Here we go!

Hey Friends,

It's been another 2 days and my last night at Hipstercity Hostel is approaching.

I'm still amazed by Singapore. It's so different in a positive way and doesn't have the things that bothered me about other Asian cities.

It's very clean and so far, despite walking around a lot, I've only seen one homeless person. They also care about the environment here. My previous image of Asians burning trash on the streets and putting every item individually in a plastic bag definitely doesn't apply to Singapore.

One thing that's exhausting in the long run is the heat. According to my app, it's only 32 degrees, but it feels much hotter. As soon as you leave an air-conditioned room, it hits you. It's always hot. At night, it "cools down" to 27 degrees - WOW...

On my first real day, I meet Yolanda, a very nice Spanish girl, and we head to Chinatown together.

That's definitely something you have to see here. All the stalls sell the same souvenirs as usual and it's swarming with tourists. There's street food everywhere (mostly meat) and fruit stalls. The smelly fruit "Durian" is offered in various forms. Whether it's ice cream, pure, as part of a juice, or even as a smoothie - apparently the Chinese love it. I haven't tried it, the smell deterred me enough 😅 Let's see if my curiosity gets the better of me.

I'm joining a free walking tour where a local guide takes us on a 2.5-hour tour of an interesting neighborhood called "Bugis". There are many art museums and universities here.

The guide is really nice and shares his insider knowledge about Singapore. Fun fact: Cars are extremely expensive, you can get a Japanese or Chinese car starting from 100,000 SG$ (approx. 65,000€), a German car starting from around 200,000 SG$. Also, each car can only be driven with the same "license" for a maximum of 10 years - it has to be renewed by the government and costs 35,000 - 60,000 SG$, depending on the number of licenses currently available. That's why not many residents have a car and they use the cheap and well-developed rail and bus network. A ride costs just under 1€.

We visit a busy street where several temples can be found.

A Hindu temple (Indian) and a Buddhist temple (Chinese) are right next to each other. What I find really impressive here is that the population is "mixed" from different cultures and religions and they can all live together peacefully.

During the tour, I meet many nice people, including a girl from the Philippines. After that, we go together to a local food court and I have a traditional Chinese noodle soup (a bit watery but okay 😄). Singapore also benefits from the many cultures that call it home when it comes to food options. There are traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Indian food courts.

I visit Little India the next morning. Besides a few tourists (which was to be expected 😄), there are only Indians there. Already at the train station, I feel like I'm back in India.

There are many food stands, small spice shops, and knick-knack stores. However, the smells in combination with the heat quickly become overwhelming for me. Apart from a few colorful houses, this part of Singapore didn't blow me away.

I'm flying to Langkawi (Malaysia) on Tuesday morning.

After 3 days in the city, I can't wait to get to the beach and finally do my favorite activity on vacation: lying around and drinking cocktails. I'll be working hard on my tan and calorie intake for the next few days 😋

I'm already looking forward to showing you all the beach pictures 😃

Until then, greetings to cold Germany!

xoxo, Gossip Girl