Random memories from Asia...

Some more random small memories from travelling in Asia which I probably didn't mention first time around...

• The 50-something American guy in Amman talking proudly about how much his diet has improved since his heart attack - talking while chuffing away on a cigarette at least every 10 minutes
• Asking at reception how much the Amman hostel charged for wi-fi access, hearing the American guy behind me complain that he'd been charged twice as much, and the Jordanian receptionist shoot straight back that because he was American he must be able to afford it!
• My Couchsurfing hosts in Tel Aviv being amazed that Queer As Folk wasn't originally American
• Locals in Petra shouting offers of "air conditioned taxis"... meaning camel rides
• The barber in Chiang Mai who after cutting my hair (in a domestic garage) insisted that I take a swig of mouthwash
• Being beckoned over then groped by a 'woman' on the street at night in Kuala Lumpur who I realised only too late was a ladyboy and a prostitute

Health and safety greatest hits:

• A minibus driver in Jordan smoking a cigarette while operating a petrol pump on the forecourt
• Pedestrians in India ducking under the level crossing gates which had just come down
• A family of six, including one small child, riding on one ordinary-looking motorbike in India

The delights of budget backpacking:

• The little old lady on the hostel reception in Hong Kong who spoke virtually no English but seemed to think if she talked long and loudly enough in Cantonese I'd understand... And finally generating enough understanding with her by pointing
• The hostel in Chiang Mai with signs in toilets instructing you not to flush toilet paper down the bowl because the pipes are too narrow, but to put it in bins instead - bins which were tiny and usually overflowing. You imagine the rest...
• The hostel in baking, steaming Singapore which told me flatly they won't switch on air conditioning in dorms before 10pm, and that if I wanted it during the day I'd have to pay for a single room
• ...and then that if I left my big rucksack at the hostel on the morning of my departure without being there at exactly 10am to tell them, they might throw it away
• The hostel in Tokyo that charges for use of the showers

...All the sorts of things which make the trip! :-)

Singapore - more than just a stopover

I only booked three nights in Singapore, mostly because everyone I know who's been there seemed to take the view that it's basically only somewhere you should stop over for a short period, three nights maximum. However, I have to ask those people - why??? I really really liked it, didn't want to leave at all, and could easily have spent at least a week there as there was easily that much to see.

Singapore is a reluctant country; it desperately wanted to be a state within Malaysia when the latter gained its independence in 1963. This initially happened, but Malaysia then threw Singapore out a mere two years later due to racial tensions perceived to threaten Malaysia's stability (Malaysia is majority Malay, but Singapore is three-quarters Chinese). This left Singapore's Prime Minister publicly sobbing. According to Wikipedia it's the only country in modern history to have become independent against its own will. 

Singapore has prospered to a remarkable extent, becoming rich by global standards, easily the richest in the region. The narrative told by the National Museum of Singapore is that this has come about through unglamorous hard work. There seems to be a relative lack of ostentatiousness about the city - Singapore is definitely not Hong Kong. It doesn't have the stunning natural backdrop of Hong Kong either, albeit it does have a patch of untouched primary rainforest. As I understand it much of the wealth has come through industry and technology rather than finance, and the Central Business District is small (albeit surprisingly pleasant and atmospheric).

What it is rightly well known for is being remarkably clean and well organised. Roads are organised on a grid system, with plenty of space everywhere, and the public transport is seriously impressive - I imagine it is a bit of an urban planner's dream city. But if that sounds uninspiring, it really is better than that. There is plenty of British colonial architecture still intact (again, unlike in Hong Kong), such as the world-famous Raffles Hotel and the more outwardly impressive Fullerton Hotel. The city centre has a very pleasant and impressive waterfront, as well as a river running through it, with many dozens of riverside spots to hang out in. I was impressed by the fusion of traditional and modern, there are also distinctly modern structures such as the Esplanade Theatres which look a little like giant metallic pineapples, and there is also notably a lot of modern (sometimes hyper-modern) street sculpture pleasantly dotted around the city centre.

Giant metallic pineapples... oh sorry, Esplanade Theatres

Orchard Road is the main shopping street and I can only describe it as bizarre. I've shown surprise at the number of huge shopping malls in several other Asian cities, but Singapore really takes the biscuit - Orchard Road is a whole street, probably a good two kilometres or more in length, that is just one huge mall after another. I didn't try to count them but it must have been somewhere around 15 or 20. Some of them make remarkable architectural statements too. A little soulless, almost certainly, but actually the overall effect was highly interesting and not quite as grotesque (or JG Ballard-esque) as you might imagine. And, you can literally step off Orchard Road onto Emerald Hill Road, an immediately quiet, tree-lined street with delightful bars and cafes giving way to gorgeous private Mediterranean-esque townhouses.

Emerald Hill Road

The National Museum of Singapore is a very good (and remarkably high-tech) museum with a welcome focus on social history. Don't bother with the disappointing Singapore Art Museum, but do head to the lovely Fort Canning Park, one of the loveliest and most peaceful city centre parks I've seen. The park contains a number of attractions, including the Battle Box - the military bunker used by the British Army during World War II, in which the humiliating British surrender of the island to the Japanese in 1942 is superbly re-enacted with the help of robotic waxworks (!).

By night, I had a lot of fun at the excellent gay club Taboo where the music was good (think Lady Gaga, Madonna and commercial house) and the atmosphere even better. I have to say that if you want to feel attractive as a Western gay man, going to gay joints in Asia seems to be an excellent way of doing it - simply because a lot of Asian guys seem to like white guys. Ahem. I'll be happy to discuss further over drinks when I'm back in London! Tantric, the gay bar nearly opposite, is also a decent venue although you probably need to be in the mood for the distinctly cruisy and posy feel. There are two or three other gay venues I could have explored with more time. Homosexuality is in theory illegal in Singapore as in Malaysia. However whereas in Malaysia they seem to still mean it, in Singapore I was led to believe that it's more that they haven't quite got round to changing the legislation yet but the authorities will turn a blind eye as long as you don't really rub it in people's faces. From what I saw, Singapore is definitely a pretty good destination for gay nightlife.

I really do hope to spend more time in Singapore at some point. Does it sometimes have a slightly sterile feel? Maybe. I should also warn that it seems to be far from well set up for backpackers and I spent too much money staying in a decidedly unimpressive place which Lonely Planet seemed to think was amongst the best available. But is Singapore an interesting, cultural, exceedingly comfortable place? Definitely, and with English as the primary language, I could even see myself living there without too much trouble.