About a week after my birthday, Vanessa and her family were meant to attend a special jewelry function, that was arranged by LARRY JEWELRY to show off this years fashionable (and expensive) trends; necklaces, rings and bracelets. So, we had to get to Singapore. Vanessa’s mum would have taken a plane there, but because I was following them- the only option was to drive there. IT WAS SO COOL! I wish I was driving! Nothing but clear open highway, no speed limits, no police – just miles and miles of smooth pavement. I didn’t get a chance to drive on it :(, Vanessa’s dad hogged all the fun. But maybe it wouldn’t have been a good idea to let me drive anyway. I can be a bit of a speed demon and drive quite fast ^^. It only took a few hours to get from KL to customs; even after taking food/bathroom breaks. It was a good trip, very fun and interesting car ride. Watching the scenery roll by, the green palm plantations, trees and grass; Malaysia is a very beautiful country in terms of its vegetation. It’s a shame a lot of it has been mistreated with all the pollution and the country’s reliance on car transport. The emission and chemical levels being released into the atmosphere are most likely astronomical. I think cars have been preferred over public transport because of their ease of use, commutability, and low cost of infrastructure. With rising petrol prices; Malaysia will soon be in a very sore position and transport will be impossible if not targeted soon. The haze (although it is said it is due to forest burning in Indonesia) is very thick around the city during sunset, and the sky is almost always cloudy and grey, and is most likely because of these emissions. Singapore, however, has already seen to this problem. When approaching the border of Singapore from Malaysia- the difference is a slap in the face.
The sky is clearer for one. The blues shine out from behind *white* clouds, and the sunlight emphasizes the colours in Singapore, making them more vibrant and distinct. Where as in Malaysia, colours are quite dull and blurry because of poor sunlight. Another thing I noticed at once in Singapore; the speed limits on roads are strongly enforced. When you’ve been going 190km/h on a freeway for a few hours, and then you suddenly slow down to a measly 60km/h on clear roads – you really feel how slow 60km really is. Vanessa always complained about how 60km was slow in Melbourne, but being used to it, I had no idea what she was talking about. “60km is fine! There’s no point rushing.” After coming back to Melbourne after that trip, I know now that I have been a fool. The last thing I noticed was the food and hawkers centers. The hawkers center we went to in Bukit Timah and Newton Circus were some of the cleanest hawkers centers I had been in my whole trip. There were lights! And clean tables! And live performances! I was so amazed at how two different rivaling countries that are so close by could be so different in their quality of life. Poverty is also not as apparent in Singapore (although we mainly stuck to the more wealthy areas), and the amount of rubbish and litter that dots the streets is almost non existent in Singapore. Just walking down Orchard Road in Singapore when Vanessa when on a little shopping spree, was enjoyable. The busy people running around, the lights, the music of busker’s, the clean street and no smelly garbage or homeless people lining the street- the atmosphere really keeps you alert and attentive. Shopping was a blast too. I pretty much just followed Vanessa around Orchard Road while she invaided her favourtie stores and bought everything on the shelves :P. Even though I didn’t buy anything (I had bought a lot of stuff in Malaysia and was content with everything I had already)I still had fun just watching Vanessa try on clothes that made her look hot or cute or just plain silly. It reminded me of the time when we both went to Chadstone together and went shopping. Back then times were simple; we had just gotten together and we weren’t in a rush for anything. Just casually buying and trying on different things. Enjoying each others opinion’s on clothes. Admiring how pretty Vanessa looked in the Garfunkle dress she bought there… but there was an underlying sadness to everything…
Being in Singapore meant that my holiday was almost half over and that id be leaving in less than 2 weeks.
After Vanessa had cleaned the shelves in the stores she liked, we walked around a bit more and took photos of some famous places in Orchard Road, and walked around a bit longer until we were ready to go back to her grandmothers house. I didn’t really buy much the entire Singapore trip, but I did manage to pick up a phone that I wanted: the LG CHOCOLAT and at the same time Vanessa got her Nokia L’amour phone. Which meant that we both had camera phones ^^! ( I have so many cute pictures of her in mine, I look at them to remind me of her.) I felt very welcomed by MOST of Vanessa’s grandparents. Though her grand-aunty really hated me. I often said hello to her, but only got a scowl or nothing in reply from her. I don’t know if it was because I was white, or if I was staying with them for free or because of some other unknown reason – she just didn’t like me. But I still stayed polite and said good morning to her every day; being nice consistently wins out. They had specially arranged for an extra guest on their table, and allowed me to follow Vanessa. I was scared to go and have Vanessa pointing out jewelry pieces worth thousands and thousands of dollars. I thought id be standing there with Vanessa running around excitedly, looking at and trying on all the jewelry… me feeling pressured to buy some of it for her one day. But it wasn’t like that at all. Vanessa was more afraid of being clumsy with it and breaking, and she said that she would never expect me to stuff like that because its just a waste of money :P.
Needless to say, I was relieved but also saddened at the thought that I wouldn’t be able to provide her with such luxuries if I didn’t do well in life. I added it to my list of motivation, making sure that id be able to buy her at least 1 piece of jewelry like that some day. The dinner was excellent, the food was great and Vanessa was absolutely beautiful as always. She had bought a new pink gown from DKNY, and although it was slightly dressy for the occasion- she was the only thing I found myself looking at the whole night. In contrast to all the gloss and glamour of the party, I was betting that she wouldn’t have liked my birthday gift at all. I had secretly got Vanessa’s parents to dupe her into thinking that I had gone to her dads work for a day while we were in Malaysia- but instead I went out with Vanessa’s mum and bought a silver bracelet with a love heart on it. I also spent many nights making a birthday popup-card with silver pens and coloured paper. I gave it to her on her birthday in Singapore in my room. She was genuinely surprised and very thankful for the gift – though she was mad at me for lying to her! (she still teases me about lying to her even now!). Though she really wasn’t expecting anything, and it was hard enough to prepare anything for her with the limited amount of resources I had. I had no connections, no phone numbers, no car and no idea where to begin shopping. If it wasn’t for the help of Vanessa’s parents (especially her dad for taking all the abuse to go along with the farce) I wouldn’t have been able to do it all.
Our time in Singapore was short lived, and it was already time to leave even though we had just started to get settled in. I especially enjoyed the Night Safari that I went to with Vanessa. Sitting in the noisy car in the dark, scarring all the animals away was fun in its own way- and even though I didn’t get to take many photos (stupid crappy camera!) I wont forget the way Vanessa and I always turned to each other and said “Laaaaaaaaaaame” to the jokes that the zoo keepers told during the tour. Although we had only been in Singapore for a few days, I didn’t want to live out my warm welcome at her grandmothers house. I wasn’t paying any rent or food money, and I think some of my gratefulness for their hospitability was lost in translation (they didn’t speak strong English). I already felt like I had invaded their home long enough and was beginning to succumb to the glowering grand-aunty, so I guess it was as good a time as any to leave, be welcomed back by the; speed friendly freeways, more relaxed environment and good food of Malaysia.
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