Hostel, 24th, 5.30pm. To continue from the end of the last post: We left the hostel and checked out at about 10.30am, and made our way to Little India, just across the river from us. It's not very big, but you can tell you've arrived immediately because of the contrast to the rest of the city we had seen. Lots of non-Roman script over the shops, selling flower garlands, incense, saris, gold jewellery, everything I recognised from my RS lessons! We soon came to end of one of the main streets, so we beat a path through some of the other streets until we had had our fill and headed back to Orchard Road.
We had lunch at some Westernised fast food stores at the Cathay shopping centre. We haven't experienced any Asian food! I got Kentucky-fried-imitation chicken and A. had pizza. My food came with something the menu called a 'biscuit', that was like a savoury scone-type baked ball. I tasted it, but didn't fancy it. We then did something less than conventional - we went to the cinema, top floor of the Cathay. We went to see Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher in 'No Strings Attached'. I really enjoyed it! It was in English but we had to ignore the Chinese subtitles. Lots mushy stuff for me to enjoy. Afterwards, A. stuck vehemently to the opinion that I am like the Portman character - good at being alone, not interested in emotions and relationships - several people can attest the fact that I'm not like that (please do!) - as well as a tendency to avoid conflict - has he even met me?? - and the type not to show pain. Well, I moan and cry about stuff all the time, most people know that. I implore someone to tell A. he's wrong! Tee hee.
That ended at 3pm, so we had some time to kill until going to the airport.
On the plane, 25th, 3.00am Australian time (1am our time). After the cinema, we walked some new streets to get to the Singapore National Library. I had come across it when researching things to do. A. was not too thrilled, so I was not able to spend as much time there as I would have liked. It was very nice, and I even found some books I recognised. It has a drama centre in the top floor, and a research library for the nearby university, as well as newspapers and a ‘multi-functional room’.
Quickly leaving the building we headed for the Plaza Singpura, a shopping centre near the Cathay that we had been in before. It was the place A. had a crepe. We went back to the same café, and got some crepes, which were delicious. We finally headed back to the hostel, and chillaxed for an hour in the first floor lounge, on beanbags. It was hard not to be distracted by the TV, even though the channel it was on had mostly Malay being spoken.
Oh, that’s something I forgot to mention that Angry Albert told us – There are 4 official languages of Singapore, all of which can be used in parliament. The most common language, the one that all the people speak as the crossover language, is English. Then there’s also Malay, Chinese and Tamur (not sure on the spelling – it’s an Indian dialect).
Downstairs, we retrieved our luggage, I placed on mine the new green tag I had purchased, and eventually the taxi showed up. It was a very nice town car, that both of us remarked on. We chatted idly on the way to the airport about the earthquake in Christchurch (which we fly into in 7 weeks), riding motorcycles, and the fact that a grey, cloudy sky like the one we were looking at combined with the rain drops on the windows reminded us of home.
Singapore airport is nice. We knew this before we left (there’s a flipping swimming pool in it!) but we didn’t have a lot of time to appreciate it on the first journey. This time I bought a doughnut from Dunkin’ Doughnuts, and we exchanged our S$ for A$, and we also got access to the airport-wide free wireless internet, though A. was frustrated by the slow speed of the connection. He also regretted not having his trunks!
We got through security, but I was thoroughly vexed when I was pulled up and told I had forgotten to remove my sun cream from my hand luggage, which meant it was confiscated. I still had over half a bottle that Mum gave me, so I huffed and puffed about it a bit. But we got to the gate in plenty of time. 10 minutes after we were due to start boarding, a voice came over the PA system to inform us that the aircraft had a fault, so we were changing over, which meant a gate change. We eventually got into the new gate, going through security again, and sat waiting for news. A. realised that we were sitting within earshot of a band called New Found Glory, which didn’t really mean anything to me, but still seemed like an interesting thing to happen. I was glad to have someone to point out the significance of the loud, tattooed group sitting on the floor near us.
So there was a delay of about 45mins, but we shouldn’t have any problems with our connection at Brisbane. We’re sitting in the middle block, with A. on the aisle, which is a position I have not experienced before. I just finished watching Due Date, a funny yet compelling film about the odd couple/two and a half men tip-o’-the-hat with Robert Downey Jr (drool) and That-Guy-From-The-Hangover, the name to which I believe he is most often being referred. A. is currently watching Glee. He has already got most of the songs stuck in my head from playing them in the hostel! Tee hee.
