So I Ran Eight Miles in Singapore

I love running every place I visit. It isn't the same as the long runs I do at home. At home I do the same routes over and over. When I travel I love the idea of running someplace totally new. I use it as a way to see even more sights. I ran eight miles in Singapore while I was there for the weekend and I took a time lapse video of my run to share.



I started at my hotel in Little India and ran down the main drag of the neighborhood Serangoon Rd. The shops were closed and that made the run easier, not dodging the merchandise that encroaches on the sidewalk. I made it to the intersection with the main shopping street Orchard Rd and headed up to see the main boulevard. Once I hit an intersection that I couldn't cross without going underground (about a mile) I turned around and headed back towards the marina.

I hit the marina by going through some of the colonial section of the city, and eventually came to the famous merlion statue spouting water. I ran around the marina towards the Marina Bay Sands Casino, only to get caught in a rainstorm that soaked me to the skin. I went over a pedestrian bridge to a cool stadium that floated on the water (called "The Float").

Finally back to my Little India neighborhood and to the hotel. By mile seven it was getting hot and 100% humidity combined with my being soaked I had no more energy. I slowed and walked some. I was super tired.

Retrospective on the Singapore Trip

Overall, it was amazing. The idea that I could fly from Chicago to Singapore for the weekend still astounds me. I enjoyed the experience of the trip, both the traveling and the being in Singapore. I would totally visit there again ideally with my family. I would totally do a weekend trip to a far away destination. I felt I incorporated some good insights into how to make it a fun and happy time even with such long flights.

I think long flights (12+ hours) are even better than the mid-range flights (8-12 hours) because I feel less pressure to have to either sleep or stay up the entire time. If I'm arriving in the morning, I feel I have to sleep the entire 8 hours on the plane and that isn't possible for me. On a sixteen hour flight, I found I slept 2-3 hours then did some form of entertainment and that worked great.

I don't know if it was real or a placebo, but I took these No Jet Lag pills I bought on Amazon and I did not feel jet lagged.

Showering upon arrival did wonders for the rest of my day in Singapore. I didn't have a hotel but I still got to shower in a gym shower and it was totally worth the 20 minutes of awkwardness of public gym showering. The lounges at the Singapore airport had showers, and I would totally use those for the same purpose. Showers are an amazing energy boost.

I ate whenever I could. Eating and drinking are important to keeping up my energy. We had a mechanical delay in Chicago and had to deplane, so I bought a hamburger at McDonald's and ate while I waited the hour delay. So worth it. They came by on the long international flights with food, and I ate all the meals while other people said "no thanks." Eating and drinking were key.

I packed light. It still felt like a lot of stuff, but I really tried not to bring anything more than what I needed. That meant I wore my tennis shoes that I used for running rather than have a pair for walking and a pair for running. Not a great fashion statement, but awesome for such a short trip. It was nice to have everything I needed in a carry on and nothing more. The one thing I didn't use was my swim suit. I knew there would be one thing I packed that I didn't use.

I used my ATM card to get out local currency and didn't have to use a money exchange place. I probably could have, there were lots around. But my ATM worked fine and it was convenient. I'm sure there are fees. But what can you ask I'm halfway across the world accessing my money from my local bank.

I booked a room in a nice hotel because I figured the short trip meant I would appreciate the amenities of a nice hotel over the economy of a hostel or pod hotel. I would like to experience a pod hotel sometime, but I knew I would spend 2 of my 4 days in a pod on the plane so I decided to splurge on a nice hotel (actually I spent points, but still a splurge).

The hotel offered a lounge with meals throughout the day if I was hungry. I only used it for breakfast and coffee in the morning, and dessert and a beer at night. But still it was nice to have a room to myself and a happy steward who made me a bunch of flat white espresso. Also, they had a bottled water, coke and a snickers bar in my room complementary which was very satisfying at just the right time.

The Changing of the Guard

We were walking on Sunday up from the marina to Orchard Rd in Singapore and we saw lots of flashing police lights. At first it seemed like a presidential motorcade because the street was mostly blocked. As we looked closer, it was a slow moving parade of sorts. We had stumbled on the Istana Changing of the Guard.

We walked further and found a full military ceremony with a band and guard at the Istana Main Gate. There were crowds of people taking pictures. The street was closed down. There was marching and ceremony. We watched for a bit. 

It looked like other ceremonies of guard changing I’ve seen such as in London. I recall taking a weekend trip to London and stumbling on the changing of the horse guard. I didn't know there was a horse guard until I was walking through a park in London on a Sunday morning and happened upon the ceremony. It was a lucky chance and a great experience.

In Singapore likewise I didn’t know what it was when we happened upon the ceremony. I Googled it found the ceremony only happens twelve times a year. We happened to be in the right place at the right time to see it. In Singapore for 48 hours and we get to see a special ceremony of the Istana Guard. 

