Singapore and Things You Should Know

Singapore is without doubt one of the coolest cities out there. Lets ignore the fact that it's pretty pricey and focus on all the free stuff to do. I spent my week in Singapore exploring, every day walking and walking and I know there's still loads I never saw.

My favourite area in Singapore is the famous Gardens By The Bay. It's a huge stretch of land that is full of different styles and cultures of garden and dominating over everything is the Supertree Grove - a series of living 50m tall tree like structures. There is a Skywalk platform between two of the 'trees' with a view over all of the gardens and much of the city.

It feels like something out of Avatar, especially at night when they are all lit up. There's even a nightly light show where speakers throw out music and LEDs in the trees display an array of patterns and colours. When I was there the show was Retro Classics so there was Michael Jackson's Beat It, KC and the Sunshine Band's That's The Way I Like It, Tavares' Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel and more.

Like the light show in the Gardens By The Bay, over the road at Marina Bay, home to the super rich, another display of lights and music happens each night. For this one water is shot from fountains and lights and images are projected onto the walls of water.

I also loved the Botanical Gardens on the other side of town. These gardens are even bigger than the Gardens By The Bay and far less populated. I walked through woods and around lakes with hardly any other people disturbing the peace. I even discovered a trampoline in a treetop walkway!

And where could my Singaporean story end except with a picture of the Merlion, Singapore's mascot.

He's a lion. Crossed with a fish. 

That makes sense right?

Things You Should Know About Singapore

1. GPS does not like the skyscapers in Singapore and will frequently tell you you've just jumped through a building or across a road or that you've somehow time travelled across town without realising it.
2. Skyscrapers have a height restriction of 280m
3. Singapore is the city of shopping malls. They are so big its very easy to get lost; trying to find your way out is not as easy as walking in. It's pretty claustrophobia inducing when you're going up and down escalators looking for daylight or some hint of an exit.
4. The seats in the Singapore Management University are shaped like rabbits.
5. If you go to the Botanical Gardens you can find Swan Lake. With one swan.
6. People drive giant electric scooters. Some of them even have seats on them like a strange scooter-bike union.
7. You can find a canal inside a shopping mall. And you can even get a boat ride in a private gondola.
8. It's national anthem is printed verrrrry small of the back of the $1000 bank notes. Don't spend money without thanking your country!
9. While Malay is the national language (even though Malaysia kicked Singapore out in 1965), they also speak English and Chinese.
10. The city is remarkably clean and streamlined. 
11. Chewing gum is illegal. If you get caught you might get the cane, because that's still legal here.
12. While Singapore's people are incredibly polite and it is the 5th least corrupt country in the world, it is also the 5th largest importer of arms...

Malaysia and Things You Should Know

Malaysia seems pretty cool, though I can't speak for all of it because I only saw the tiny pocket that is Kuala Lumpur. As big cities go it's an impressive one with lots of skyscrapers and greenery jostling for space. One of my favourite spots in the city is the Eco Park, a small segment of rainforest in the middle of the city. There is a treetop canopy walk where you can see skyscrapers peeking through the trees.

I started off my week in Malaysia with a parkrun and impressed myself by achieving one of my best times despite it being one of the hottest runs I've ever done - even at 7:30 in the morning!

The one problem I had with KL was the rain. It would be crazily hot and humid and with no warning a massive crack of thunder would announce torrential rain to extremes I'd never seen before. My first night as I was getting dinner the rains came and the whole street turned into a river, drains were overflowing and gutters were waterfalls. For maybe thirty minutes or an hour, then the downpour stopped and the waters drained away and it was as if nothing had happened.

That's all fine when you're undercover in a restaurant. Not so much when you're on the highest peak of a quartz ridge that's taken you 2 hours to scale. Bukit Tabur was more rock climbing than hiking and I had views that stretched for miles; KL on one side and a beautiful blue lake on the other. As we started to head down the thunder rumbled and minutes later in came the rain. The climb up which had been difficult enough became treacherous. The water ran down the track in a river, turning the dirt to slippery mud and the rocks into waterfalls. By the time we finally got to the bottom we were drenched to the core. Normally on hot sunny days people cool off in a beautiful pool at the end. We jumped in with our clothes on because it's not like we could get any wetter!!

Then there were the Batu Caves;  an insanely brightly coloured stairway up to an enormous cave housing separate brightly coloured temples.

