Day 132, June 17, 2013, Monday, Johor Bahru (Malaysia)-East Coast Park (Singapore) 70km, Total: 5240km
If you’re commuting from Johor to Sinagpore, I recommend a bike. Okay, maybe I always recommend a bike, but nevermind that. We zipped down the side of the freeway, as fast or faster than the jam of cars.
The border was my first taste of Singapore’s famed tight management, anal governance. It was in a covered building with rows of kiosks, Andres missed the sign marking the lane for only people with pre-approved passes. I followed him along and at the end of the lane, we were stopped, and led to the immigration office. There they processed our passports. The officer asked if we’re traveling together, “Yes” and then asked how long we’re planning on staying “3 or 4 days”. Then they point out that we put down different numbers and sternly tell us to “fix the discrepancy.” We looked pretty dumb. In all of ten minutes we were done, rolled up to customs and the officer asked “Where are you from?” I cheerfully replied “America!” He looked down at our bikes, bags and gear, sighed and waved us through. I could tell he absolutely did not feel up to stripping our bags.
We rode over to the nearest metro station to wait for Joni and Chris, friends of Thea, from Malang. We grabbed a snack at the station and waited an hour until our meet up time. At 10:30 we walked out to find Joni and Chris. Apparently,they walked around the other end of the station and had been there an hour. Darn.
Joni and Chris took us riding 40km through Singapore. We saw a lot: a war memorial, a housing estate, the botanical garden Bukit Timah, a proper bike shop, Chinatown, a hawker’s center, Marina Bay, River Valley Road, a Buddhist temple(where you can have free food), ending in Lavender. There we went to check out a hostel, but Joni and Chris had both confirmed that camping in East coast park is really pleasant, safe, has full facilities, and is free. The idea had been bouncing around in my head all day and same with Andres. We decided to just go for it. We had only been able to camp in Indonesia a couple times; it was time to bring out the tents. Joni rode us over to East Coast Park. Joni surprised us and said that we could stay with her starting the next day. Woohoo. Andres and I hit up Starbucks to hop on wifi, but you need a Singaporean wifi account to log on, which requires a Signaporean phone number #Singaporecontrol. Some uni students let us use wifi off their phone, it was really kind of them, but didn’t totally work, so we asked a woman at the next table where the next option was. We decided to venture on a night ride and find her café. It was closed, and so was its neighboring café. We set up camp in the micro brewery nearby, ordered two juices and read/wrote until 12 a.m. We cycled back to east coast park, cruised along until we saw a group of other tents and set up.
Day 133, June 18, 2013, Tuesday, East Coast Park- China Town (Singapore) 40km total: 5280km
Waking up on the beach in Singapore was really pleasant and peaceful. It didn’t seem like we were in a 4 million+ city. The beach is even complete with exercise bars, so both Andres and I decided to build up our appetites through morning exercise.
We rode back along the beach, through Singapore’s perfectly manicured parks, on their perfect roads, and down their perfect paths. It’s so organized! Too organized.
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If you haven’t heard, Singapore is strict. No chewing gum, no jay walking, mandatory toilet flushing, no littering, etc. The punishments are exorbitant fines or caning, or jail time for the serious stuff. Despite this risks, sometimes you have to break a rule or two…
How could we not?
Our first stop was the Buddhist temple to get free lunch. Then we headed over to Little India to meet up with our friends from Ringo’s Foyer, Lewis, Tanya, and Kirsten. After a bit of a search we found their hostel. Kirsten was out for the day so Tanya and Lewis met us over in Chinatown. I noticed a “Cal” lanyard and stopped a passerby before getting on the metro. All of us headed over to the main hawker’s center, snacked and chatted.
We headed over to Joni’s housing estate, as she was going to host us in Singapore. Joni lives in one of Singapore’s flagship housing estates, Pinacles at Duxton. That evening we cycled 15k to a family friends house in Bukit Timah to have dinner. Singapore has such nice roads, Andres and I blew through 15km in just over 30 minutes. It was nice to have dinner in a home, at a proper dining room table. Haven’t had a proper sit down in a home meal in a while.
