By Cyle O'Donnell
In this third part of Travel Geek: Documentary Singapore, I take a photo walk around the city, interviewing shop owners, mosque tenants and museum workers along the way. After seeing the sights, I end my day at the night safari and come face to face with eerie creatures of the night.
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Thanks to diligence and hard work (or more like luck and having a blast), I have finally finished the next edition to the Travel Geek documentary series.
On the first day in Singapore, I walk all throughout the city and eat tasty dishes, go skydiving in the world’s biggest indoor wind tunnel and coast above the city on the world’s tallest observation wheel, the Singapore Flyer.
Below, enjoy the introduction (Part One), and “Day One” of the trip that I took the last week of March (Part Two) below.
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In addition to the video that I made in Borneo in mid-March, I have compiled a list of smart things to employ while traveling if you’ve got it in mind to continue your workout on the road.
Just because you’re traveling, it doesn’t mean that you have to give up on your exercise routine. The list below will help you keep on track with your workout long into your travels — whether you’re traveling for just a week or months on end.
Keep in mind that, while I mentioned keeping a schedule in this list, I wanted to make a special note about that here.
The attention and care that you take in planning your workout regimen before you leave will be your best tool in preparing you for keeping up with your workout. We all know how busy and chaotic travel can be. But if you’ve created a schedule of your workout before you left, there should be little that stays in the way of your exercising goals.
Think creatively: You can use your backpack as a dumbell or a stack of books as a Yoga block. Look around for a hotel with a gym. Many towns and neighborhoods have a pool or small fitness center — ask around.
This schedule should ideally be in the form of a ledger or notebook with very specific times and activities. It should have a place for you to write down your progress and keep an accurate account of what you’ve done, when you’ve done it and how many or how long each exercise took to complete. Once you’ve checked it off, you know that you can take the necessary recovery time until your next workout date.
Above is a “general” schedule of workouts. It’s specific but not overwhelming. It’s organized, too — leaving ample time for muscle recovery between workouts. It also, you might notice, divides the workouts to challenge your body one week and aerobically work it the next.
I like this schedule because the muscle training weeks allow me to be “comfortably lazy.” This means that I can sit around in a hostel, lay poolside or hit the beach for an entire week but punctuate my workout with long periods of catching up on journals, editing photos or rendering the newest videos.
But this is specific to me, my travel schedule and my particular fitness goals. So you can shuffle this around a bit or use a lighter or heavier routine to suit your travel requirements.
This particular routine is good for those with “themed” travel, like photographing the scenes or writing blogs. But yours might be better suited having less muscle training.
The schedule below is for keeping track of progress and take notes like “too much beer last night” or “don’t like running on Mondays,” or things like that. It, again, is very basic and is based on the above regimen.
[About the video: I was in Borneo this past weekend filming for what will probably end up being three filming sessions to shoot what I want to shoot for the North Borneo Railroad, a jungle hike, some of Brunei and of course, the orangutan refuge (and maybe even do the Pada white water rafting). While there, I realized that Borneo is a great place to talk about the challenges of exercising on the go.]
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Below is the Top Ten list for how to stick to your routine while on the road.
The Top Ten List for Working Out on the Go:
1. Bring your own clothes and shoes — don’t plan on buying exercise gear or apparel in-country.
2. Pack any medical supplies that you need: inhalor, diabetic needs, etc.
3. In the cities, look for gyms that offer a free one- to three-day pass that can hold you over until you’re in the next city.
4. In the country, find a nice, out-of-the-way place to do your jogging. This will help to avoid animals, traffic and dangerous obstacles.
5. Bring a long-sleeved, synthetic fiber shirt for helping to avoid sunburn, dry skin from windy and arid conditions; and it will also provide a continual layer of moisture to help cool you off.
6. Bring a hat and sunglasses to keep the sun off your eyes and off of your face in the event that your workout takes longer than normal.
7. Don’t run in your hiking boots! And don’t hike in your exercise shoes. Take the time to pack safe enough shoes to support your workout.
8. Make a plan and stick to it. Just because you’re traveling, it doesn’t mean that you need to slide on your workout regimen.
9. Do sit-ups, push-ups and workout routines in your hotel room by bringing workout videos with you on your laptop.
10. Watch your diet. Extra attention must be paid when you change your diet to the host-country’s offerings. You can help this by bringing supplements and checking your beer/wine intake.
