Singularities in Singapore.

 So lesson of the night number one, if a Japanese person ever uses the phrase “deshou” (the potential form of the verb to be, i.e ‘might be’) to end a sentence, don’t believe a word of what you have been told. We managed to get turned around twice before having to leg it for the night bus barely managing to get on in time. Our efforts were rewarded however by a super swank night bus. We had foot rests, blankets and even a weird cover to pull over our heads to block out light.

Suffice to say this return trip was a lot more pleasant than the outgoing one. No sooner had we stopped off in Osaka and we were catching a train out to the airport. This journey seemed to be fated wit coincidences and number one occurred at the airport itself. As we were checking in we ran into a friend of mine from Hmeji who was also off to Singapore, on the same flight no less,  to attend her friends wedding.

The flight was pleasant enough, super basic due to the low cost but since it was only 6 hours in the air  I can’t complain. To be honest I didn’t really miss having in flight movies since I usually don’t end up watching any. You get so much choice these days that I waste half the flight trying to decide what to watch.

At about 9pm we arrived at our final destination, Singapore. This was a bit of a spur of the moment decision but a very excellent one. My mate and myself had been getting a little bit fed up with Japan at this point. The language barrier was really starting to get to him and it put a lot of extra pressure on me. So where is the least Asian bit of Asia? Yup Singapore where English is one of the national language. Hurray for former colonies. (Disclaimer: that statement was entirely tongue in cheek I in no way advocate colonialism and the many atrocities that have occurred in its name.)

The main motivation for visiting Singapore was actually to meet up with an old friend. We’d met him at Liverpool University when we were just starting to play. He, like us, had continued to play and is in fact on the Singapore national team. He’d assured us that Singapore was a pretty small place so even though we didn’t have much time we could still get a lot done.

Having a friend who is local is fantastic when visiting a country. Firstly you’ll waste no time trying to figure out how to get about since you have a great guide on hand. They are more than likely to know where all the best/cheapest/coolest places to eat, drink and sight see are. Worry number two gone. Also if they are really nice, as was the case here, you don’t need to find somewhere to stay.

Admittedly you do lose a bit as there is no time to get lost and discover oddities, still time was short and I was so grateful for my friends hospitality. One cool thing about leaving the UK is definitely the fact I know have friends all over the world, and an even bigger incentive to do more travelling.

Back to the holiday then. Our friend took us from the airport to a nearby Korean resteraunt for dinner and to meet some of his teammates. Korean food is always good, super spicy and very hearty, and I could see the relief on my mates face as he was getting pretty fed up of Japanese cuisine. Me to for that matter.

After dinner we were treated to yet more food (running theme here). Desert consisted of a variety of sot tofu in warm or cold syrup as well as egg custard tarts.  We were led up some stairs to a little room with a load of benches that was crammed full of people. The thing that struck me most was that no one batted an eyelid as we walked in. In Japan there would definitely been some stares (some less friendly or indifferent than others.) Here, nothing. It was refreshing to not feel like an alien.

The following day we had a nice relaxed start and headed out to some street vendors for a breakfast of  Roti prata and curry with carrot cake (don’t let the name fool you it was essentially a spicy omelette though it did contain carrots). 

Now I’m pretty inflexible when it comes to breakfast and to my detriment I don’t deviate from cereal too often. I think breakfast is the meal people tend to be least flexible about, and is probably why Hilton hotels spent so much money developing their breakfast menu. Either way I decided to hang it and just went with it and you know what. It was blooming marvellous. The tea was also amazing; I’ve not had a good cup of black tea since I left the UK.

Fuelled up we were taken to the Marina bay area of Singapore. This place is like taking a step into the future. Being the central area for business and entertainment and is constantly undergoing development. We went to check out a recently developed area known as “Gardens by the bay”.

This area spans around 250 acres and consists of large areas of greenery and water.  The main theme of the gardens seemed to be one of sustainability and I’m sure the natural appearance of many of the structures was supposed to tie into this. At the centre of the garden are two large conservatories that reminded me strongly of the Eden project.

The first, and smaller, of the two is called ‘The cloud forest’ and is a recreation of the environment within mountain forests. It consists of several floors with the temperature dropping as you move higher up. The indoor waterfall was impressive and we were also treated to a geography lesson as we wandered around. Sustainability is at the heart of these buildings and it seems every little feature is in someway related to this theme.

The shape of the conservatories allows rainwater to be guided towards underground reservoirs. Here the water is cooled a piped back up to cool the air close to ground level. As the air heats it rises and is vented at the top. By doing this it reduces the amount of air volume that actually needs to be cooled and thus reduces the energy input.

This is amongst one of the many strategies in place around the gardens and in fact all the electrical power used in its operation is produced on site. One of the most striking features is the Supertrees, giant constructs of metal, concrete and plant life. At their tops they contain reservoirs for collecting rain water to power fountains and irrigation, solar panels for electricity and even act as vents for the warm air collected in the conservatories.

