This is the longest time I’ve spent in Singapore. Come next Tuesday, I’ll have been here for 2 weeks. Not that I can complain, it’s a spectacularly clean city/nation with plenty to eat and see, and is one of the most development countries in the world – this is a big contrast coming from the extreme opposite end where Timor is one of the poorest countries in the world. Can you believe there is a 3-hour direct flight between both countries on Austasia Airlines?
Although the ticket is a bit expensive (USD$800 if booked online), it’s a treat to be so close to all the comforts of home. There are only three ways to flight to Timor: via Singapore, Bali or Darwin. I haven’t been to Darwin, but for the variety of things to do, eat and see (movies, theatre, music, galleries and museums), nothing beats Singapore. Where can you savour a delicious Indian buffet set inside the confines of a colonial hotel? In the Tiffin Room at the Raffles Hotel, that’s where!
The first thing I did getting off the plane was to check out what festivals were happening and, lucky for me, the Mosiac Music Festival was on. For a bit of culture, I got tickets to go see Melanie Pain… here’s an excerpt of how she’s described:
Delivering confessional folk-pop chansons in English and French with the coy, breathy vocals of an ingénue, Mélanie Pain has the sort of oeuvre and style that inspire descriptions like “sugar and spiceâ€, “naughty but niceâ€. If the music doesn’t take you into the faintly smoky echoes of an imagined, vintage Parisian coffeeshop, it will surely ease you, semi-intoxicated, into the night.
Not only is Singapore a little oasis in Southeast Asia, its also a transport hub. International flights fly into and out of Singapore regularly and its also an ideal jumping off point for travels around Southeast Asia. At the last minute, I hopped onto a bus bound for Melaka to meet up with my family. While I wouldn’t recommend doing the trip regularly (a 4-hour bus ride ended up becoming a 6-hour bus ride), it was quite straight-forward from Singapore. And, of course, there’s plenty of cheap airlines to connect Singapore with the rest of Southeast Asia.
love these photos