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Hi again everyone
So, the last stretch of the trip, pretty scary! This is gonna be the best part though seriously, me and rick have earnt our money from australia so now is the time to live it up in asia :)
I got on my flight from Perth after saying bye to my house mates which was pretty sad at the time as id been living with them for a good 5 weeks and it was like my new home, prepared for the new lifestyle and culture i was about to enter. I arrived in singapore shortly after sunset and immediatly felt like a tourist again, it was awesome! I felt really excited at this poiunt as this was the first bit of travelling that id ever done on my own and i knew it was going to be a fun challenege. Despite most of the signs and things around me were in English i knew i was on my way through some special countries and couldnt wait to see what was ahead.
After speaking to a local trying to figure out where the best place is to stay i came to the wise decision that staying in a suburb just above the city called "little india" was probably a good place to stay. I got on the train to my destination and had my first real taste of Singapore. I was stood up with the majority of the people although i towered over them as they were all so small lol it was pretty weird as the last time id been in a simalar situation was in mexico, but this time no-one was staring at me and they accepted my pale western skin and blonde hair as a normality. This made me realise there was probably loads of backpackers that came through here, althoguh i did feel pretty mean when everytime i moved or turned around i smacked someone in the head with my backpack lol but they didnt seem to mind too much!
After my train journey and wandering around little india for about 2 hours trying to find a hostel that actually wasnt fully booked up i ran into a place with a cosy room and a rooftop balcony with a pretty spectacular view of the city skyline.
That night after dumping my bag i went for a wander around the mental suburb that is little india. Honestly this place was crazy, I walked down tiny winding streets jam packed full of indians and singaporeans shopping for groceries and eating out with families and friends at street markets and stalls. At night all the families came out as they were fasting at this point and couldnt eat after sunrise and before sunset so they went out and went nuts with a huge feast in the evening. They had decorated the streets and buildings with lots of colourful decorations and bright lights, well preparsed for the end of ramadam with ended around a week after i got there. So i decided to join them in the food indulgence and basicallty walked around for about 2 hours trying loads of little foods id never seen before and the best part about it was that is was so cheap! :)
The next day i set out to visit this magnificent city that is Singapore. The country on a whole is very small but the city still looks huge. I walked through snapping photos of all the skyscrapers and temples i could find when i stumbled across a banner down by the river (which is right in the city centre) advertising a festival which was going on that night! Looks like i came to Singapore at the perfect time as it looked like a pretty big deal although im not sure what the festival was for, i could only assume it was for religeous purposes. So for the rest of the afternoon i gazed around chinatown markets and marvelled at the beauty of the Singapore gardens as i walked amongst some of the oldest tree's and buildings at a point higher than the city in a park on the outskirts.
If i had to say something about Singapore it would be that is is highly westernised compared to the rest of asia yet it is an amazingly beautiful city and they have strict policies on rubbish as they like to keep their home spotlessley clean!
That night after a huge feed of duck, rice, egg and noodles for like a quid fifty i set out to see what this festival was all about. When i got down to the river the whole place absaloutly amazed me, there were boats in the river decorated with bright lights and intricate arftwork, the sides of the river glowed different colours every 10 seconds and all around the sides of the river were people drinking and celebrating (i still didnt know what the festival was in aid of but i didnt care at this point as it all looked so good lol) So I walked round and across the bridge to the stage where a group of about 30 Singaporeans were preparing to perform a show. Honestly right as some of you may know, i am not a fan of dance shows or any sort of interpretive dance, although i respect that it is difficult and takes a lot of skill i just cant watch it for more than 2 seconds without being bored! Well this was where my opinion changes...
The show began where the lights dimmed and from down the river the crowd started to part as the people of the show started to parade through in character form dancing and swaying around the crowd. Their costumes were fascinating and they had really put some effort into them as the detail was unreal. They marched through and got on stage for a performance i would never forget. Basically the performance was about a "land King" and a "sea Queen" and the battle for the crown. I got a few photos of this so go take a look! Their was loud fitted music to go with the dance and setting for whenever a new thing happened on stage. So Yeah i cant describe what this performance was like other than amazing, The first part was about the land king looking for the crown and realising that the sea queen was in posetion of it, So he set out a tiger to look for it and they battled etc etc The most amazing part of the show was when 2 guys (one holding the head at the front and one controling the back) were dressed in a dragon outfit. They ended up getting oin top of these stilts and jumping back and forward from one stilt to another with the music, even knocking some of them over on purpose so they had to jump further to the next one, it was so scary to watch when they almost fell but it was all part of the show. Honestly insane. I literally left with a lump in my throat is was that good. But yeah after this i walked around marvelling at all the lit up stalls and crappy merch to buy before going to stuff my face with plenty more food. Oh and i found this thing called a "big Pau" and it was just a massive ball of squidgy white dough filled with a huge ball of meat, onions and different spices. They were amazing and cost like 20p! so i ate about 5 of those and ent to bed proper happy prepared to reunite with rick in Malaysia the next day!
Speak to you all from Malaysia
Lots of love Adam x
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