Images of the day

My room at Adrian's

"Shop-houses" in Little India

Sri Veeramakaliamman temple

Alleyway near Arab Street

Goodwill on Baghdad

Sultan Mosque from Baghdad Street

Sultan Mosque and the very beautiful Bussorah Street

Renault F1 car on display on Orchard Road

Orchard Road

The Three DDDs

After a day further exploring Singapore on my own, including Little India (great curries, markets and temples), Arab Street and surrounds (great shops and mosques) and Orchard Road (Singapore's major shopping precinct - think Bourke Street mall times 50) I have developed further a theory I came up with yesterday - the three Ds:

Diversity

I put this first because it's such a big part of daily Singapore life and Singaporean identity. Local Singaporeans - be they Chinese, Indian, Malay, Arab or some other ethnicity - mix with expats of many nations and tourist to form a jumble of ethnicities, religions and languages in one tiny little island. Integration - even understanding - doesn't necessarily seem to occur - though tolerance is widespread.
As a foreigner - especially an Anglo-Saxon in an Asian country - this mixing pot of cultures certainly makes me feel less out-of-place.

Density

Everywhere you go, or don't go, in Singapore, there are people. There is not a quiet street, in fact I'm yet to walk down a street alone! As I sit in Adrian's flat I hear the voices of many rising up from below. There is a large population in a very small space. In fact I'm told there are 6000 people living per square kilometer in Singapore. This compares with 2 per square kilometer in Australia (of course this takes deserts into account, but you see my point!)

Dynamism

Following on from density is dynamism. Just as there are always people around (and because there are always people around) there is always something happening, always people doing something, always movement. There is not far to go to get to anywhere in Singapore and people seem to take full advantage of that. Night or day there are people wandering around, driving, catching the train, going places, doing things. The heart beat of the city is rapid and strong.

Day 1

Adrian, who is on National Service for a couple of weeks at the moment, had two days off shift work on Thursday and Friday and was kind enough to use the second of them not resting but showing me the sights of Singapore.

After a cold shower (there is really no need for hot water) we headed for the Botanic Gardens and National Orchid Garden, the home to 30,000 Species of Orchid and 100,000 hybrids including a cool house showcasing plants from more reasonable climates. Singapore's national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, is the purple flower behind Adrian and I. After checking out the orchids we went to a nearby cafe and had a coffee and a chat about family, life, values and ideals.

Next was a drive by Orchard Road, Singapore's bustling shopping district, on the way to Chinatown. Chinatown consists of alleyway filled with market stalls selling almost everything from clothes to electronic goods to food to Chinese trinkets. After some pork rolls we took a tour of a small Chinese Museum with a group of headache-inducing Singapore school kids, met Elisha, the tour guide and ate Singapore's signature dish - Chicken Rice. We then drove to a temple which we explored followed up with some tropical fruit and a frozen dessert.

After a short recuperation at Adrian's flat we took the bus and train into the city for Japanese where we sat in the window and just as we were about to leave I noticed someone waving at me - who do I know in Singapore? I thought to myself. It turned out to be Elisha, the tour guide from earlier. He invited us to join him and his mates watching a movie at a little place with a projector - you bring your friends and choose the movie to watch from a bunch of DVDs and it's like watching it at the cinema!!!

We declined his offer instead choosing to explore the Esplanade, where there was a US Air Force band playing, the Singapore Arts centre, affectionately known as the Durian because it looks like two half upturned durian fruits, and great views of the city at night. During desert at a waterfront bakery I was struggling to keep my eyes open (it was 1am Melbourne time when we left), and as we returned to the flat Adrian kindly pointed out that my eyes we bloodshot!!! It was indeed a big day!

Singapore

Customs

It never ceases to amaze me how easy it can be to gain entry to another country. The press, with such broad coverage of the Nguyen Tuong Van case, would have you believe that you basically get strip searched. The reality is a far cry from this. In fact it was easier for me to pass through passport control and then customs (through the "Nothing to Declare" doors) than it was to leave Australia - where my luggage was scanned, everything metal I was wearing removed and my deodorant confiscated for not having a lid. Mind you neither end was particularly difficult.