Day 134, June 19, 2013, Wednesday, China Town (Singapore)
I’ll hit the highlights of Singapore versus doing a day by day.
Joni took us to meet her friend who restores old bikes, primarily steel frames. He is a car detail-er, and transferred his skills to restore bikes as a side hobby. Seeing his bikes made me really miss my Torelli (old Italian steel frame) When I talk about riding my Torelli, Andres will ask “Man, are you talking about your bike, again??” But he knows the feeling. He’s got a bike waiting back at home, as well. Even writing this right now I’m missing my bike. Some of you will get it, some of you won’t. If you don’t get it, then you haven’t found the right bike yet.
My taste of Singapore
A lot of my time in Singapore was simply walking around, exploring, getting lost, vibing it out. I’ve found it to be a really pretty city, lots of greenery, no trash, well maintained and impressive architecture. Shit, Singapore is a misnomer, this place is Singarich.
So far, it’s been my favorite city, but it did start to feel a bit like a theme park. It’s architecture is impressive, but a bit too showy. I can’t quite put it into words, but some parts just seem to be there just for entertainment/show factor. A helix bridge, billion dollar greenhouse, weird mushroom/Dr. Seuss structures, a ship on top of a building.
Singapore has a bit of everything, all in sections. Just like Disneyland has it’s different areas, Singapore has its own. There’s the waterfront to stroll along, East Coast Park to camp/run/bbq, Clark Quay for clubbing, Bukit Timah for proper houses. It’s got everything you need, but the placement doesn’t feel organic. I could live there for a few years, but not settle down. I’d feel too much like a lemming in Singapore’s utopia.
Cycling in Singapore
There are no bike lanes in Singapore, but the cycling is still awesome. The roads are smooth and at most there are rolling hills. These together allow you to fly across the city. Maybe I’m a bad biker for saying this, but there’s something so fun about threading the needle through city traffic, it’s exhilarating. If I lived here, after work every night I’d ride across town, up down all around.
Eating in Singapore
Two words: Hawkers centers. A complex filled with stall after stall of various food items, on the cheap. Avoid the fancy restaurants or the chain stores. You can get anything from fried noodles to soup, to chicken rice in the 2-5 Sing dollars range.
You can also eat for free if you know where to look.Some temples provide food for the public with a welcoming atmosphere. I saw people from all walks of life and ended up conversing a bit with a nice man Chee, two days in a row. I learned a bit of his life story and he interspersed little pieces of wisdom into our dialogue.
Big Brother is Watching You
Really though. The narrative of the government is always in your face, through signage. Don’t litter, don’t jay walk, no parking here. Okay, these may be common place, but there are more signs…. reminding you to flush the toilet, to not use the toilet like a squatter, to properly line up at the metro, to warm up before you exercise, to stay hydrated. I can do things on my own, thank you very much!
The Haze
The views we encountered were shrouded in a muggy fog. Smog, rather. I thought it was an equatorial fog, steam permeating the atmosphere b/c it’s so hot. But once we got here our Singaporean friends apologized for the haze saying “It’s usually so clear” The skyline would be much better without it, honestly. The “haze” is a cloud of smoke from coming over the Malacan Strait from forest fires in Sumatra. Big agriculture companies pay villager to burn old growth jungle to make way for new palm oil. The haze was dreary, it actually did damper the trip a bit. It smelled like a campfire just around the corner and at its worst, my eyes would sting as I walked down the street.
Singaporeans claim this happens every year around this time, but that it was remarkably bad this year.
Am glad you enjoyed Singapore and I love you analogy about it being a Disneyland…I was there for almost 3 years and that was more than enough! Great for a first overseas living experience though! Enjoy Malaysia!!