Singapore and Chinese New Year!

February 4

If getting through the border control was easy and hassle-free, getting into the city was a different story. Not my day!

Highways, highways, and highways, Maps.Me counted thirteen of them, none of them allowed cycling and my GPS was not working optimally.

I naively thought they would give me a ride to the city center, but no such luck! They found an exit on the side and dropped me off there.

Now I was completely lost. Google Maps offered some help, but after another half an hour or so without even finding a bus and it was almost black dark outside so I had to ask for help at a small airport.

I asked them to call for taxi and also gave them instruction to notify the cab driver that I had a bicycle with panniers. After half an hour the taxi showed up.It was a van so there where no probs to load my bicycle. 25 minutes later he drove into the chinese part of Singapore.

The traffic was anything but sparse—cars, pedestrians, and tourists were everywhere. It was pure chaos. The taxi driver dropped me off a few blocks from Temple Street, my hotel street.

 – I can’t drive any further,” he said.
– It’s Chinese New Year, to much people. Just follow the street and look to the right.

We unloaded the bike, and I carried on. Above me hung banners, flags, and colorful lanterns. Pigs in all sorts of shapes and forms were everywhere. For the Chinese, this is the Year of the Pig.

I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the festivities that had just begun.

When I finally found my street, I realized that getting to the hotel, just 500 meters away, would be a challenge.
I had never seen so many people on a single street at the same time—three people per square meter, and there
I was, with my bike loaded with five bags.

I squeezed through the throngs of tourists, I caught a strong smell, which turned out to be the fruit durian, also known as the ”king of fruits.”

Many people found this smell is pleasant sweet fragance. I wasn´t none of them👎. For me it was overpowering and unpleasant

It took me 45 minutes to find my hotel, Beds Dreams Inn. Inchecking easy and quick. Got a bed in a 4 bed-room on the bottom floor. My bicycle I locked up with a wire outside under entrance roof. My bags I could take into the room.

 

 

See yeah later
// P-G, The Global Cyclist