The Adventure Begins in Singapore

 In mid-2024 I started planning my next adventure to Borneo, home of the orangutan. Admittedly, I had no idea where to start, so I worked with Audley Travel to plan out this expedition. The first step was to actually understand where and what Borneo is, because I totally misunderstood what it is. Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is divided/shared between three countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The part of Borneo I was visiting was the Malaysian part. Where is Borneo? Borneo is southeast of Malaysa and east of Indonesia, bordered by the Celebes Sea, the Java Sea and the South China Sea. It is divided by the equator, which is why it is so hot and the sun is so powerful. Ok, geography lesson over, let's get down to other practicalities. Flying to Malaysia from Minneapolis I was going to cross the international date line and be twelve hours ahead of my home base. My travel planner suggested that in order to adjust to the time difference and jet lag I should make a stopover, perhaps Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. I had the best of both worlds, Singapore to start off and Kuala Lumpur to end the trip.

Singapore is also an island nation, made up of a big, main island and smaller satellite islands, connected by bridges so seamlessly that a newcomer like myself really couldn't tell what island or islet I was on. Singapore is very diverse, linguistically and ethnically; the three main groups are Malay, Chinese and Indian, and then subgroups within those. It was also colonized by the British and occupied by the Japanese, so there is a lot of history and culture packed into this island. Unfortunately for me, I only had one full day to explore and I had to do it in the middle of the Formula One race, which meant some routes and activities were closed or diverted. Just to be clear, I wasn't actually in the middle of the race, but it did cause some disruptions.

I went on a morning tour to get the lay of the land and try to get in as much as possible in a short time. It was ridiculously hot, but I had my travel hat and a lot of sunscreen and my water bottle. Our first stop was the Merlion statue in Merlion Park. I probably took more pictures of the Merlion than anything else in Singapore. 

We also spent some time at a Chinese temple. Because it is still an active religious site, we could not take pictures in the temple. It was very quiet and gave our group time for contemplation. 

My morning tour was only about four hours long and I started to make my way back to my hotel to cool off when I decided that I was going to try and take the train and explore. It was so easy to do, I was glad I didn't chicken out and take a taxi. I couldn't figure out where to buy tickets and I was told to just tap my bank card to enter and exit, and that was it. So I just started riding the train and improvising, which is not something I usually do.

Warnings on the train

I decided to take the cable car to get a different perspective. I have to say it was a little less than amazing. I'm not sure what else I could have done to occupy my afternoon, I was starting to lose energy. I did get to try the machine below and had some fresh squeezed orange juice, which was delicious.

I went to one of the many food halls in Singapore, and this is probably one of times I would like to have a traveling companion - to share and try food. In this particular hall, there had to be five or six stalls making chicken rice, the Singapore national dish. There were other foods, but this is what I tried. It was good and a lot of food and really cheap. Also, they use forks (yes, I was ignorant of that fact), so I didn't have to embarrass myself with chopsticks.

I think Singapore is a place I would return to if I needed another stopover country and maybe spend 2-3 days instead of rushing it. I have a better idea of how to get around, and I would like to look into more historical sites. Off to Borneo.