And of course the famous Petronas towers

And now the overall round up with Things You Should Know About Malyasia;

1. It's wet. Very wet. Not always (apparently!), but when I was there it went from dry (but humid) to flooded streets in 30 seconds flat. The thunder is also the loudest I've ever heard.
2. It's a mad mix of Malay, Indian, Chinese, Iban and Kadazan people and cultures.
3. You can't walk anywhere. Pavements suddenly end and you'll find yourself on the side of a highway. Bridges and underpasses are often closed so you might find yourself (like me) walking up spaghetti junction and crossing 5 lane traffic to get to a meeting point and ending up in the closed off basement of the building!!
4. I stayed in an area called Bukit Bintang which is funny because Bintang is the national beer in Indonesia. Apparently it means stars, so Bukit Bintang means Star Hill.
5. There's an odd mix of super modern buildings next to run down ones.
6. KL is the land of enormous playgrounds.
7. They love their skyscraper rooftops. From bars and restaurants to infinity pools and yoga spots. You can even get a drink on a helipad.
8. There are 272 brightly coloured steps to the Temple Cave of Batu Caves fame. There was drama when the stairs were painted last year as it was not authorised by the heritage department and as far as I know the disagreement is ongoing...
9. Early in the mornings, on a Saturday at least, the parks are full of people being active. There's walkers, runners, yoga, tai chi and even dance groups.

Things You Should Know About Bali

1. It's amazing (lets start with the obvious).
2. There are rice fields everywhere.
3. Bali is a volcanic island with 2 active volcanoes, Agung and Batur. I can't speak for Agung but climb Mount Batur and you'll see smoke rising from the crater.
4. The volcanic-ness of the island means though it does have white sandy beaches it also has a lot of black sand ones that sparkles as though a five year old has been running around with a bucket of glitter.
5. Ice is government regulated so no dodgy tap water cubes and no Bali belly - unless you drink the tap water of course.
6. Like most of the countries in the area everyone in Bali wants to give you a massage.
7. Daily offerings are given to appease the spirits and ward off malevolent ones. This consists of a banana leaf bowl filled with flowers, food and incense.
8. The monkeys in Bali do not understand the concept of Personal Belongings. If they see you with something - a bottle of water, your phone, sunglasses - they want it. And they'll take it. And it's goodbye phone because they'll bite it til it smashes.
9. Kopi Luwak, the world's most expensive coffee comes from Indonesia. Apparently (I can't stand coffee) it tastes amazing. Honest. I'm not shitting you...

Finishing Up In Bali

I am gutted to have left Bali. I had the most amazing time and can't believe it is over. 

The surf was brilliant. I learned so much and my confidence and ability skyrocketed. Each day we would go to different spots to find the best waves and avoid the crowds - it wasn't easy to find a quiet line up, it seems like the whole world wanted to surf in Bali as much as I did, but by the end I was pretty good at avoiding all the people around me. Except when they broke the number one rule in surfing and dropped in on me. The first person to be up and riding the wave owns the wave. If someone then decides to paddle and drop into the wave in front of you that's a biggggg no no. But it happens way too often when the break is crowded. Like this girl who snaked my wave;

But when I did get a wave to myself, oh man it was amazing!

But what I'm going to miss just as much as the surfing is the friends I made at the Wave House. I had a fantastic group of friendies that grew and shrunk with each arrival and departure. I was the longest standing member, being the only one to stay more than a month, but most people were around for at least a week, and even when they left some came back. The final 4 of us all left within a day of each other and I'm glad to have gone at the same time - it wouldn't have been the same without them.

Finals Day of the Bali Pro was one of the best days. We headed back to Keramas to see the quarters, semis and finals of both the male and female World Surfing Championship. As we arrived Kelly Slater was battling it out with Felipe Toledo! I got to see the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) compete again in the semis against Kanoa Igarashi who was just on form and went on the win the event. He is an absolute powerhouse and will definitely become a world champion sometime soon. In the girls race the final between Steph Gilmore and Sally Fitzgibbons was unforgettable, those girls were charging so hard, but Steph's perfect 10 blew her out of the water. To see surfers I've been reading about it magazines and watching online since I was 12 years old was a dream come true. 

When there were no superstars to watch I spent a lot of time in beach bars drinking cocktails. 

Hopping around on the back of a moped was a lot of fun.

Travelled up to Ubud to a monkey forest and the famous Tegangalang rice terraces. 

Went running, walking and cycling around Canggu.

Spent a lot of time at Mickey's, a restaurant owned by an Italian called Mickey with a BIG personality and a lot of tattoos - including his own face on his leg! He had a bouncy castle in the garden, not just for the kids... (Unless you count me as a kid, which most days I do).

Adopted a dog after she followed us back from the beach one day - called her Rodrigo until we realised she was a girl, then she became Ona which is Spanish for wave, and also because she had no owner. It seemed to fit. She's now being fed by the Wave House! There's already a cat who spends his entire time tucked under pillows on the couch. He's about as lazy as I feel.

The plan is for a reunion next year...