Turbo Taiwanese transit tucker

Day: 24

Location: Singapore


We came to the conclusion that waiting for our 'new' flight felt a little bit like detention - being stuck in one place when you know you should be in another - even though we made the most of it.
A short stroll around the area local to our accommodation was all that was possible the morning before we left because we'd budgeted to get rid of any remaining Yen down to the last 30 or so with room only for a train ticket to the airport and a snack.
Some Japanese girls must have heard we were leaving the country and to overcome the disappointment of knowing this they asked if they could have a photo to remember the two strapping Australians that they'd heard were in the area.

Say chee-zu!

We made it to the airport an hour before check-in opened just for good measure.

On a one hour stopover in Taipei we wandered around the before finding dinner which left us with ten minutes to tuck into some tasty Taiwanese tucker in the transit terminal.

Arrival in Singapore was smooth and we were relieved to be in the warmth and have no trouble checking into the guesthouse at 2 a.m.

Singapore turned on the good weather for Ed's last day. We enjoyed lunch with Arnesh, a friend of Ed's in the Arab Quarter and then strolled to the CBD. After a look at some gardens the stunning Marina Bay Sands Hotel was too amazing to pass up as a venue for Ed's last afternoon.

Marina Bay

iPad-ography

Gents

Ed and I left Arnesh after a fantastic afternoon, running into a lazer and light show on the way home.

It has been a pleasure travelling for three weeks and a bit with Ed and it was like starting a whole new phase of by trip when I left him at the airport. Japan certainly wouldn't have been the same without such a great travelling companion to share each experience and a repertoire of inside jokes with. I imagine both will live on when we hang out at home or somewhere else overseas in the future.

Thank you very much Ed-san for a great to start to a big adventure!

Day one of solo travel:
It was great to stay in for the morning catching up on some postcards and organising things for my mostly free schedule over the next week or so leading up to the start of the Lunar New Year - and year of the snake.
Walking through Little India in the afternoon displayed the diversity of religious and ethnic culture in Singapore which is reminiscent of home. Within a few kilometers of each other are two Chinese Buddhist Temples, a Hindu Temple and a Mosque.

After talking to a Chinese-Indonesian man at my accommodation in the evening a few of the observations I had been making were confirmed. The price of owning a car in Singapore due to a $90,000 permit means that once you are actually able to buy a car it may as well be a worthwhile one. The result is many BMWs, Mercedes and the odd but not so un-common Lamborghini.
Second of all my friend who works in the finance sector bemoaned Australia's high tax rates which are almost double Singapore's. It was fascinating to hear the different approaches to doing business in the countries he'd worked in such as Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia and here in Singapore. Despite the comparisons he drew I remain unconvinced that the 'tax haven' environment here is necessarily better than the arrangement we have at home albeit a restraint on businesses.

As a point of interest one of my fellow backpackers who is also from Melbourne went to church last night. From his reports it wasn't on any scale close to what we have in Australia as a Sunday consists of four services that attract 20,000 people each and require online booking to attend. Furthermore, the Pastor's income suggests that if a job in finance isn't successful you can find an impressive six-figure salary as a preacher.


Ben x

Aus