It has been an eventful 24 hours since boarding the first of two planes to get to Singapore today. I got my upgrade and happily boarded my Air Asia flight to KL last night.
We sat on the plane waiting for pushback and when it finally happened, there was a god almighty sound reminiscent of metal and something exploding. Then it happened again a few seconds later. Not cool dude. There I am, sitting in my own row, minding my own business and the next thing you know, we are going nowhere with some nasty noises to boot!
Turns out we managed to kill the tow truck with our A330. Don't ask me exactly what happened as I missed the English announcement and the Malay version one translated to me as "we ran over the tow truck". We sat there for ages beofre the captain told us that they were looking for a new tow truck and to be patient. Then, we get told that we are being towed back to the gate at a glacial pace so the mechanics can check the nose gear for damage.
Awesome.
To cut a long story short, we took off over an hour late. I was very excited when the front wheels went up, more excited several hours later when the wheels came down again and ecstatic when we landed in KL with a nose gear. The plane bounced the whole way - almost constant turbulence! I napped in between announcements and big bounces and woke up feeing okay.
On landing in KL, I had to clear immigration, pickup my suitcase, leave it at the left luggage office, check in for my next international flight to Singapore, go through immigration again, get on the plane and...wait...yet again. We were apparently delayed this time by air traffic control congestion.
I landed into Singapore after a bouncy but fairly uneventful flight (save for the bogans from Queensland in the row behind me, seriously, I wanted to tell them never to leave Aussie again, they really were that feral!). Some people shouldn't be allowed passports.
I got off the plane, went to the skytrain, rode over to terminal 3, had lunch and then rode the slide! Yes, that magical slide that I could not find last time has now been conquered! I then got the heck out of Changi, caught the MRT to Eunos, walked to my accommodation and cracked open a can of 100 Plus electrolyte drink!
I'm staying at the awesome Betel Box backpackers owned by my friend Tony in Joo Chiat. I first stayed here 7 years ago for almost three weeks and it was great. I made two awesome new friends and loved the place so much that I am back again! Joo Chiat hasn't changed too much since 2007, fundamentally. There are a few new shiny malls and cupcake shops and new pubs, but other than that and the clean up of the Vietnamese ladies of the night that used to hang around the pub downstairs, it is just the same as last time.
I smashed down the electrolytes and jumped a cab to my Stand Up Paddleboard Yoga class at East Coast Beach. The current today was pretty rough and I would have come off the board at least six times but I am already aching from how much strength was involved in just staying on the board! It was awesome, although a pretty nasty rainstorm blew in and we had to skip savasana. Nicole the teacher gave us a ride to a mall not far from where I am staying, which was really kind of her as we were all drenched!
I would love to do SUP yoga again, back home. Hopefully we can make it happen for next summer as boy, it was hard yakka!
After a quick walk around the mall to drip dry and an even quicker dinner, I came back to the hostel and caught up with my friend Tony, the owner. This guy is a veritable encyclopaedia of knowledge on everything to do with Singapore, Malaysia, politics, Local issues, etc. He loves Penang, I am not sold on it yet and need to pay it another visit. Mind you, I have felt the same about KL, JB and Singapore previously.
I love Singapore again this trip and I am glad I made the effort to come back. I have a massive day ahead tomorrow so will post again then, but I got some amazing photos of Joo Chiat (neighbouhood where I am staying).
Salamat Malam!
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