melds into the East Coast, which segues into Katong, which moulds into Mountbatten, which turns into Orchard, then Dempsey and so forth. It sounds like pretty obvious and much like any other city landscape, but the thing that separates it here from other cities I’ve explored is that the transition and difference in style between the parts is quite distinct. Last night I was in Dempsey for drinks and dinner, and it felt totally different in style, climate and physical appearance than anywhere else I’d been to here. Walking down the hill a bit and turning left and I found myself back on Orchard Road staring at the huge malls and shopping precincts that I’d become familiar with and that’s when it really hit me that under the skin of the premise that Singapore is all about shopping malls and Raffles, there really is a lot more of a mix than what you first think.
I really should put more photos up here to show this point. If only I could find a shopping mall that sold cameras… ;)
Dempsey is a bit of a find really. It’s a bit like an old colonial barracks at the top of a small drive littered with cool little eating places and arty shops selling everything from designer edged traditional style furniture to little boutiques selling arts and crafts.


I really enjoyed it and it’d make a cool place for a Friday evening out with a date or a group of friends.
As well as this, I also donned my tourist cap and also went to the Singapore Night Safari on Saturday. Now, the Night Safari is in all the guide books as a must do activity, and on the whole I had a fun time – although it really is exceptionally touristy and full of snotty nosed kids with some rather annoying parents. If you take it with a pinch of salt, it’s good fun. I think having actually been on a night safari in Africa I might have been coming into it with high expectations, but on the whole it was good fun bar the running commentary from the bloke at the front with the microphone banging on about general wildlife facts.

The other thing I did this week was a quick trip to Sentosa. Sentosa is a very small island on the southern tip of Singapore, which has recently seen loads of investment turning it into a small entertainment complex. It’s got some nice manmade beaches, a Universal Studios theme park and some quite cool bars along the seafront such as Café Del Mar and such.
You get to it via a little monorail train from Sentosa station or a cable car from the mainland, which was sadly closed.

I probably picked the worst day of the year to go there as it absolutely smashed it down with rain on the way there (and when it rains in Singapore it really rains). Luckily enough though, the sun came out in the afternoon and it was a pleasant enough day to sit out and drink a few frozen margaritas by the beach.

I bet it’s a great day out on a really sunny day, so quite looking forward to going back later in the year.

Sentosa is also home to the first casino in Singapore. There is now a second one at Marina Bay Sands (to be discussed another time) but this was the first and subject to quite a bit of commentary.
The Singapore government are quite a controlling bunch and deem that gambling is a something that their subjects should be controlled from doing, especially in Casinos. So, Joe Bloggs with a non-Singaporean passport can waltz in and fritter our hard earnings away quite merrily, but the locals have to pay something like $10K to get membership to go. Quite a deterrent!
I’ve not been to either yet, but will venture there next time I’m back.