Day 117 - Friday, May 18
As I mentioned in the last blog, I had booked a daytime train from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore for Friday. It was scheduled to leave at 9:00 am, and I was supposed to be there at 8:30 to check in. I think you all know how I feel about the iPad not having an alarm and the effectiveness of the available alarm-clock apps. So, since getting my iPhone fixed, I've been using it whenever I need an alarm. Needing to be at the train station by 8:30, I set the alarm for 7, leaving plenty of time to shower, pack up a few remaining things, eat some breakfast and head over to the LRT (light rail / metro) station nearby for the short 5 minute ride to KL Sentral. When the alarm went off, I got up, took a leisurely shower, headed downstairs for breakfast, got some food, and sat down to eat. After a few minutes at the table I opened up my iPad to check emails, etc., and was doing so for a little while before I realized that the clock on the iPad said it was 8:43. What? That can't be right! It should only be 7:43. And then it dawned on me that I had never changed the time zone on the iPhone to Malaysia time, so when my alarm went off at 7, it was actually 8. Sh*t! At that point, I knew there was almost no way I could make it to the train station, KL Sentral, by 9, but every train I had ridden before (and after) had been a little late, so I thought I might still have a chance.
So once again I was in panic mode as I raced up the stairs, threw the rest of my stuff in my bag and hauled ass out of the hostel. I debated getting a cab, but the LRT station was only 3 or 4 minutes from the hostel and depending on how long I had to wait for it to arrive, I should be at KL Sentral 5-10 minutes after that. With a taxi, I figured morning traffic could be a lot slower than the 10-15 minutes it would take opting for the LRT. So I ran to the LRT station with all my stuff, sweating profusely, bought my ticket, ran up to the platform and was lucky to find the train just pulling in with the clock on the platform reading 8:55. Sweet, I might just make it. I jumped on, and had a few seconds to catch my breath before I realized that the LRT train I was on was on a different line than the one I needed, and, although it was heading in the right general direction, instead of heading south and slightly east to KL Sentral, it was heading south and slightly west to God knows where. Awesome.
So at the first stop, I got off, grabbed the first taxi and asked him to take me to KL Sentral. Turns out there
was quite a bit of morning traffic, and, even though I could see KL Sentral when I got in the cab, there was no easy way to get there. It took almost 15 minutes to get there, arriving at 9:12, and then I sprinted down to the platform for the Singapore train only to find that it left a few minutes prior. The one time I'm running a little late, all of sudden a train decides to leave on time - figures. The next train wasn't leaving until mid-afternoon, wouldn't get to Singapore until about 9pm, and I would have to buy another ticket. I really didn't feel like waiting around, and really didn't want to get in that late. So after debating for a bit, I decided to just book a flight on Air Asia that left at 1 and got to Singapore about 2:30. The stupid time change has now cost me a free breakfast (in Penang) and a $60 flight, and the lack of a standard alarm on the iPad has screwed me over more times than I care to remember. I guess it could be worse - I could have gotten rabies.
My flight to Singapore went smoothly, and after a few different hostel booking websites scared me by indicating there wasn't any hostels with availability all weekend, I considered myself fortunate when the first hostel I stopped by (
G4 Station) had a bed available. Unfortunately it was the top bunk in a room of stand-alone bunks of the sort I've ranted about, except these were worse because they had a footboard, headboard and rails along the side to keep people from falling out. I didn't fit normally and couldn't hang my legs off the side comfortably because of the rails. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this until after I had paid for 3 nights, and I didn't want to ask for my money back and risk not finding anywhere else. So I made do.
My old roommate from California, Adrienne, whom I had met in Bangkok for Songkran, lives in Singapore. She already had a pretty full social schedule for the weekend, but allowed me to tag along. So I met up with her and Adam and Matt (who were also in Bangkok for Songkran) at the rooftop bar Loof for some cocktails Friday night. A view of the city from Loof:
After that we headed to the bustling nightlife area of Clarke Quay, where one of Adrienne's coworkers was celebrating a birthday. And once inside the bar of choice, I got to experience a staple of Singapore nightlife - a shitty cover band. I honestly thought it was karaoke when they first started playing, not seeing where the music was coming from. Nonetheless, lots of fun was had, but the highlight of the evening was after we left the bar and headed to
Spize, a Singapore institution especially popular as a late-night post-bar stop, where the 4 of us ate enough to feed a small Asian town:
Day 118 - Saturday, May 19
I slept in pretty late after Friday night's festivities and then spent a little time that afternoon exploring Little India, where my hostel was located. That night, Adrienne and Adam were kind enough to let me tag along to a cocktail party that a few of their friends were hosting at their lovely apartment. The spread:
They also had quite a nice view of the city from their balcony:
I met a lot of really nice and outgoing folks at the party, and the hosts were amazingly friendly and welcoming and seemed intent on getting me (and everyone else) drunk, which is no small feat in Singapore, where alcohol is more expensive than caviar. After the sophisticated cocktail party got derailed by a little flip-cup, we headed out and kept the party going. The whole night was a lot of fun!
Day 119 - Sunday, May 20
One of the many friendly people I was fortunate enough to meet at the party on Saturday was Cynthia, a native Californian, and neighbor of Adrienne in Singapore. Cynthia was kind enough to let me tag along with her to the Tanjong Beach Club on Sunday, which is on Sentosa, an island just off the the southern tip of Singapore, and home to many tourist attractions, as well as a few beaches. The Beach Club was a posh establishment on one such beach, with a pool, volleyball courts, etc. The scene when we got there on Sunday afternoon reminded me lot of a Las Vegas pool party:
After the TBC, I joined Cynthia and a few of her friends for dinner near Chinatown. A picture of Chinatown as I made my way to dinner:
And after dinner, Cynthia and I got a drink at a nice rooftop bar nearby. I do love a good rooftop bar.
Much thanks to Cynthia for entertaining me for the day!
Day 120 - Monday, May 21
Having slept in the previous two mornings after rather late nights my first two nights, I finally managed to get out of bed at a reasonable hour and explore some more of the city. You may have noticed the giant boat amid the skyline in the picture from Loof above. The boat is located at Marina Bay Sands, a giant complex that's home to a casino, resort, and shopping mall and located on the edge of Marina Bay, opposite the primary business district. I made my way over there and took some photos of the boat and other buildings that make up the skyline:
Also while I was exploring I came across this all-too-familiar establishment.
I think it had been about 10 months since I last saw the LJS logo, and it still made me cringe a little bit. -- For those that are like, "wtf?" - in my 4 years practicing law, I spent the majority of my time working on this one case where our client was Long John Silver's, and sadly LJS was basically my life for long stretches of time. -- With a late-morning flight the next day, I tried to catch up a little on the blog and called it an early night.
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