Weird stuff that happened in Singapore

Please don't think I've run out of stories of weird things that have happened in Indonesia... I don't think that will ever happen. Everyday is weird. I just want to recognise that this world is weird, even outside of Indonesia. Even in a country as developed as Singapore, weird things happen.

I've been to Singapore a total of 3 times. The first time was with some uni friends at the start of 2012 and I don't remember anything weird happening. Well, except for Segway Eco Adventure, because segway eco adventures can't be anything but weird (it was literally riding around a track on a segway while reading facts about the environment).

Anyway... The second trip was when things got a little weird. It was November 2012 and I just got my job in Surabaya after a lot of struggle and then a little waiting (which felt like a lot of waiting considering I wasn't very patient back then). Finally, I was on my way to spend a year in Indonesia (which then somehow turned into 4 years). I had to go to Singapore to secure a business visa before going to Indonesia.

I was told to book a hotel for two nights. Basically the flights, hotel, food and visa expenses were to eventually be refunded by work, so it was kind of like an all expenses paid trip to Singapore (well except for entertainment expenses). I felt like a very important businessperson at the time.

When I arrive in Singapore, I was kind of not in the greatest mood because I'd just said goodbye to everyone I loved in Australia and I was depressed about that, and I just had two days to sit alone in my misery before arriving in the place I actually wanted to go to. But I decided not to waste the opportunity and to get out and explore.

this was my hotel, it was a bit old and creepy but it had a bathtub so I quite liked it.

I arrived late at night and crashed at my hotel. The next morning, I had to meet the visa agent. The HR department of my school sent me these instructions: meet the man under the red umbrella at McDonalds at 9:00AM and hand him your money and your passport. It sounded really suss. I don't know why I trusted it at all come to think of it. What kind of person gives a stranger their passport at McDonalds?

A person like me, I guess. But It turned out the HR people forgot to mention that I should bring extra passport photos so as soon as I met the passport man he actually yelled at me really angrily to go get new passport photos done. So I was giving my passport to a mean man at Mcdonalds now...

But in the end, I just had to trust the process and go off and enjoy my day. Basically after dropping my passport off, I got to go and hang out in Singapore for the day and later swing by McDonalds again to collect my passport. 

So after leaving McDonalds I was quite enthusiastic and  I went and explored little India and ate some street food and wandered around the streets. But I was tired to begin with and after I'd walked around little India for a bit I was quite tired, plus I didn't really know what to do because I hadn't really researched stuff to do in Singapore.

So, I ended up just sitting in some random outdoor area to do some people watching. After about 15 minutes, I realised that one of the people I was watching was watching me back! I smiled at him. He said hi. He asked if I wanted to go for a coffee and I didn't have anything else to do, so we went to Starbucks. His name was Rahul* and he was fairly new to Singapore.  

After we finished our drinks, Rahul decided to be my tour guide. He took me to all the touristy places in Singapore. That was a really nice thing for him to do so I was grateful that he helped me kill a few hours. He took me all over the place and insisted on taking heaps of touristy photos which I didn't really want or need.

This seriously felt like the most photographed day of my life!

Then he took me to Bugis market for shopping and gave me advice on clothes to buy. I really thought guys hated going clothes shopping with girls but Rahul was fine with it. And then we went for food at some food court. And then I was starting to get really sick of this random guy.

In the afternoon it was raining really hard. I explained that I had to get back to the McDonalds to get my passport and I thought he'd probably take that as his cue to leave. But he followed me through the torrential rain while I was rushing to get to McDonalds in time. I was actually running through the rain because I was worried about what would happen to my passport if I didn't make it in time. But, we had to wait around because the visa man was late in the end. Rahul spent the time taking photos of me at McDonalds. 

Something to remember my time in McDonalds...

I was pretty young back then and didn't yet know how to get rid of an annoying guy and I felt kind of bad that he'd helped me see so much of Singapore and I didn't really know how to ask him to go away nicely. So that's how he ended up walking me back to my hotel. 

I was a bit uncomfortable when Rahul then decided to come into my hotel room. To be fair to the guy, he didn't actually try anything. He was actually a really nice guy but there aren't many people in the world that I'd want to be around for 8 hours so really it was just too long. We were watching Wipeout on TV and he was again taking photos of me and taking photos of the things I bought that day. I kept hinting that he should leave, but he never seemed to get the hint. So most of the conversation I was making was "so do you need to leave to meet your friend now?" and "I'm actually really tired, I'm about to sleep". Somehow, he seemed to not see that I obviously wanted him to leave.

He insisted that I arranged the things  I bought on the bed to take this photo. 

A great photo of me opening something with my mouth?

Eventually he decided to leave. I said goodbye to him at the door to my room and he went to give me a hug and I wasn't having any of that and went for a high-five instead. So we high-fived awkwardly and he left. The hug/high-five moment was so awkward that it felt like my face was on fire but I was just so relieved it was over. I started getting ready for bed. 

Five minutes later there was a knock at the door and he was there again saying he'd forgotten his jacket and it was even more awkward because I still hadn't fully recovered from the high five and he was there again. I was scared he'd try to hug me again but I think he felt awkward too so he left right away.

So, that was Singapore. I kept in touch with Rahul for awhile. Well mostly he kept in touch with me, even asking me to go travelling with him which I decided not to do. He told me to let him know if I was ever in Singapore again.

And I was- I went back again not long after that to get my working visa. I felt all fancy because I was making an international day trip. The idea of going to a country for one day is quite amazing, especially for an Australian. But actually, the experience was less than amazing because I had to take the earliest flight to Singapore which is like 6:00, which means I had to leave for the airport at 3:00 AM, so basically it means no sleep, and then it's a long day before I got the last flight back in the evening and got home around midnight.

The second visa trip went well though, aside from being exhausted. Oh, and I've just realised now that I "forgot" to tell Rahul I was in Singapore. Oops.

So what do you guys think? Is 'Weird stuff that happened in (insert place here)' okay? Or should I stick to Indonesia? I get the feeling it's going to mostly be about Indonesia anyway.  Thanks for reading guys :).