something old something new

Singapore has a strange fascination with everything new. If something gets a little bit old and gets some character it's ready to be demolished and to build something new instead. So I was a bit surprised to see this amazing art deco tower near Bugis Street. It looks perfect, but I wondered how a tower from the 1920's would have survived. If you go inside the tower there's an amazing winebar on the groundfloor. The ceiling is beautifully decorated and apparently in the evening they have 'angels' who fly up and down to get the winebottles out of the very tall bar (waitresses wearing angelwings are going up and down on a metal wire I suppose). I was able to take some pictures before the weitress stopped me, I'll post them later.
The funny thing is that this amazing Art Deco tower is brand new, apparently it was build for a very rich businessman who paid for the in cash! When I left the tower a woman came up to me and told me that all that gold in and on the tower was really just plastic, it was all fake :-))
In the evening I went to party with Anita, Jay and Annette. The party was at an art gallery in an old, but beautiful shophouse in Geylang. Sadly this artgallery has to shut down cause the house will soon be demolished to build something new...

Singapore heeft een vreemde fascinatie met alles nieuw. Als een gebouw een beetje oud wordt en wat karakter krijgt wordt het afgebroken en wordt er iets nieuw in de plaats gezet. Dus ik was een beetje verwonderd een prachtig Art Deco gebouw te zien in de omgeving van Bugis Street. Het ziet er perfect uit, maar ik vroeg me wel af hoe een gebouw uit de jaren 20 het had overleeft. Op de benedenverdieping is er een hele sjieke wijnbar. het plafond is er prachtig gedecoreerd en er zouden 's avonds 'engeltjes' zijn die naar boven vliegen om wijnflessen uit de hoge wijnbar te pakken (ik veronderstel dat 't serveersters zijn met vleugeltje die aan een kabel hangen en zo op en neer gaan). 't Is me gelukt om enkele foto's te trekken voordat een serveerster me stopte.
Het grappige is dat deze Art Deco toren gloednieuw is, blijkbaar was 't gebouwd voor een superrijke zakenman die het gebouw in cash betaalde! Toen ik de toren verliet kwam er een vrouw naar me toe die me zei dat al het goud en koper in en op de toren eigenlijk maar plastiek was, 't was dus helmaal fake, grappig :-))
's Avonds ben ik naar een feestje geweest met Anita, Jay en Annette. Het feestje was in een kunstgalerij in een oud, maar heel mooi 'shophouse' in Geylang. Spijtig genoeg moet de kunstgalerij sluiten omdat het huis binnenkort afgebroken wordt om er iets niew te zetten...

a shopper's paradise

I've been in Singapore for almost 3 days now and I'm beginning to like it more and more. Yesterday I went shopping. Singapore is a heaven for shoppers. There are so many malls. Yesterday I went to Orchard Road which is probably the street with the most malls. Many shops sell European brands and they are a bit expensive. I wanted to buy some small speakers for my mp3-player and I discovered later that I got totally ripped off! I went to several shops on Orchard Road were they sold them and they all sold them for 29 S$ and they said is was a good price because there were sales. So I bought them. Of course when I was walking around Bugis street, another area with hundreds of little shops, I saw that the speakers were sold there for only 10 S$ :-( I guess they will try to rip off tourists whereever you go...
This morning I had breakfast with Anita and Jay, at a little place close to their house and then I walked all the way to the Malay Village which is a little area where they still have the traditional wooden houses, but I thought it all looked a little run down. However there was a great market next to it. They sold clothes, fabric and and food (fresh fish, meat and veggies) there, it was very buzzy and I regret not taking my camera...

nederlandse versie komt nog

On the road again, for real

Yes, I'm finally on the road again :-)
Tuesday evening I left Belgium. My flight to London was quite stressful cause it was supposed to leave at 1915h but there was a delay for almost an hour, which meant that I had to run to catch my flight to Singapore. Luckily I was just in time. My flight landed at 17.15h local time and I think I was already at Anita (Belgian living in Sin)'s place at 18.00h.
This morning I came into town with Anita. While she went to work, I went to Arab street, which is really nice, and to Little India, where there are lots of indian shops and restaurants, though I thought it was still very different from the real India. I met Anita again for lunch and afterwards I went to Chinatown, where I still am.
My first impressions of Singapore are that it misses a bit of atmosphere. It is very clean and organised, as I expected, which is very different from other big Asian cities. And I think I miss the chaos you find in Bangkok or Delhi a bit. Singapore is Asia for beginners, and I guess I'm past that stage a little bit... Though I do think that Singapore is an ideal city in Asia to live in for a westener, cause then you don't want to have the chaos, poverty, ... around you all the time.

