Simply cycling around
Nothing really special today. I’ve just done a bit of cycling in the city. I might woke up a bit too late today. David and Vic went outside and I was alone in the house. Around 11am I decided to cycle around the place and go to Chinatown to have some cheap food. The buildings are a bit different in this area and it’s very colourful.
It has been a while (3 weeks) since I’ve done some work on my blog. In fact, on the 9th of September, I met a cyclist called David and since then, I’ve been living with him at his house. I arrived in Singapore a bit more than a week ago now and the beach has been my good spot since few nights. During daytime, the first mission is to get to a library to charge my mobile and make some research online (I’m not cycling long enough to fully charge my mobile on my bike).
This morning, as I was on my way towards the city center, I decided to have a rest and sat down on a bench to write my blog. I’m sitting just front of those two big domes that stand on the other side of the river. Maybe 30 minutes later I met Michael, a local. He was cycling with a friend, I guess training. He and his friend came to me with some questions and explained that he would love to travel like me one day. We exchanged our contact and I might see him later next week to continue this conversation. I came back on writing my blog and less than 10 minutes later, another cyclist came to me. Actually he passed front of me first and then came back. This is David!
This is where I’ve slept for the past 3 nights. I think, this is my best spot since I’ve been travelling from New Zealand. I’m 10 metres away from the beach, there is a nice cool breeze and no mosquitoes, I can take a shower every night, wash my clothes and sleep in a comfy hammock. That’s perfect :-)
This is the only picture for today. Yesterday I’ve done some research about where I could find a place where to play ping-pong. There is certainly clubs and other free place here! When I’ve started looking, I could only find places where we need to book. That means I need to find a partner before and then pay 10$ for on hour. This is very silly and expensive! Then I found a place which is about 20km from where I stay. This place is like the one in Sydney. You get there, wait a bit and met a player with who to play. Easy, fun, efficient and free! Even if I had to pay few dollars it would be okay. The fact that we must book a table for certain hours make thing complicate for nothing.
Last night was good! A bit windy but I really sleep well. I did not have to use the mosquito net and it’s much more comfortable like this. I feel I can breath better :-) Anyway, today I’ve decided to visit the place called Garden by the bay. This is another iconic place of Singapore. The city wants to become a “city in a garden” more than to have some gardens in the city. That’s good! this is very good :-) Another good thing about this place is from where I came from, the beach, I did not have to ride on any highway. From the beach there is a nice cycle path that goes all the way to here during 7 kilometres. This is the green day :-)
The last two night in the Betelbox backpacker were good. Many people in the dorm room but everyone was really quiet. The internet was very fast so I could make all the research I wanted to. Today for lunch I met Dave a nice guy with who I spent few hours this afternoon. I discovered another “chinese food court” where I had my lunch. Later on, Dave came around, offered me another meal, then brung me around town and even until his apartment to have some more food. I was so full and he kept offering me biscuits and drinks. During this afternoon, 3 persons told me that I could camp on the beach so late this afternoon I had a look and was quite surprise. So many tents there! I spent the evening with Tomo as he is flying tomorrow to Bangkok and then came back on the beach for the night! Things are organising themselves :-)
First day visiting the city centre of Singapore and finally I’ve discovered the famous “boat building”. Today, I mainly tried to figure out how and where to get free internet. Actually there isn’t… To use the one from the library, I need a local phone number to be able to register. I could get internet from Starbuck but felt better buying something and Starbuck can be expensive… The last night I did not sleep very well and especially not enough so I booked two nights in a backpacker and will use that time to organise myself.