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.