Impressed though I was it eventually became time to leave and move on to the next visual spectacular,  Marina bay sands. This is a resort complex featuring a large shopping mall, cinemas, theatres museums and a casino. The most striking feature is definitely the three tower hotel complex topped by a gigantic sky terrace in the shape of a boat. I’m assured there is a swimming pool at the top with a glass bottom so you can look down, sadly we didn’t have a look.

First stop was  a Chinese restaurant for noodles and dumplings. The wontons were good (but not as good as ma bo’s in town) and then xiao long boa, a type of steamed bun with a soup filling. All very tasty. Following lunch we went to check out the Andy Warhol exhibit in the ArtScience museum.

The term art science is something I could really get on board with. Sadly due to time constraints we didn’t really have time to see the permanent exhibit but the Wahol exhibit was highly engaging and there was even a bit of dressing up and silly photo taking at the end. The museum itself regularly hosts special exhibits so if I’m ever back in the country I’ll be sure to check it out again.

After getting a bit more cultured we left to meet up with a friend I’d met in Japan now living in Singapore, this was the start of what would be many interesting coincidences of the night. Whilst I’d only met this friend a few times before she had lived in Wrexham for several years whilst working so for reasons of common ground we’d hit it off. She’d only been in Singapore for 2 weeks so I think she was just happy to meet a familiar face.

We stopped off in china town for some tea, quite a lot of different teas actually, before coincidence two. My friend who were travelling around asia for their honeymoon, whom I’d met up with in Japan about a month ago, were now in Singapore. They were also good friends with my Singaporean friend and so were joining us for lunch. By chance they had run into a friend they had made whilst travelling around Malaysia and invited her along also.

The plot thickens however. On the way to the restaurant we  picked up a teammate of my Singaporean friend. He was Japanese and had moved to Singapore about a month ago. Here is were it gets weird. Turns out he was the older brother of a friend from the UK. He had lived there from the age of 9 – 15 and knew quite a few of our mates. Coincidence overload.

Obviously this was an interesting night with some wonderful conversations, great food, sadly I couldn't try the crab but all the other seafood was delish, and other such merriment. We capped it off by trying durian fruit. Give it a go if you get the chance, I’ll say nothing more. I do love that most restaurants in Singapore are street style, completely open and very casual.

The day really just confirmed for me that the world is incredibly small. What followed was a fantastic night out involving more food (it’s a national pastime apparently), some scary revelations (when inquiring if it was safe to leave drinks in a club we were informed that the penalty for possession of drugs is death), and even some late night/ early morning  antics in my mates pool (it was going  to happen really).

Day 2 was much more relaxed. We played some frizzers with the locals, enjoyed some more local cuisine and just about managed to squeeze in a viewing of the Dark Knight Rises. I couldn’t have been happier with the whole trip really. I’m immensely grateful to my friend for being such an awesome host. We hadn’t met in years but it seemed like just yesterday we were in the pool. I’m also still grateful to Ultimate, man do I owe so many of my opportunities in life to that wonderful sport.

I guess since this is a post about Singapore I don’t need the Japanese sign off so…

Laters.

Part 2: A capital time

A short hop, and by short I mean sleepless and gruelling 9 hour trip by night bus, had us arriving in Tokyo bright and early on Wednesday morning. Sadly there was no respite from the heat but the capital, as always, managed to blow me away with its impressive scale and supreme business. I managed to decipher the wonders of the Tokyo underground much faster this time and had us over to our hostel in Asakusa in good time.

Asakusa is a pretty cool place but I’ll come back to that a bit later because we had other places to be. Our first stop for the Tokyo tour was the Miyazaki Hayao Ghibli museum. Huge fan-boy that I am this has been on my to visit list for ages and now I was finally getting the chance.

The museum is way out in a city on the outskirts of Tokyo, Mitaka, and getting there was in itself no small task since we were practically the opposite side of Tokyo. Being  cheapskates money savvy we had purchased day tickets for the Tokyo underground and so plotted a course for Mitaka that allowed us to spend as much time on the subway as possible. This took a bit more time but you know, save the pennies.

Mitaka is itself not really a very attractive location. It’s far enough outside of Tokyo to not be dominated by lines of apartment blocks but it’s slender streets and mundane choice of building colour do give it a bit of a dingy feel. My mate also noted that there was a lot more rubbish on the streets and that it ‘looked like birko’ yeah welcome to Japanese suburbia.

As always there were no signs that were of any use and whilst there is a bus that runs directly to the museum we opted to walk. The websites map is decidedly unhelpful but it did at least indicate the museum was in a park. We headed through some of the winding side streets towards the tree-line in the distance. The heat was starting to pick up again and although we can’t have walked more than a kilometre it felt like forever.

Still arrive we did and I must say that whilst the museum is small it was also very impressive. The museum itself is a 4 storey building of just the sort of quirky design you’d expect from the ghibli team, all round edges, overgrown vines an odd little domes. After being greeted by Totoro at the entrance I knew I was in for a treat.

Inside it’s a little bit chaotic. Firstly it was pretty busy, I get the impression its like this most of the year. Secondly there is no real floor plan as such. There are various rooms and exhibits but they are not laid out so tha you can move from one to the next in a logical order. This is also not helped by the lack of a central staircase, apart from a weird spiral staircase in the middle. The décor however is incredible and you really feel like you’ve just stepped into the world of Ghibli.

