Twelve hours in Singapore

Exactly one week after arriving in Bali, I was back on a plane. This time it was for a quick one-day turnaround to Singapore to sort out my business visa. I woke up at 4:45am, motorbiked to the airport, hopped on the plane, and was in Singapore by 10am.

I took a taxi from the airport into the city, and was floored by how clean and manicured Singapore was. It’s beautiful!! I felt like I was in a Sim City or something… definitely not Southeast Asia.


I spent most of the day working on my laptop (thrilling) while my business visa was being processed (by a guy hired to do the job through my work). I went to a lovely café where the waitress even gave me a plug adapter when I helplessly realized that the plugs are different in Singapore than Bali. Derp.

My visa was finished at about 5pm and my flight wasn’t until 9, so I managed to squeeze in an hour of touristing before my evening departure. I went to the Gardens by the Bay, which are absolutely spectacular (and I didn’t have nearly enough time to see everything).

My favourite part was the super trees; there’s even a 22m high walkway to give you a bird’s eye view of the gardens. 

While standing on the skywalk overlooking the incredible gardens and the even more incredible city of Singapore, a woman walked up to me and asked if I'd been on the early flight in that morning from Denpasar - it turns out she’d been sitting right next to me, and had recognized me because of my PANTS. What are the chances?

We proceeded to walk through the gardens and chat until I had to leave for my evening flight back to Bali. One of the things Anna said was very poignant - she was awestruck by the design, engineering, and construction of these gardens - how could humans be so brilliant and yet so stupid at the same time?! How could we create magnificent art, build efficient mega-cities, and yet still be faced with climate change, political turmoil, etc??

I agreed with her and said something about the paradox of human beings – that it was absolutely frustrating and yet I thought something that keeps me going in dark times - if we are the problem, then we'd better be the solution too.

It's a floating baby!

Anna and I parted ways with a sweaty hug, promising to be in touch. We'd spent less than an hour together, but I felt like we were friends. I was reminded immediately of the special kinship that forms so rapidly and effortlessly in travel. While abroad, it feels like there's more time for self-reflection, and as a result there’s no hesitation to be honest and share exactly where your head's at with the other nomads sharing a similar journey with you. It was a great feeling to be reminded of.

Bye for now!
A.