Sibling time in Singapore.

 Christmas has interrupted my travel musings, but also given me an opportunity to insist on sharing some of my experiences with family, who were not necessarily interested but had me as a guest in their house for the celebratory week.  However, I tried to focus my accounts to a large extent with my brother in Singapore as I figured that would most interest my older brother.  It was really important to me. 

For various reasons, that I did not really understand, my brother in Singapore had fallen out with me.  But the sad death of his mother, (he is my half brother) and my more recent travels to places he has known well or lived in has enabled us to have some useful IM contact.  And having seen his son in Melbourne, I was keen that the next part of the trip  went well.  I have never lived with my brother, and previous plans to visit fell apart, and I was trepidatious with regards to how it might work out, given our turbulent history, but actually it was really fine.   I really enjoyed his company and could not help noticing a range of similarities between him and various family members, which added to how comfortable things felt between us. 

Divali decorations up in the Indian part of Singapore. 

His history is really interesting, because having left school with virtually no qualifications, he now has a Masters and has worked teaching English in various places, including significant universities.  His language skills, (and sporting etc)  are much greater than mine.  I enjoyed talking with him.   We happily found cheap places to eat,  he especially likes the Indian side of the city as he is a vegetarian,  (like one of my other brothers and my sister) and we both happily pottered around the various beautiful gardens in Singapore, or by the river.  Having a coffee in a nearby neighbourhood, felt like meeting up in Hampstead, it felt so nice and regular but the best was seeing the University that he has made home for the last few years.  Like much of the city it is lush and green, and cosmopolitan, and unlike much of the city, not as built up, spacious feeling even, a nice environment in which to live and work. 

Fort Canning Park 

 Having worked in Spanish speaking areas and in the Middle East,  he has found Singapore a more challenging place in which to find friends, the work ethic, makes little time for socialising.  But I am most impressed with what he has achieved. It is hot in Singapore Working long houses in that heat alone is a challenge, but he regularly runs, (the University has great sports facilities) he is doing an online sailing course or something similar and is able to nip back and forth to places like Thailand, which he really likes.  And all at a good age.  It seems hard to believe, but he is only 6 or 7 years off retirement, depending on UK regulations.  

Changi prison door. 

He has not had much time for just doing the simple tourist things, but whilst he was working, I was happy to explore both some famous areas, e.g. the iconic "trees", the bay, Raffles,  and some now less well known areas such as the Changi museum.  Changi was once a long jungle walk from the centre of town, but now the whole area is built up.   The bus from Chinatown to there takes an hour, it is built up the whole route.  Singapore was considered a fortress, but actually had been neglected by complacent military preparations.  Malaysia and the Phillipines fell under Japanese rule, as well as Singapore.  The dreadful treatment of the many British prisoners is relatively well known, but the Chinese locals suffered even more and whilst there were many privations in prison, interestingly Brits did on the whole make the best of a very bad situation e.g. setting up classes and entertainments whilst incarcerated.  Seems Tenko was more accurate than I had realised, with incredibly resilient matrons and creatives, but death a reality, that "courage" managed to limit as much as possible for example from villagers who smuggled in food, or prisoners who escaped to forage   In recent years I have visited the death camps in Thailand, Hiroshima in Japan, I did not realise until after I left that I could have visited some of the war time graveyards in Singapore, but I was glad to add to my knowledge about this period in history, a counter to the glamour and luxury in the centre of Singapore. 

I had a lovely coffee and cake in Raffles Hotel Cafe. 

Singapore is expensive but I stayed in a hostel in Chinatown and for the most part was very happy there. We had to take our shoes off on entering the place,  I was in a room with ten others, in a little pod, and I slept well, and managed the shared facilities well, (luckily it was not full) until one night when the air con, was playing up and I suddenly felt really scared, that I was stuck in this place with no air con and what felt like no air.  I was pleased to leave and on the last day, moved to a hotel a bit further out, ready to be near the coach departure place.  I took the opportunity to go to the edge of the island and just spend some quiet time on their Coney Island.  

The edge of Singapore.