Singapore - One Long Night

By Rough Guy'd

Hello Singapore. It was only a short flight to Singapore from Brunei so I ended up arriving late that same night, though thankfully the MRT (Singapore’s very convenient mass rail transit) was still running. This meant that I could take the train all the way to my relative’s home. Armed only with a an address and a phone number (I didn’t ring them as I didn’t have any coins for a payphone), I managed to make my way to the closest rail stop and then from there I figured that I could ask someone how to get to the location.

One of the workers directed me to a bus to take and off I went. Now, call it an intuition, a feeling or whatever else you like, but after a short while, I started to doubt my current direction. Asking a nearby passenger, she told me that I was indeed on the wrong bus and told me how to get to my destination.

Now, it’s at this point I will mention my luggage. Though I knew it was a good idea not to carry too much, I still had a decent amount of luggage. I had a hiking bag full of clothes that I wore on my back and one piece of hand luggage that contained everything else. Being a little mindful of problems that could occur, I had backup copies of all my cards hidden in my hand luggage, with the main cards being in my wallet. As well as the cards, the hang luggage also contained all my other stuff, toiletries, books and other assorted stuff that you find you will need.

Funnily enough, considering all the weight I was carrying (about 18kg all up) I ended up using just about all of it. Though I was going around the tropical areas for the first part of my trip, the two pairs of jeans and cargo pants did end up handy (due mainly to the need to dress a little more formally than runners and shorts and to keep mozzies off my legs.

Now, in hindsight while I think it was a good idea to start with so much luggage, at the time I didn’t think so. Walking down the streets at 10pm or so at night was pretty tough going and even were I as fit then as I am now, it would still be a struggle. I found out that it took only a couple of minutes to reach the street that I was after, but that I was at the wrong end of it.

The entire trip from getting off the bus and then finding and going down the street, encumbered as I was took about three quarters of an hour. Finally arriving at the block of flats with a healthy coat of sweat all over, I saw my uncle sitting in the common area having a ciggie. I was finally there.