The 5000 Project

After indianajonesing the arrival in singapore, which involved scraping in to Batam before the public holidays and entering Singapore a day before the visa expires, I was unfortunately forced into having to pay for accommodation in expensive singapore :( as it seemed surprisingly difficult trying to find a couchsurfer who was available to lend me their couch (which is quite understandable).

Cheapest dorm accom I could find was $15AUD a night, I decided to just stay one night. Later I found out that its actually free to camp on any singapore beach, I would have assumed being singapore that this would be highly illegal – if I had a suitable pack and sleeping bag, and if I didnt just book a night in a dorm, I would have attempted this feat.

During the one night in singapore, I met with friends of a contact I met in Batam, at an english pub in little india. Although the hours were small in numbers, I gained quite a bit of interesting information about singapore which I would never have gained simply hanging out in a backpackers with fellow travelers:

– Indonesian cigarettes are illegal because singapore doesn’t gain any TAX from the product if shipped over, I managed to smuggle in a small pack of gudang gurans though; theyre only interested in multiple packs
– Superannuation has to be paid even if you’re not working, which forces people to work *forever as a slave for the corporate world (*ok, almost forever)
– Singaporeans use a mix of english, malay and chinese called singlish; the use of Chinese is specifically for swear words; just like in firefly ;D
– You can only purchase property if you’re married, I assume this is to ensure all housing is occupied, as the country is tiny
– I met a policeman who is a music festival hipster and works in the most dangerous part of Singapore where the Vietnamese gangs run wild, he gets beaten up occasionally, then the police crackdown in a vengeance movement; apparently this is a fairly routine cycle. I guess the more pain that is inflicted on him, the safer the streets are.
– The Police are remarkably uncorrupted, if a policeman is in debt he will be fired from the police force, which is great in preventing corruption temptation; but could lead the ex cop to join the underground crime world in a desperate attempt to, live.

My new friends gave me a towel, so as a hitchhiker I can feel very safe and secure now :D

I hopped on a bus to Johor Bahru the next day, which took about 30min and two border stops. I was going to stay at a couchsurfer’s place, but he never responded after the initial request acceptance. So I got some last minute accom which will be mentioned in my next post…