Diary 1 - 9 November 2000 & Images
from my time in Singapore

On Holloe'en my friend Peter accompanied by his wife Hillary drove me to London's Heathrow airport. Here they are with my luggage trolley just before I went to the departure lounge.

The Singapore airlines plane left Heathrow at 0025. A comfortable flight with a choice of movies shown on a small screen on the back of each seat with all mod cons. I was sitting next to a very dishy young man and chatting to him about his travels and discussing my trip enhanced my enjoyment of the journey. I slept quite well for some of the time and got plenty exercise in the waking periods. We flew at 32 - 37.000 feet and at 948km/hr it was a smooth ride.

The journey was scheduled to take 12 1/2 hours and the time difference of eight hours meant we arrived in Singapore around 2030 in the evening. I took the airport shuttle from Changi to my hotel. When I made inquiries about downloading my e-mail I was allocated a room on to the sixth floor as they are fitting the rooms with an ISDN connection. Unfortunately my laptop does not have the necessary PC card, the hotel can rent me one for SD$20 UK£8 and per day, I can't afford that money for my e-mail so I have to use the telephone line to log on to AOL. By the time I had unpacked and gone downstairs the hotel restaurant was already closed.

After making inquiries I went out in a taxi to the Boat Quay which cost SD$10. and had a look around there but couldn't find anything interesting to eat. I then went to the Orchard Towers in Orchard Road where I was told there would be bars, discos, prostitutes and nightlife though not necessarily in that order. That was a SD$7 taxi ride and I arrived around 0100.

Thursday 2^ndnd November

I was wandering along Orchard Road being accosted from time to time by what I thought were working girls but still could find nothing interesting in the way of a restaurant as the vast majority of them were all closed. However a young man walked up on my right-hand side and while walking alongside me asked "What's your name?"

I told him, "My name's Iain." but offered no farther information and continued walking, somewhat intrigued but without seeming to pay too much attention to him.

He continued to keep pace with me and presently broke the silence and informed me "My name is Bobby."

He was about five feet six inches in height, of slender build and clean shaven with short black hair. From his dark swarthy complexion I guessed he must the Malaysian on Indian. He wore a pair of spectacles and whilst been very quietly spoken he had an infectious smile. I immediately wondered, though perhaps I assumed, that he was plying for business. As we walked along I told him I was looking for some food and perhaps something to drink. He turned out to be very helpful and took me to a restaurant/bar where we sat at the table and I ordered a beer for each of us. Whilst waiting for the food to arrive I asked him why he had decided to come and talk to me.

"I saw you walking along the road and you didn't stop to speak to any of people that approached you so I wondered why." he replied.

"Well I wasn't interested in these girls as I thought they were prostitutes looking for business." I explained.

He smiled widely and shook his head. "These weren't girls that came to talk to you."

"Yes they were." I told him.

"No they was boys. Or lady-boys. Boys dressed like girls, they were just looking for sex, maybe too for money." He told me. We discussed this and I asked him if he too was looking for sex for money.

"No." He seemed displeased at this suggestion. "I not like that. I was just curious and I liked you." I smiled as the waiter came with my food and wondered what to say next as he did not appear to be telling me the whole truth.

"You like me? I wonder what you mean by that." I said leaning my elbows on to the table, cupping my cheeks in my hands and looking directly into his eyes. I decided that he was quite attractive and very easily likeable.

"Well you not interested in what you thought was girls so perhaps you interested in something else." His eyes were sparkling and twinkling as he spoke. " I think you attractive man." he finished, leaving it there.

The food was good but I didn't finish it as the portion was very large. Bobby turned out to be a very interesting man but it was difficult to understand him as he spoke quietly and English appeared not to be his first language. He later informed me he is a Malaysian. His friend Sam phoned while I was still eating and Bobby asked if I had any objection to his joining us. I was nearly finished my meal by the time Sam arrived.

At 1000 we left the hotel room, found a food hall where we had breakfast and then went to explore Singapore.

MerLion statue at the entrance to the Singapore river.

Singapore skyline at river mouth,

Clarke Quay from bumboat on the river

Bobby on the bridge leaving Clarke Quay

I went to the Reptile Park and the Birds of Paradise house at Jurong to the west of the city. I travelled on the MRT underground railway for 25 minutes or so and the final 10 minutes on a bus.