Do you find it hard to work out on the go? Tell me what you think in the comments section:
Okay, so day three technically exists. But I am not going to do a journal on it. I’m just going to run some more outtakes from the film and let you know that I spent this day coordinating, scheduling and rescheduling a filming session on Sentosa Island.
Sentosa Island is like an adult Disney Land on steroids. It’s no joke. And it’s not cheap. So perhaps it’s Disney Land on designer drugs sold at a posh club in Dubai. In any case, it’s exceedingly fun and I can’t suggest enough that you get your ass down there and spend some money that you’ve been saving for an amazing time. You won’t regret it.
Just to cover the highlights of what I filmed (and therefore what the journals will talk about) on the next blog; it was definitely a day of many firsts.
I started my day with a 1.6 kilometer ride in a cable car that glides from the mainland (if you can call Singapore mainland) to the island of Sentosa. I then perused Universal Studios, hung out on beaches with sand imported from the Caribbean and met with the marketing people from some of the most prestigious names in the Singaporean entertainment business. After that, I swam with meat-hungry sharks at Underwater World. Then it was off to leap into the largest indoor skydiving tube in the world and meet with some of the world’s best competition skydivers.
If that wasn’t enough to do some jetsetting in Asia’s most elite country, I headed up to the top of the 2,561-room, 1,300,000-square-foot, $8 billion Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino, where they let me swim (but not film) in their 150-meter infinity pool at the Sky Park – at the very top of the 55-story, fung shui-approved behemoth.
But you can check out the next journal to find out about all that. Let’s just say you’ll enjoy what you see!
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In the evening, I headed over to Little India to experience what all the fuss was about: the food.
Just past Mustafa Center is the section of town that leads to Arab Street, the famed location of many amazing restaurants and even the growing glamour of Kampong Glam (Glam Village). Here, you’ll find an array of delicacies – not the least of which is stingray sauté.
And of course, how can one eat out with friends and not share some “shisha?”
Shisha is a long time favorite item of restaurant goers here. After dark, younger adults to senior citizens group-order food and wash it all back with a bubbly brew of their choosing – much to the chagrin of the Muslim locals in the area.
The key ingredient, though, is flavored tobacco from a giant water bong known as a hookah. And because of the way that it is inhaled, it’s both incredibly addictive and extremely harmful. In fact, it’s about 200 times more dangerous than smoking cigarettes. But that doesn’t seem to stop these anxious smokers from indulging.
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In any case, after some lovely eats and chats with others having a coke-and-a-toke, I ended my night by catching up on journals and planning for the next day. Which, of course, was epic.
Be sure to come back in a couple days and check out the video from indoor skydiving, swimming with man-eating sharks, a mile-high cable car and much more!
Today, I was in for another wonderful day of heat. But I won’t complain about that anymore than to just say that I sweat non-stop for every moment that I was not indoors. In fact, for the most part, If I was awake I was pretty much sweating the entire time.
That’s not to say that all places in Singapore are hot. In fact they love their malls so much that they air condition the sidewalks just so that people are comfortable walking around to buy things. Now that’s a generation of dedicated shoppers.
And amazing malls aren’t the only things that I’d see on my photo-walk through Singapore’s Bugis area. I must have walked seven or eight miles throughout the course of the day, too. And while incorporating old colonial era architecture with the new age design of the world’s elite planners, this region of Singapore is truly worth the work to see.
It was nice to see just how much of the old cultural influence still has a hold on this futuristic, artsy, progressive city.
I stayed mostly away from the myriad shopping complexes in the city. I know that Singapore is famous for its shopping. But because of that, I am sure there are other places to find documentaries and blogs about them. No, sir. This trip was more about squeezing the “real” Singapore out of this place.
And where better than cultural heritage spots, museums and the old quarters. In this tiny island nation, there are plenty of those. But luckily, while the culture is spread out all over, the museums and dedicated architecture has a centralized location and can be browsed at an even walking pace in one afternoon or so.
I eventually made my way around to the opulent palace-like hotel where the original Singapore Sling was invented and first served. There is a lot of history in this place as well.
In 1887, the Sarkies brothers, Armenian emigrants, opened this bar in its first form – a 10 room bungalow. From there, its success was certain.