A Pleasant Surprise

As I went to collect my bag (one of very few on the belt - evidently most from my flight were going on to Vienna) I notices out of the corner of my eye someone moving vigorously through a glass wall. Succumbing to human nature I looked and there was Adrian Tan (my host here), who had come to pick me up despite the arrangement of taking a taxi to his house (it was midnight after all). Adrian drove me across Singapore to his flat where he and his Mum Eliza have been wonderfully hospitable since.

First Impressions

Air conditioning is deceit. Walking through the airport doors was reminiscent of my travels in North Western Australia in 1995. It's like God just took a long and very hot shower and fogged up the whole country. After a couple of minutes I was back in the air-conditioned comfort of Adrian's car. The temperature never drops below 24 (very late at night) and never rises above 34) and the humidity is suffocating.

Driving on major routes and at night it was impossible to determine what Singapore was like and only the immediate similarities and differences were noticeable - British style road markings, sky-scrapers which could as easily be Sydney as Singapore and much more high-rise accommodation than you would ever find in Australia. My tour-guide host informs me of a number of almost-superlatives along the way: "This used to be the second tallest residential building in the world... etc etc" - come to think of it, I would do the same in Melbourne.

In flight bulletin

After a slightly late take-off, the journey went without a hitch and my window seat (for which I had to request a middle-aged, non-English-speaking slavic couple to vacate my seat) offered me great views as we followed the Calder Highway past Gisborne, Macedon, Woodend, and home-town Kyneton right through to Bendigo with spectacular fluffy cloud formations to complement the view.

The middle-aged, non-English-speaking slavic couple also turned out to be a middle-aged, non-German-speaking slavic couple and the could comprehend neither the English nor German spoken by the cabin crew (I myself understood embarrasingly little of the latter). As a result they failed to provide great company and after the glue that bonded my face to the window was came unstuck by less-than-interesting views of hazy cloud I entertained myself with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes until I decided that the combination of my MP3s and the moving map provided better entertainment.

Landed in Singapore with a bump and rapid reverse thrust that felt like they were trying to pull up in record distance. It then took ten minutes at least to taxi to the terminal and at least that again to clamber over suitcases and limbs out of the plane.

End of post

Before the Gates

Airports can be both ugly and beautiful. A place of anxiety, excitement and sadness. Waiting to go to the airport I was quite jittery. I wanted to be at the airport, I wanted to be on the plane, I wanted to have everything I needed and not to have forgotten anything... I'm yet to be sure.

Being at the airport after checkin was much better. Having a coffee with friends and family was a fitting farewell, but there really is only so much of it you can do with so much anticipation at the forefront of your mind.

Through the gates of no return and everything was fine. Although I was sad about leaving loved ones behind, there was the excitement of what was to come and the relief that the journey had begun.

Through customs without a stamp in my passport I briefly wandered aimlessly through monopoly-priced duty free stores before sitting down and waiting for departure. I turned my MP3 player off for boarding immediately after Neil Finn's melodic voice faded, ending the appropriate anthem Better Be Home Soon by Crowded House.

Dorian Hill?

Yes, it's a pseudonym based on my real name and the lead character from the quirky TV comedy Scrubs.

Pre-departure briefing

Passport: Check
Ticket: Check
Documentation: Check
Luggage: well...

Moving overseas for a year ain't exactly an easy process and it certainly won't sort itself out! After 9 months of planning, emailing, applying, advising I do have a few things to show:

• An exchange place at Albert-Ludwigs Universitat Freiburg
• Accommodation during semester at the Evangelischer Studentenwohnheim, a Lutheran-run student residence/community of 110 people
• A place in a month-long intensive language course and accommodation throughout
• A plane ticket
• A scholarship plus financial aid from Melbourne University plus the Baden-Wuerrtemberg Scholarship
  

And yet there are still so many things to organise and it's coming up so very quickly.

It's getting exciting and I'm really looking forward to a year of new adventures, places, people even language, thought and philosophy.