Singapore - Second Day

By Rough Guy'd

I woke up pretty early considering how tired I was the night before to find that the entire household weren’t really morning people. My cousin worked according to London time, which meant that he didn’t start until the afternoon and didn’t finish until past midnight and the rest of the family sort of adjusted to it a bit as well. So it wasn’t until about twelve that he woke up and we could have a chat. He was the same age as me but we hadn’t really talked much before, the only time we were both old enough to remember being about fourteen years prior and we didn’t really have time to talk much anyway.

At about one thirty, we decided to go out for lunch/breakfast and to start doing what we do, in his case to work, in mine to sightsee. It was about this point that I realised in the full light of day that the train station was only a five minute walk from his home and you can see it from his window. Commence facepalm.

Like I said before, I tended to use the guidebook for accommodations but it was also really great for tourist attractions and points of interest. What I found was that I used the book to guide my way but rarely did I use it as more than that. Sure I followed it closely but I found that it was the big things that drew you to a place but the little things that you remember more fondly. You had to stop to smell the roses on the way to your destination and photos were meaningless unless they had the power to evoke feelings and bring back wonderful memories of that time and place, a lesson that I think more people could benefit from as I would later discover.

So with that philosophy in mind, my target was the Esplanade, nicknamed ‘the Durians’ due to the resemblance to the fruit of the same name. By the time I reached the Esplanade, five hours had passed, including a photo session by the river, two museums and numerous stops into a mall to find a drink which did nothing for my sense of direction. However, this time my timing couldn’t have been more perfect as there was a free concert performed by a Chinese string orchestra and I was able to get a good seat.

The next day was quite a slow one due to the fatigue, the jetlag and a hard-learned lesson about bringing water with me all the time. Though drinks were available everywhere, I had underestimated the amount of liquids I would need and the constant need to leave a location to find a mall became annoying. A quick trip into the Chinatown was all I did this day and was probably a good idea.