It soon grew into what was known around the world as the classy-people’s diner. Ngiam Tong Boon invented the Singapore sling, which now costs a bewildering $26 and tastes like costs much less. The very last of the world’s Singaporean Tigers was shot dead underneath a pool table, having escaped from the zoo and finally cornered here. In 1991 it had a $160-million renovation which brought it to its present form. And if you’re in the area and have an extra $750 lying around, feel free to book a room.
After cooling down and taking a breather, I headed back out to continue my photo walk to check out what else there was. There are churches and cathedrals all over the place. And there’s no need for a guide to make it around to all these places. Anyone walking around in this area likely works or lives there. So they should be able to direct you to all the hot spots.
And speaking of hot spots, I stopped by the Cafe La Caire and made some new friends, ate some great food and made another wonderful memory for the second day of my trip.
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When I woke up, I realized that I’d slept away a good part of what was left of the day. But I still had a couple of nighttime hours left. So I decided to do the night safari next to the Singapore Zoo.
It was amazing! Saying that it was up close and personal doesn’t really do this cage-free park much justice. I saw a pride of lions feeding on fresh beef from right across the street. There were wild giraffes, elephants and rhinos roaming free — no chains, no fences — nothing to keep them from leaving their little area.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGqMenKcDXA&w=560&h=315] I’ve included this video as an outtake. But I won’t give too much away. You’ll have to see the full video once it’s released to get all the goodies.
I was inches away from giant bats called flying foxes inside the exhibit. These guys had three-foot wingspans and I was so close to them, they were grabbing at my camera. One even flew over my head and touched down for a fraction of a second as he buzzed me!
I even saw a 7-meter crocodile-like Indian Ghavial from right underneath my feet as I leaned over an eerily low-built bridge. Never fear, however, because while these animals look like they’d make quick work of just about any size of animal, this is a fish-eating reptile.
The list of animals is a little too numerous to name here. But the video should be coming out soon. So keep an eye out for that. Suffice it to say that I was impressed and overjoyed to have had the opportunity to see this amazing, new part of Singapore. It’s highly recommended.
On the way back, I decided to hop off the bus at the Chinatown center and walk back from there. It was a hell of a walk (which ended up taking me from 11pm until 1am), so I would probably advise against doing this at night, since it traipses through a small red light district where plenty of drunks are stumbling about.
But the nightlife was cool to see. Singapore definitely ties one on in the wee hours.
One last shower would finish me off as I could feel my eyes getting heavy by the time I hit the bunk for the night.
To get to Singapore, I boarded the train at Bahau, Malaysia. They said it would be a nice, comfortable, air conditioned 5-hour trip. Instead, it was an uncomfortable, overcrowded, 8 hour trip with a rattling air conditioned unit that broke 30 minutes into the trip.
I was in good spirits, though, so I didn’t let that get to me.
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There was a slight drizzle when I arrived at the station that turned into a downpour that only let up just before we got to the Singapore border. And all the while, I was shrugging off the unbelievably smelly, older Chinese man that kept falling asleep on me like I was his wife. Eventually, I found that it was a bit more comfortable (and hidden away from the slight smell of human bodies cooking in the humid air inside the coach) sitting at the opened door of the back of the train. Thankfully, the rules are much more lax on these third-world transit monsters.
I can say with all confidence that I was very pleased at my forethought to bring along food with me on the train. Something told me that it would be a non-stop train on which there’d likely be no in-transit food service. When the train left, 25 minutes behind schedule (6:10am), I figured it would be a bit longer than they told me. But the food (some plums, bananas, a couple ramly burgers and a hotdog cooked into a croissant) definitely stayed me over what would otherwise have been an uncomfortable, hot, elongated trip while starving – and therefore likely being very cranky.
The night before I left, I only got a couple hours sleep because I was busy catching up on things and packing for the early morning trip that left after a long day at work (when I was called in unexpectedly). So I actually wound up getting some sleep along the way.
Once aboard the train, I asked the coach official where I needed to go to find my seat because the ticket was written in Malay and of the 10-or-so words that I know in Malay, the ticket included none of them. He shrugged, not seeming to care that much whether I found my way and I brushed past him with my equipment in tow just to passively let him know that I was not in the mood to give him any more patience than he’d offered me.
