So what happened after I last left you in Singapore? Another couple of days in Singa, which included a visit to the Night Safari (next door to the zoo), supposedly a close encounter with wild lions, tigers, rhinos etc. They seemed to be mini versions - maybe Asian animals are smaller, just as Asian people generally are?
You can walk around the safari (on paved footpaths) or you can ride in a mini tram thing, which is what we opted to do after the tiring events of the previous days. This led my brother to question whether it was in fact a ‘safari’ or just a lazy visit to a zoo?
Spent the long taxi trip out to the safari chatting to a very informative Singaporean taxi driver who taught me all sorts of stuff about Singaporean culture. As I said in a previous post, Singapore appears to be so sanitised, you wonder whether the West has beaten the Asian out of Singa. But it turns out it’s actually quite fascinating culturally.
There are four main cultural groups– Chinese Singaporeans, Malay Singaporeans, Indian Singaporeans, and foreigners who are there for work. The official business language is English, but Singaporeans generally also have to speak Chinese, Malay and Tamil (Indian), so many people speak four languages, and many of them speak a number of different dialects within each language. The Presidency has been shared amongst the different racial groups over the years. Australia is a pretty multicultural place, but this is something else.
After I left school/uni and before I went on a six month trip around Europe, I took French lessons for about two years. Admittedly I only studied during class time and never did any work outside of class, but I struggled big-time to learn a different language. I spent nearly a month in France mostly by myself, so by the end I was able to string a basic conversation together, but it did not come naturally to me at all, so I admire anyone who can speak more than one language, and speaking four different languages blows my mind!
The different racial groups live in an impressive level of harmony, and the Government seems very big brotherish in the way they control many things. They have some funny campaigns going, including the ‘Speak Good English’ campaign, with large signs hung throughout the city such as the one below. Perhaps they should think a little more about car passenger safety though, as we were bemused by the taxi seating capacity stickers on the cabs..
So the tram ride ‘safari’ was OK, a little disappointing, but perhaps it was a little unrealistic of me to expect to see large game animals out on the reserve in the tiny confines of Singapore island. We did a river cruise, ate at some great posh and non-posh places, enjoyed the easiness of the place.
As we were taking our luggage out of the taxi at the airport – no word of a lie – Land Down Under came over the radio. Perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised because every taxi I was in had played 80s/90s western soft rock/pop music. I mused that perhaps cab drivers had to change radio stations to suit the racial background of the customer, so when they saw us coming they hit the ‘westerner’ button. Whatever the case, the song was a very appropriate end to our time in Singa given the number of times we had belted it out at the netball.
Phone call home to the hubby and kids while we were waiting in Qantas Club. Was lovely to hear all their voices, but made me a little homesick. Touch down in Bali. First taste of culture shock while waiting in the Customs line. Every aussie waiting in that line must have been a tiny bit scared about what may have been planted in their boogie board bag. Scary looking Customs guys ended up not being so dutiful in their attention to our luggage (thankfully).
Groups of men sitting around on the ground. The taxi driver a gentle and tiny Balinese guy, we were amused by his efforts to squeeze Vin’s oversized (read enormous) suitcase into the cab, along with all our other luggage. “The Mo Fo” finally contorted into the cab and we were off to our villa in Seminyak.
Roads crazy – motorbikes everywhere, some carrying entire families including babies. Dirty – rubbish piled up on empty plots of land. The sights and sounds of the Kuta traffic were a little confronting after we’d been spolit by Singa’s orderliness and cleanliness.
Soon we arrived at www.thewolasvillas.com. Greeted by a warm face cloth, welcome lime drink, escorted to our 2 bedroom villa. It’s amaaazing. This is what we came here for! It’s bigger and better in real life than in the photos.
Instant relaxation. Making mental notes over the breakfast, dinner and cocktail menus. Tucked up in king sized bed in king sized bedroom, with king sized ensuite. King sized sleep-in.
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