In the Reptile Park I saw many crocodiles, large and small, some of them with huge fat bellies and some that were 18 feet long. Whilst there I took photographs of the crocodile handlers moving the crocodiles from one end of the area to another.

The Bird of Paradise park had some really beautiful birds including the flamingos, which were the deepest pink I have ever seen on that species.

There was an Indian bird handler with hawks and other birds of prey that he controlled with a whistle and a lure.

In the evening I met up with Bobby and his Chinese friend Sam. They were accompanied by Nick, who had arrived from Belfast on his way to New Zealand and was stopping overnight at Bobby's apartment before flying out the next day. We went to a Chinese restaurant where Bobby bought dinner for the four of us before going on to Vincent's Lounge bar. We spent most of the evening there as Bobby and Sam knew some of the regular clientele.

Sam left us after a while and Bobby suggested that since we were already in the vicinity that we both stay overnight at his flat

Friday 3^rdNovember.

We got an early start and took a taxi into the town centre were we were able to find something resembling breakfast.

famous Raffles hotel.

Hotels remind us of food and I am not at all fond of the food in Singapore. Due to my lack of understanding of Chinese and other local languages I have to rely on locals for interpretation as its important that I maintaining a decent and balanced diet.

I shake hands with the doorman at Raffles.

We decided to go to Sentosa Island by ferry, a short 10 minute journey across the harbour. On the island, which is essentially a pleasure resort situated south of Singapore we took a walk to view the Merlion, a huge concrete statue in the centre of the island. It is the head and shoulders of a lion and the tail of a mermaid. Inside we took the lift to the top which is 38 meter high. The Merlion is next to an exhibition of images of Singapore, this is the highest part of the island and unfortunately I was well knackered by the time I climbed the steps to the top. We took the monorail which travels round the island stopping off at various places to view the exhibits.

The butterfly house contains many specimens of butterflies from the local areas. Some of which are very large and nearly all a very colourful and beautifully marked. Next to the butterfly house we visited another exhibit of local insects before going to the underwater world. This is a fantastic exhibition where you travel through a Perspex tunnel viewing the fish as they swim alongside and overhead. Being tropical there are naturally very colourful and some of the specimens are very large also. Unfortunately this is not a good time of year to be in Singapore as it is the wet season. I have seen no sunshine and am told I am not likely to benefit from blue skies at this time of year. The weather is grey and overcast and what little sun does come through is very hazy indeed. The consequence of this is that I was not able to get any good pictures of the tall skyscrapers or the boats in the Strait.

We finished the day on the by taking the cable car back to Mount Faber in Singapore. I left Bobby to take Nick back to his apartment to collect his baggage before leaving for the airport and made arrangements to meet with him when he finished work at 1100 in the evening.

By the time I got back to my hotel I was exhausted and decided to take a bath and then sleep for a while. I overslept and had to the the rush about to get dinner. I decided to have an Indian meal in the forecourt of the hotel and ordered a Roghan Josh. It was supposed to be mild but in fact set my mouth on fire and I had to have it changed for something that was milder. Unfortunately even the yoghurt that I was given to cool my tongue did not have much effect so I ended up by not enjoying the meal very much at all.

When I came back to my room I telephoned Bobby and asked him to meet me at the hotel as I didn't feel like taking a taxi and going downtown again. He arrived at 2330 having been driven by his friend Keon. They persuaded me to go with them to the centre of Singapore and there sampled some beers on the Boat Quay before driving back to my hotel.

Keon dropped us at the hotel and we went straight to bed..

Saturday 4^th November

I woke at 0745 and proceeded to download the pictures from my camera to my computer. Bobby woke at 0900 and we went to have a cup of coffee in a local cafe before he went to his apartment. I returned to the hotel where I had breakfast. It was cold and not very interesting. I will not starve in Singapore but I don't think I am going to enjoy eating much either.

A very warm afternoon but I took a walk along the to take some pictures of the area known as Little India.

