Crap, that was gutting; watching Australia conceding a penalty to get knocked out of the world cup in the last few seconds of extra time.
Half way through the game Kerry and I were relaxing in the Singapore CBD with only $14 left in the wallet - there is a distinct lack of ATM machines in the funky river area of Singapore, and the Tiger beer we were drinking was going down far better than expected.... We has just been told that the MRT ('Mass Rapid Transport' - the tube) had closed for the night, leaving us with a bit of a poser as to how to get back to the backpackers we were staying at. I was, and still am trying to get back into a 'not to worry, these things always sort themselves out'-type mindset, and funnily enough, just as I was thinking that to myself a (toothless) bicycle rickshaw driver approached us. After a few minutes of negociation we managed to secure a ride with $4 left (possibly for a very small beer later in the evening..). We told our man that our destination was 'Bugis' MRT station. He immediately nodded, we got on the bike and were well pleased with ourselves. After a bit of fiddling behind the bike by 1tooth, we realised we were sitting on a huge speaker-on-wheels.... The next 10 minutes were great fun - being cycled around Singapore with a VERY cheesy euro-pop version of the song 'Tequila' blaring out of the bike. This version was actually called 'Chiwawa', complete with 1tooth 'barking' and shouting 'I the dog' at the top of his voice for the entire journey, scaring the pedestrians and racing the traffic.
We ended up at the 'Boat Quay' - great views of the Singapore river, but nowhere near the 'Bugis' MRT station. I really can't see how he got confused over that. 'Bugis' and 'BoatQuay'?? I supose I may have been a little drink but I think Kerry was drinking Lemonade at the point... Anyway, this 'misunderstanding' left us with $4 bucks left and no telly to watch the rest of the game on! Shiiit. A few minutes later we located a taxi and got back to Bugis for $3! (where we found a coffee shop with a massive telly).
The moral of this story is that in Singapore, taxis are fantastic - cheap, clean and safe. But no where near as fun as a light-less bicycle rickshaw.
We had 1 full day to explore Singapore. In that time we managed to run around Little India, the CBD and the Bugis area. We also bought Kerry a new pair of sandals (the Birkenstocks she has bought in Sydney had taken the top layer of skin off her feet!). The MRT is great, the people are generally very helpful and friendly, and the tourist areas are new, shiny and space-age.
Today we take a bus across the Malaysian border to KL.....
(see the SingTel mothership on the right of the picture)
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