I was panting and sweating all over the bags that I’d just finished organizing in a safe and out-of-the-way place (as much as possible on the zoo of a train car that it was), when the same coach official came to me and asked for my ticket. It was then that he began to care about where my seat was located. He then directed me to move from the slightly uncomfortable, air conditioned car that I’d slumped over in, to the very uncomfortable, hot one for which my ticket was designated.
I made little fuss and grabbed up my things to give him a second pass at the back of my tripod bag, ensuring that he knew I was still aware of his universally translating distaste for foreign travelers.
In any case, I spent the next 10 sweaty minutes wading through overflowing luggage, pushing open steamed glass doors to each next car and tripping over the little, Asian feet sticking out into the aisle to finally get to my seat.
Reluctantly, but with optimism, I made myself as comfortable as possible and positioned myself to catch some shut-eye after eating a little bit of my breakfast.
Once past customs, I found out that my train would not be continuing any further into the country. So I had to head for the taxi queue outside.
Next stop: Little India, to lock in my accommodation at the Shop House Hostel and take in the flavor and atmosphere of the Kampong Glam – the sauciest, hippest gathering of restaurants in the east-of-center downtown area.
Once I’d exchanged some money I checked in, locked up my things, ate the rest of my food and took a quick shower, I napped for a few hours in hopes of catching up to the non-groggy, non-agitated person that I strive to be. Then it was off to explore Singapore.
Taipei is no Dubai. But they sure try. And in this tenth and last part to the Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan series, that’s where I make my send-off.
Having visited basically every other part of the country, I thought that this was a suited end to the all-nation trip I’d made overland and to the isles on both sides.
I’d hate to say that Taipei is just like any other city. But I am not really a “city guy.”
Having said that, there’s still an interesting and recent history that I cover in this portion of the film. And having studied it from the traveler’s perspective, it’s got a unique story indeed.
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Coming from humble beginnings, and having not been the country’s original site for its chosen capital, Taipei has risen like a phoenix from its representative, communist ashes. And it’s done so with gusto.
Having been ruled with the same iron fist of mainland china for so long, once freed, the Taiwanese people chose a different future for themselves. And while this made China definitively covetous over their newfound kinship with freedom, they were steadfast and anything but reticent, maintaining their very public stance as the new world’s international posterchild for indignant, anti-communist ideology.
And it proved very fruitful, as the once- neglected town has become a gleaming city, far removed from the antiquated designs and attention of its fledgling self.
Likely making a visible scene from space, the Lantern Festival in the Changhua township takes up the 9th portion of the Travel Geek: Documentary Taiwan series.
The entire town hosts lanterns from the small and lackluster, to the three-story, motorized, dragon-shaped behemoth adorned with synchronized lighting and a sound kit that would rival a Metallica concert. There are snake-like lanterns spanning an entire city-block and fashioned with a million pin-wheels. There are Spongebob Squarepants likenesses. There are seated Buddhas. And even hanging lanterns creating pulsing, writhing ceilings hanging over the roadways.
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All of these lanterns have been imported from across the country. And each one represents a family business, a school or a bank or corporate alliance. And for one year, each team works painstakingly to outdo the next in this everyone-wins competition of showmanship and pride.
And this isn’t a small collection of a few interested parties who’ve come together in a yearly rivalry. This takes up the entire expanse of the town that is chosen each year. Forget Disneyland. Epcot couldn’t, on its best day, compete with even one street corner here. When I say they go all out, these people put Nasa to shame in their show of lights.
To say it’s epic, simply doesn’t do this event justice. It’s an experience like no other. And throughout the night, all one needs to do is walk, snack on the countless roadside vendor’s offerings and be amazed at the sheer size of this festival.
Originally starting in the mountains, this festival first resembled a few, scattered lanterns shooting skyward as the warning of an invasion was eminent. Today, while China claims tenure over this event, Taiwan definitely takes the event to the next level and has a death-grip over this celebration like an angry dog defending a bone.
As far as I am concerned, a lantern festival that encompasses an entire city, draws in an entire country and represents a year of the nation’s focus simply has no rival. It can get no bigger. And it need not. Because after something like this stretches beyond the city limits and contends internationally for the brightest light on the year’s darkest night, I’d imagine that the quaintness and personal touch would move from the impressive and awe-inspiring to be replaced by spite and shark-like antagonism.
Besides, by the look of things, they’d have to start hiring outside assistance to make this any grander. And that would mean it’s no longer a native event. The electric bill alone might require taking out a loan from China anyway!