Cool. 

The Mutterer and the Baby

The flight from Singapore to Los Angeles was schedule for fourteen hours and change. It seems like a lot less time than the sixteen hours on the way there. I was sitting in basically the same exact seat as I was on the plane 48 hours ago when I landed - seat 18J. Luckily I still have no middle seat occupant so I can stretch out a little, but my window row mate is a mutterer.

He came to the row and said something that I interpreted as “this is me” so I could let him in. And for the next fourteen hours I realized he would mutter, sometimes to himself and sometimes in my general direction. For the first settling in period I thought he was talking to me, but he never looked to me for acknowledgement or response. He was just talking to himself I guess.

Eventually I wondered if he was hard of hearing. Maybe that was why he didn’t realize he was vocalizing the thoughts rather than just thinking them. The flight attendants had a terrible time getting his attention to ask if he wanted a drink or the meal. The entire time he just drank black coffee. No food. No soda. Black coffee. They would have to ask me to poke him to get his attention, and then “black coffee”.

Another clue that he was hard of hearing was he kept passing gas really loudly throughout the flight. I was wearing my noise canceling headphones most of the flight, and they do a great job of canceling out the jet engine noise. Funny, though, it doesn’t cancel out a loud fart. At first I though I misheard, but he kept doing it and a minute later it would smell horrible. No hard feeling from me, I was gassy too just more quiet about it. And what are you going to do? Better out than in.

In a shocking development, the mutterer was more distracting to me than the baby in the bulkhead row two rows up (baby and toddler, actually). This family of four was in the middle three seats - one lap child and one toddler. It felt like an auditorium the way this family was front and center to all of us in the audience listening to the howling of the small child every 20 minutes for sixteen hours. 

I quickly came to realize the parents have the worst end of this deal. I was a passenger but I had no responsibility for the toddler who ran up and down the aisle screaming. Or the baby that was in this clever bassinet attached to the bulkhead wall. I found peace early that I could sleep, watch movies and play games with no responsibility for those kids.

As I entered the US I enjoyed the long line of customs (60 minutes compared to in Singapore literally 5 minutes). While in line the twenty something woman in front of me couldn’t stop complaining about how terrible the baby on the flight made her flight. As she described her horrible flight she said “why are they flying? they ruined my flight… this flight in business class was the worst flight of any economy flight I’ve had.” 

I smiled on the inside at how much they let this child ruin a flight they probably paid thousands to fly. schadenfreude much? And I paid $600 and enjoyed my Economy Plus seat so much more. I like to think it was my attitude; I felt lucky to be there. Of course, my head wasn’t next to a wall with a baby attached.

So I watched Guardians of the Galaxy v2 again. It was great again. I played four texas hold em tournaments and won them all. I slept quite a lot despite the baby and the mutterer. The food was good and plentiful again. I drank a couple beers because it was after five back at home and I was acclimating to the new time zone.

I’m in LA waiting to fly home to Chicago. I could use a shower. Sitting in a busy club on a Monday morning. Still acclimating to my central time zone. Another perk of my trip to Singapore, I doubt I’ll notice that daylight savings time ended.  #AttitudeOfGrattitude

Lost Phone

I sat down at the reflexology place and I no longer had my phone.

I had been walking around Singapore chinatown. We had come from the food center and walked through a temple and some markets. I didn’t notice anyone bump me or anything. We walked through the People Park Complex where an entire floor is dedicated to people getting reflexology.

I picked a place and sat in one of the recliner chairs for an older Chinese man to squeeze my feet. I did that routine checking for my phone and wallet and my phone was missing. I checked my pockets again. No phone. I checked my backpack. No phone. I checked again. Then took everything out one by one, knowing I must still have my phone. I must be overlooking it. No phone.

I took every piece out of my bag. My sunglasses. My guidebook. My hat. Every thing one at a time and placed it on the stool meant for my feet. Only I couldn’t think about anything but that I had lost my phone in the middle of Singapore. Somewhere in chinatown. How would I find it? 

As I stood up, I was going to suggest to my friend Bryan that we needed to retrace our steps. Back to the markets and temple to see if someone could help me find my phone. Sitting on the recliner underneath me was my phone, having slipped from my pocket when I sat down. 

I sat down again and I had my phone. What a horrible ten minutes. 

Departure Day

It seems crazy that just forty eight hours ago I arrived in Singapore. I woke this morning at 6:30 am after a sold 8 hours of sleep. I had weird dreams and the thunder from outside may have contributed. I packed up my stuff and ate a small breakfast at my hotel. My new best friend Jack was there making flat white espresso and I couldn’t turn that down.