Cairns hostel, 25th, 4pm. At the moment I am a bit down. But I’ll get to why later. After Due Date, I tried to get some rest, and I think I might have slept a little too, which was good, and I was awake in time for breakfast. We got into Brisbane late, but as I suspected, we still had plenty of time for our connecting flight. We went through the rigorous Australian customs etc, got our bags, then checked them in again, and took the bus to the domestic terminal; got on a smaller plane, much more like what I’m used to when going to Europe, and read for two hours. We got given tea and a snack – A. had the chocolate cookie, I had the orange muffin.
At Cairns airport, we glided through to the bag carousel, and a string of good fortune came to an end because we waited a lot longer for our bags then we had previously. A lovely information guy came over and gave us some advice and maps, and we rang our hostel, which sent a taxi to bring us here. We checked in, and were given a token for a free dinner at the bar tonight, which opens in an hour. Our room is lot less nice than the Singapore one. Because air conditioning is not as utterly necessary here than in Singapore, it is only on at night; we have a cell with bunk beds, a small cupboard, a mirror and a window; and we’re sharing a bathroom with everyone on our floor. But this is proper gapper living now.
It’s raining, which is a shame. I hope it doesn’t have such a dampening effect on A. as it did the other day, because we can’t just bum around for weeks on end. At least I’ve been able to buy more sun cream. And now I come back to feeling down. First, we haven’t got free wireless internet here like we did before – we would have to buy it, and only get it in the communal area downstairs. So instead we’ve bought a small amount of credit for the computers downstairs. But I still should be able to Skype.
Further to that, we went to the tour desk next to reception and spoke to a nice guy called Chris for a good long while. We wanted to work out some things to do while we’re here until Tuesday morning, and as the conversation progressed, Chris advised more and more on our general trip as well as the specifics of activities in Cairns. He obviously picked up that we are new to all this, like letting us know that most activities in this part of the world will have a levy that you pay on the day.
And our situation was complicated by the fact that we haven’t put more than £100 on our shared cash card, which I am going to poke A. to increase tomorrow (as I can’t do it until I have access to my account), but that won’t come into effect for 3-4 days. So we have worked out a schedule for Cairns; tomorrow we will go out with Chris on the trip he organises each Saturday to the botanical gardens, which is free. Then we booked a day trip to Cape Tribulation, which is a relaxed experience of the rainforest, for Sunday, and we of course had to pay cash. This means I have enough left for lunch tomorrow but after that I will have to borrow some off A.
This is why I feel down. This conversation with Chris has showed me just how unprepared we are. Now I’m only going from what I’ve heard and observed, but A. seems to think we’re going to spend a lot of time just bumming around. I am worried that we have opposing attitudes, because I want to spend the majority of my three months out here actually doing things. I would have been more prepared and organised with more of a game plan, but in the planning stages in England, A. stipulated that he wanted to be carefree and take stuff as it came. Hopefully our experience today will mean he will help me now get a rough timetable for when we take the Greyhound, and the key things to get down at each of the 23 stops.
He’s currently asleep on the bunk above me.
Hostel, 25th, 5.30pm. Well, I feel a little better after the last hour. Because I don’t have a piano nearby (my usual therapy) I did the next best thing and wrote lists and organised. I looked at our Base Jumping Pass more carefully – this is 10 prepaid nights at Base hostels, open dated – and I now understand the exact procedure; that there are only 5 (possibly 6) of the Base hostels that are on our route to use – Magnetic Island, 1770 (yes, that’s a town name), Rainbow Beach, Sydney and Melbourne (the possible sixth is Brisbane, but I’m hoping to visit Cousin Bill) - we have to book three days beforehand, and we must pay separately for 4th nights or more. Obviously we’ll probably use 6 nights for Sydney and Melbourne, and the 4 others for the 3 (or 4) others. I’ve even traced the diagram of the Greyhound bus route onto a piece of paper, so I have a hard copy, though it may be in pencil.
Now I’m just waiting to see how hungry I get. It’s only ten to six, so not close to my dinner time, but I may just get bored, and wake A. up to go to dinner early. I seem to be making a lot of decisions – A. was say it’s because I’m uptight, but really it’s because his tribe is Camp Idontmind.
Hostel, 25hth. 7.30pm We've eaten, and I'm going to bed. Looking forward to seeing Oz in the morning!
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