Serangoon Rd with Streets bedecked for Deepavali Festival

These youths will later parade in the street

Kali Amman Temple one of the many temples in the city

The spirit of India Turban and beard

In the evening I asked the hotel reception where I could find a restaurant that sells British or American type food. I was directed to the Oriental hotel and when I arrived in a taxi and went to the fourth floor of a very grand and spacious building. When I saw the menu I realised that I was out of my league. One rib eye steak was priced at SD$75 and the vegetables etc were extra. It would have cost about SD$150 for dinner. I immediately left and went down to the Boat Quay again where I sat in the Santa Fe restaurant. There I managed to find a reasonable piece of steak at a sensible price but the food was not brilliant. The service was the worst I had had in Singapore and I asked them to remove the service charge from the bill.

I had arranged to meet Bobby in the Vincent Lounge at 2330 and we stayed there until about 0130 before taking a taxi to a disco called Taboo. Bobby met a couple of friends one of which was an absolutely gorgeous lad, elegantly attired and named Zaid. I told him he looked like an Arabian Prince, this pleased him enormously and he was very attentive to me for the rest of the evening. It was about 3 AM when we got back to the hotel and we relaxed with a drink and swore undying friendship for each other before climbing into bed in the stillness of the night and the coolness of the room.

Sunday 5^thNovember

I decided to take breakfast in the hotel as Bobby had to leave early to go to work.

Whilst in London I had been communicating with a Singaporean on the Internet and we had arranged to meet when I got to Singapore. He telephoned my hotel yesterday to make the arrangements. His name is Francis Tan and at 1130 he arrived as arranged and we went to the Muslim district where I wanted to see the minarets and domes of the famous Sultan Mosque. Unfortunately it was under renovation, masked in blue plastic wrapping and surrounded by scaffolding. I took some photographs of it and was surprised to find that all the scaffolding was made of wooden poles lashed together by hand with a kind of natural strong grass like raffia.

From here we went into the business centre for luncheon. I had sweet and sour chicken with rice and that was excellent. After lunch a taxi driver took us to the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple in the Fort Canning district where I was expecting to see a cobra of pure hammered gold entwined around a four foot high Peacock cock described in the brochure as a stunning treasure. Unfortunately there was no evidence of any such statue when we got there. I managed to take a few interesting pictures but it was not as impressive as I had anticipated.

It was a hot afternoon and I felt that I had travelled round sufficiently so we went back to Boat Quay where we sat on the bank of the Singapore river, drank beer and chatted while watching the bumboats pass by carrying tourists on sightseeing voyages along the river.

Francis, a 39 year-old guy of about five feet four inches tall appears never to have shaved in his life and has a few hairs growing under his nose, the odd hair on his cheeks and a few hairs scattered around the point of his chin. We parted company in the early evening as he had to return to his family in the north of the island. I took the MRT back to Bugis Street where I alighted and walked back to my hotel. On the way captured some photographs of people burning incense and praying to the Thai Four Faced Buddha before leaving the colourful, noisy and aromatic street market.

After spending the early part of the evening resting I went to the hotel restaurant for dinner then went to a discotheque Venom where I was to meet up with Bobby. The disco was on the twelfth floor of the Pacific Plaza Building and after paying SD $18 adfrom themission which included the first drink I really enjoyed myself enormously.

Many people found me attractive and flirted with me which was a great boost for my ego. There was one charismatic and attractive man, who told me his name was Harry, appeared to be in his mid-30s and had a superbly well-developed muscular body proportioned to his five foot six frame. He kept whispering in my ear at every opportunity, telling me how much he wanted to make love with me. I told him I was waiting for my friend and that I was not available. Zaid, whom I had nicknamed the Prince on the previous evening, turned up and was very loquacious and attentive to me whilst I waited for Bobby to arrive. One young man with mischievous eyes kept looking in my direction and it was clear that he wanted to find an opportunity to make my acquaintance but I did not want to encourage anything that would be problematic later nor did I want to mislead him so we never spoke.

Sam and Bobby eventually came around midnight and we spent the next 2 hours drinking and enjoying the dancing to some very good disco music with an excellent beat. Drinks were SD$10 each again proving that Singapore is more expensive than London. We left there around 0300 and came directly back to my room.

Monday 6^thNovember

Although I get to bed very late in Singapore I seem to awaken fairly early. Every morning so far I have been awake before eight and today was no exception. Bobby had to work for the next two days so I was not going to be able to see him. We took breakfast in the local area then bid each other farewell.

It was a beautiful sunny morning for a change when we left the hotel to go to the local Mall to take breakfast. Bobby had to leave me to my own devices so I went to Big Splash, a beach on the eastern part of the town. I hadn't been there very long when the monsoon rain fell down again so I came back to town. I spent some time in my room catching up on my email and such like before heading out to the town for an evening meal.