The main exhibition room is essentially a history of animation, detailed with bright colours and some incredibly impressive moving exhibits. We once again hit a snag though. Shockingly not a single exhibit in the museum had a translation. Whilst they were in fairly basic Japanese, fine for me, you would miss out on a lot if you couldn’t read, so a bit naff for my friend. This really surprised me given the wide appeal of the films. There was a second exhibit further up that I really didn’t understand. I think it might have been something to do with how Ghibli artists where influenced by European fairy tales maybe? The Japanese was just way beyond me.

The highlights were definitely the wonderful reconstructions of sketches and storyboards of the various films and of course the Saturn theatre. Throughout the day this little theatre screens short films that are only aired within the museum. If I understand correctly they are different each day, I guess as a kind of incentive to go back.

We watched one called, 星をかった日(which could mean the bay I bought, raised or harvested a star depending on how its read.) The story was fairly basic; boy runs away from home, moves in with random older lady, works on her farm, swaps turnips for a weird seed from a mole and a frog, normal stuff really. The visuals and music however where stunning as always. The art direction is based around works by Naohisa Inoue in his Iblard collection, worth a google if you like quirky fantasy art. I think there is a whole other world there just waiting to be explored and I loved the seamless blending of old clapped out technology with a super futuristic city.

This all took a good few hours and by the time my we got back to the hostel my mate was knackered. I decided to have a short wander around the local area since I’d not been to Asakusa before and I’d heard it was home to the oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, senso-ji. It apparently used to be the most popular entertainment district in Tokyo before being levelled in WWII. These days it has more of a reputation for being an excellent site of budget accommodation.

Not having any real plan beyond getting to the temple I just went for my usual plan of wander in the general direction and see what I see. Man am I glad I did. As I strolled past a random supermarket I spotted out of the corner of my eye something I’d been searching for since I arrived in Japan. A square watermelon. These badboys will set you back a whopping 10000yen (about £82) and well they just look weird. I’d actually doubted their existence but can now confirm they are a reality, albeit a fairly pointless one.

Marking the entrance to Senso-ji is the equally, if not more, famous Kaminarimon, or thunder gate. The giant red gate, originally built in the 10^th century stands at a whopping 11.7m and is nearly that wide, not your average garden gate. It is home to 4 statues including two very impressive busts of Rajin and Fujin (Gods of Thunder and wind respectively). At the centre of the gate is a giant paper lantern (almost 4m in height), which has an elegant dragon carving on its underside.

Wading through the throngs of tourists I wandered down nakamise-dori, a short street that is jam-packed full of shops selling all kinds of wonderful souvenirs and traditional snacks. I’d have loved to spend a bit more time poking my nose about but I wanted to see the main temple itself. The first thing that caught my eye was the five-storey pagoda on my left. These are common amongst large temples but it was my first time seeing one up close. Actually after the gate the temple ground itself weren’t anything special. I guess I’m a little templed out these days.

The next day saw us heading just one stop over on the metro to Ryogoku home of Japan’s main sumo stadium, Ryogoku Kokugikan, and also the Edo-Tokyo museum. Both buildings are right next to the train station, always handy in the summer heat, and are also massive. We picked up our tickets for the Edo museum but first headed to the Ryogaku to have a look at the Sumo museum.

The ‘museum’ turned out to be a single room that consisted mainly of images of old trainers and Yokozuna. Again almost no English in here so we didn’t take too much away from it, but it was free so I can’t complain too much.

Our next destination on the other hand was absolutely incredible. Firstly it is massive as I stated earlier but to give you an impression I’ll give you some figures. It stands at about 62.2m above the ground and covers an area of 30,000 square metres. Adding to this is the fact it is modelled after an old elevated type warehouse so most of the museum is about 30m above ground level.

 

The inside is where the main event is of course. Whilst the exhibits only take up about two floors there is quite a lot packed in as the museum maps the course of Edo’s progression from being a port town to becoming the modern capital it is today. There are many old artefacts as well as intricate models and reconstructions of various important landmarks within the city. The full size model of a kabukiza and the northern portion of the Nihonbashi bridge definitely stand out amongst them.

What makes the museum all the more fantastic is that a lot of care has gone into translation here. The information is displayed in Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, Korean and a host of other languages. Further to this there are volunteer guides happy to show you round and providing explanations in several languages. It is easy to lose time in here and we must have spent at least 3 or 4 hours, my mind was sufficiently warped after this information overload.

 

After a bit of a history lesson I took my friend to the Harajuku area to get a good look at the more modern, trendy aspects of Tokyo. We wandered through the boutique-lined streets, taking in some of the more unusual styles as we went. Afterwards we turned back down into central Shibuya just in time for rush hour at scramble crossing. Very few times in my life have I seen so many people in one place. Its worth a look if for nothing more than curiosity. 

We just about managed to squeeze in some nighttime skyscraper viewing in Shinjuku before what was one of the more stressful nights of travelling back to Osaka.

Ja mata kondo ne.