Ja, ik ben eindelijk op weg :-)
Dinsdagavond ben ik in Zaventem vertrokken. Mijn vlucht naar Londen was bwhoorlijk stressvol want er was een vertraging van bijna een uur. Ik heb nog serieus moeten lopen om mijn vlucht naar Singapore te halen. Gelukkig was ik juist op tijd. Mijn vlucht is om kwart na 5 plaatselijke tijd geland en ik denk dat ik om 18.00h al bij Anita was (Anita komt uit Belgie, maar woont al anderhalf jaar in Singapore). Vanochtend ben ik samen met Anita naar het centrum gekomen. Terwijl zij is gaan werken ben ik naar Arab street (het Arabisch kwartier), dat heel leuk is, en naar Little India gegaan, waar er een hoop Indische winkeltjes en restaurants zijn, al was het toch nog heel anders dan het echte India. Vanmiddag had ik met Anita afgesproken om iets te gaan eten en daarna ben ik naar Chinatown gekomen, waar ik nu nog steeds ben.
Mijn eerste indruk van Singapore is dat het toch een beetje sfeer mist. 't Is heel proper en georganiseerd, heel anders dan in andere grote Aziatische steden. Ik denk dat ik de chaos van Bangkok of delhi een beetje mis. Singapore is "Asia for beginners", en ik denk dat ik toch al een beetje voorbij dat stadium ben... Maar ik denk wel dat Singapore de ideale Aziatische stad is om als westerling te wonen, want dan wil je die chaos, armoede en vuiligheid niet.

Design hotels in Singapore

Hotel Review


If I had all the money in the world, I wouldn't hesitate where to stay in Singapore. I would stay at the New Majestic Hotel *****. I looks like a really cool place to stay, with all that design furniture and those great graphics on the walls of the rooms. Rates start at 240 S$, which is way over my budget, but even though I'm considering staying there for a night or so, maybe at the end of my trip, if I still have some money left over...

Another good option would be the Hotel 1929 ****, a sister from the New Majestic Hotel. It's quite a bit cheaper with rates starting at 130 S$ for a single bedroom.

Where to stay in Singapore?

Hotel Review

I'm thinking of staying at one ofe the following hotels in Singapore:

- One Florence Close , which seems to be a really nice budget place but it's unclear to me where exactly they are located. They don' have a map on their website.

- The Frangrance Hotels seem quite nice too. There are several hotels located in different places, but again I'm not sure whether they are located in a nice area.

- Tekka Boarding House seems to be nice too. Though I think rooms could be small and windowless, but they seem to be new and clean. And it's located in Little India.

- Tekka Hotel is from the same chain. I think it's location is slightly better than the boarding house, but I'm not sure.

- The Robertson Quay Hotel is a bit more expensive, but seems to have a great location next to the river and close to Chinatown and Litle India.

If anyone has stayed at any of these places, please let me know what they were like. Or if you have any other recommendations for budget places...

Singapore, here I come!

In Januari I booked my flight to Singapore. And I'm getting more and more excited now that my departure is coming closer and closer. Only 58 days to go ...
I'm starting to get more and more prepared. Yesterday I applied for my new international pasport, today I'm trying to get this blog fully operational.

I still have a whole list of things to do though:
- get my pasport when ready
- get indonesian visa
- get travel insurance
- move my things from my appartment in Antwerp to my parents house
- mail Katja's friend in Singapore
- book my hotel for the first night
- ...


This wonderful picture was made by moritz™ on Flickr