I decided to take a taxi to the airport rather than the rapid transit. I’m alway a little worried about getting to and through a foreign airport, so I decided the $20 was worth it. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I found the place to return my Tourist Transit Pass and get my $10 deposit back. I used that money to buy the kids souvenirs at the shops.

The security was something different than I had ever seen. I checked in and was asked if I had any weapons. Answering “no" I got a sticker that said I had cleared through the first security checkpoint. I assumed the next would be more rigorous. Nope. The next security line checked my boarding pass, scanned my passport and my fingerprint. The immigration was entirely automated. Upon success I was done. No metal detectors until I had to enter my gate for departure to Los Angeles. 

I bought the candy and gifts and headed up to the premier lounge for United. The lounge was small but awesome. International lounges are truly so much better than those in the US. The space was comfortable with warm breakfast food, juice, beer, wine and soda. As I looked around, I realized there were small rooms off the main room with full-body massage chairs and shower rooms to freshen up. I can totally imagine a stopover here where you could eat, drink, shower and relax. I didn’t shower or full-body massage, but I did drink a morning beer and relaxed.

Finally off to the gate where I did have to get scanned and searched. The security was thorough and nice, and not at all crowded. There is something better about getting in a line of nobody to get screened that makes you feel less like cattle in that big line at every US airport. I had three very nice security guards that were interested in my foot pod on my shoe that counts my steps; they screened it three times and asked me all about it.

The flight itself isn’t that full so I’m hopeful to have an empty seat between me and my row-mate. I’m in almost exactly the same seat as when I arrived 48 hours ago. Total deja vu sitting here ready to leave. 

Day two part two

One of my defining attributes is I love walking everywhere on vacation. When we travel as a family, my kids keep me in check and prevent us from walking too much. They reign me in and we all benefit from taking a break (or taking a taxi). Day two in Singapore my walking went unchecked and I have the blister to prove it.

I met Bryan at the Maxwell Food Centre in chinatown at 11:30 am for lunch. I took the mass transit and it was easy (living up to the reputation). I walked through chinatown to get to the food centre and found the feeling so different from Little India (where my hotel is). Reminiscent of the Chinese influence I saw in Hong Kong and Macau the shops were full of interesting and foreign medicines.

We ate dumplings and chicken rice. We nodded to the chicken rice stall that boasts Anthony Bourdain and opted for the neighboring stall that had no line. It was so humid we sweated all through our meal. I desperately wanted to try the fried banana I had passed up the day before, but the fried banana stall was unexplicably closed. No fried bananas today. We walked a bit to explore chinatown and landed at People Park Complex and the reflexology I had read about.

The mall had many floors and all sorts of shops, but once you go up the escalator enough you hit an entire floor of people in reclining chairs having their feet rubbed. Dozens of stores each with dozens of peoples having footwork done. We walked a slow circle to see how the shops varied. The prices were all fixed - $20 for a 45 minutes foot and shoulder massage. We were sold, so we plopped down in chairs and had two middle aged Chinese men slap, hit, gouge and punch our legs. It was wonderful torture.

After our legs were pulverized, we walked down the street to a coffee shop that we had read was one of the best in Singapore. Nylon coffee roasters was supposed to have wonderful espresso. We wound our way and found this hold in the wall, off all the main streets. Inside what appeared to be an apartment complex this coffee place had three chairs and a stand-up tables. It was filled with people enjoying their espresso, so we also lined up and ordered two “long blacks”. We fueled up on caffeine and enjoyed the cooler indoors until the espresso was gone and we started to walk to the marina.

The fried banana quest called to me and we headed out to see if we could find a banana stand at another food centre.  We found other hawker centers but no fried bananas. I continued to look to see if I had passed on the only fried banana option of my trip.

We walked through the financial district over to the merlion statue. The breeze from the water was much cooler. We stopped and had a beer on the bay and enjoyed a flash-mob belly dancing troupe of thirty women between the ages of six to sixty. They danced about ten minutes while we sipped our Asahi.

We continued walking up towards Orchard Rd the main shopping district. This area is the magnificent mile of Singapore with Gucci and Louis Vuitton among the more pedestrian stores. We headed into some of the malls to enjoy the air conditioning and found all sorts of familiar brands from Popeyes Chicken to Outback Steakhouse. We looked for dinner and settled on a Japanese restaurant that specialized in fried pork loin. We added a friend oyster and enjoyed our last meal together along with a couple Asahi beers.

We explored a few more shopping malls and my tired feet kept calling for rest. Our quest for fried banana was a failure, but I found a store with matcha kit Kats and bought two bags for gifts. I took the bus back to Little India where my hotel was and sat in the lounge with mango pudding to rest my feet and think about when I need to get up to head to the airport tomorrow. 

I wonder when the Tekka Centre banana stall opens in the morning, and wonder if I can get a fried banana before my flight.