At 2315 I went to Taboo, a disco located near the Boat Quay. Being a Monday evening it was very quiet at this hour but there were half a dozen people milling around. I noticed that one of the guys was the fellow with the wicked eyes who had been interested in me when I was at Venom.   When he saw me at the bar he managed to catch my eye and leaving his friends came over to talk to me. He introduced himself as Ben and when I had got my drink he suggested I join him and his friends. I moved away from the bar and met Andrew and Fabian.   They decided to move to another bar so I went with them to the Vincent Lounge where I met an English Scuba diver, Les who gave me a couple of hints for Bangkok. Ben was anxious to spend time with me and since I was not due to see Bobby for a couple of days I took the opportunity and invited him back to my hotel. We stayed awake most of the night and had an absolutely exhilarating time

Tuesday 7^th November

We breakfasted and discussed what we could do. I wanted to go to Johor Baru on the Malaysian peninsula but when we got to Ben's apartments he couldn't find his passport so we went to the Clifford Pier and took a Chinese Junk tour of the islands instead. Weather was shitty and spoiled the views but we treated it like an adventurous interlude and it turned out to be a very enjoyable afternoon for both of us.

Aboard the Chinese junk to cruise round the islands	Singapore skyline	Busiest harbour in the world	Ben with a shy look
More of the Singapore skyline	Massive skyscrapers against the dull sky	Another Chinese junk comes along	detail on the Junk
Ben in the mermaid	The fruit on the Pong Pong tree	which when fallen and baked in the sun looks like this	some of the colourful turtles kept in captivity
Hundreds of ships unload here each day	Singapore has the fastest turnaround of any port in the world. This is in the result of a very efficient labour force, computerisation and its strategic location.	Pleasure and cargo boats mingle here.	We concluded our voyage returning to the harbour in the early eveing.

Back on dry land we returned to the Albert Crt Hotel where we slept for an hour before dining in the Hotel restaurant. After dinner we went for a walk in the local area which gave us an opportunity us to digest the food and stretch our legs before returning to the Hotel after what had been a really enjoyable and interesting day.

Wednesday 8^thNovember

Woke at 0400 and drank a cup of coffee before returning to bed. Ben woke up again when I climbed in beside him. Eventually we managed to fall asleep and woke up at 0900. We went to wander round the streets and find some breakfast in the local food shops. I had some beans, fried egg and some chicken washed down with a cup of black tea. We got back to the hotel at midday as I did not feel like a lot of walking around and I felt that another monsoon was about to happen.

By the time we got back into the hotel room we were both feeling very hot so undressed and lay on the bed. This didn't relieve the heat but it gave us an opportunity chill out and relax. It was after 1500 when Ben finally went to catch his bus. Back in the room I caught up with my e-mail and watched a little bit of the presidential elections in America as the race was close and Bush was just ahead. I telephoned to Bobby. He wants us to meet later to have dinner so we arranged to meet at the City Hall  MRT 2100.

We didn't go to a restaurant as they are so expensive in the centre. Instead we went to a food hall where we selected dishes from different stalls but unfortunately I did not make the best choice and didn't enjoyed the food very much. On leaving the eating area we went upstairs to the Somerset Maughan bar where a jazz singer was giving gusty renditions of jazz classics such as The Lady Is a Tramp etc.   The music was very relaxing and we stayed there for a couple of hours, Bobby drank a beer while I consumed a couple of glasses of Bacardi and Coke. Since he had to start work early in the morning we went back to my hotel. He was jealous of my having spent the last couple of days with other people but was glad that I had enjoyed myself. We had a really excellent time on our last night together.

Thursday 9^th November

I had booked an early morning call for 0700 and rose more less straight away. Neither of us were feeling much like getting out of bed but we showered and dressed. We made our farewell embraces with each other in the room and Bobby left me to finish my packing promising to e-mail me soon and stay in touch. I took a taxi to Changi airport after settling my hotel bill and was surprised that the fare was only SD$13.50. At the check-in there was no queue and I was able to check my baggage and go through to the duty-free shop very quickly.

After purchasing cigarettes I found the nearest thing I could to an English breakfast while waiting for my plane to Hong Kong.