Singapore - Back to work

After four months of not working and enjoying the freedom that comes with travelling I decided to drop in to Singapore to work for a week.

Doing this had several advantages:

1. It gave me a chance to remember what having a routine is like

2. It allowed me catch up on my job which would be important on my return to the UK

3. This was a good opportunity to top up the bank balance.

4. Finally and most importantly – there is a waterpark in Singapore.

After a nightmare of a journey from Bangkok I arrived at around 6pm into Singapore Changi Airport. I’d organised my stay with my friend Jon who is working in Singapore and so I jumped into a taxi and followed his directions to finding his apartment. Singapore is small so the taxi journey was only 15 minutes and it wasn’t long before Jon and I were venturing into the city center for some food and beer. It was a Thursday so we were heading in to work the next day and so we were back by midnight and I was spending my a night in a real bed for the first time in 4 months! I slept well!

The next day in work was spent mostly reading and deleting emails and catching up with developments that had happened while I’d been away. It was after work that the fun began. I’d been to Singapore so had met many of those who liked to go out for a drink after a work – we went to a bar high up in a sky scraper with incredible views over Singapore. We had quite a few drinks there before heading to another bar. As the hours went by people began to leave and by the end it was my friends Luke and Jon and myself left. We decided to go to a notorious den of iniquity for a few more beers and it was 5am before I found my way to a McDonalds and then back to Jon’s apartment. It was a good night!

Saturday: Jon and I decided to do something touristy for the day and we went to Bukit Chandu. It’s a very grassy area of Singapore where the final stand took place during the Second World War when the Japanese took over Singapore from the allies. There was a nice museum – if a little intense! – and we took a nice walk before going back to Jon’s apartment to relax and watch a movie for the evening.
Sunday: Jon invited me go with him to eat at his friends apartment. They had cooked up some great food and we ate it by their pool. Afterwards we walked the few miles along the east coast park way - which is a long stretch of coast line where the inhabitants of Singapore often for a jog or just to relax on the grass with a barbeque for the day - back to Jon’s apartment.
For the next week I enjoyed having the routine of work and it was nice to use my brain again. But it doesn’t make for a very interesting story so I’ll skip to the good bits.


Monday: I went to for a few games of squash with some friends at their apartment. Afterwards we ordered some beers and pizzas and ate them around the pool – I ended up leaving at around 3am.








Tuesday: I went to a pub quiz with Luke, Martin, Delhi and Lee and a few of their friends, we didn’t do particularly well but decided to celebrate all the same. – we finished up at about 1am.






Wednesday: Nothing was planned for that night so I decided to go to the cinema to see the Hobbit.
Thursday: As I was leaving the office Martin suggested to Luke and I that we grab a beer at a near by bar. After many-a beer and a couple of Singapore Slings we left at around 2am.
Friday: It was another Friday night so a group of us went to a rooftop bar and then on to a club, and then from there on to another club .Then the Luke and I who were the only ones left went to McDonalds for breakfast.

Saturday: I went into town with Jon to run some errands. Just as we arrived back to the station near Jon’s apartment the heavens opened. So we walked along the covered walkway to the nearby shopping center and grabbed a coffee. After that the rain was still pouring so we went to the arcade and played some games for an hour or so. In the evening Jon and I went down to the local golf range. the golf course is a public golf course so anyone can use it and it has a spectacular view across the bay of Singapore’s business district, we grabbed some food and some beer there afterwards and had an early night ready for a day on Sentosa Island the next day.

Sunday: Jon and I got up at 9 to head to the island of Sentosa – a leisure island that is home to several theme parks, a waterpark, a golf course, and much more. We decided to go to the waterpark for a couple of hours. Afterwards we headed to the Luge which is like a box car race – small unpowered carts racing down a hill. We did that once and then headed to Tang Jong beach club where we had a couple of drinks and watched the sun go down.

Monday: I packed

Tuesday: I got on a flight to India.