The Beginning of a 36 Hour Journey... The End of a 36 Day Long One

Our plan of waking up every morning at 6 am and staying out exploring until 10 pm was short lived, as soon as we realized a) we could barely function without 245 oz of coffee and b) nothing really opens until 10 am so there really wasn’t a point to being awake. We wanted to take advantage of the little time we had in Singapore and shove everything in, but after 1 month of early wake up calls, late nights, long talks, game nights, language barriers, cultural differences, but SO much fun, we realized the importance of sleep.

Art at Haji lane

So this morning was very relaxing! We woke up at 8am and my stomach decided to absolutely hate me and kick into celiac reaction mode (what I ate? couldn’t tell ya!) Once I finally felt like I wasn’t being punched in my stomach, we got ready, tried to figure out airline tickets which failed epically, and then head off for the day! I will warn you, today was not as grand as yesterday’s soap opera. We went to this place called, “Selfie Coffee” where you can literally take a selfie and they print it ONTO THE FOAM of your coffee. I’m sorry… huh? I couldn’t tell if it was cool, self-absorbed, a sad symbol of the world we live in, a huge entrepreneurial feat, or a combination of everything above. Regardless, it was interesting! We easily found our breakfast spot called, “An Açaí Affair” My philosophy is that you can never have too much açaí. Again, they didn’t take card and we had about $15 SD (Singapore dollars) in cash left that we scrounged together with random coins and prayed it was enough. We got our bowls, relaxed, laughed a bit, cried a bit about how long our journey is going to be, composed ourselves, and continued with our day.

Allison at Haji lane

We went to this famous (and tourist-y but also super cool) street called Haji Lane. It is full of beautiful murals, different hipster feel-y stores and cafés, and reminded me a bit of a blend of Silver Lake, Venice Beach, and Montmartre (3 amazing places, I must say). We went into this one jewelry shop and met the owner who is a French man that moved to Laos and then “wanted something new” so he opened a store in Singapore. I couldn’t resist, so I broke out my French, a little rusty I must say, and we got into a big conversation about the cultural differences between the French and Americans.

Him *with a beautiful Parisian accent*: Oh, Americans are so expressive. After a movie they’re all like, ‘Wow that was the best movie in the world. He was so cute. They did amazing. It was beautiful. I cried’ but French people will walk out of the movie like, ‘Cool. A movie’

I laughed because I remember going to the theater in France and laughing hysterically or crying at a scene and getting weird glances. All the French people were thinking, “What is this girl’s problem” But it’s such a true cultural difference. He also talked about the huge political difference between France and America.

Him: Americans get so into politics. They go and take action and get so heated and angry. But it’s good because they want to do something. French people accept what’s wrong with the world and learn to live in it.

I understood where he was coming from, but after living with a host family for 6 or so months, I realized that French people love their politics. It’s not spoken about as much on the street or amongst online platforms, but if you talk politics with a French-men/women, the conversation wouldn’t be too discouraged.

I tell you all of this not because I think it is important to have all this knowledge about France. I mean yes, I love France but that’s not the point. I just find it fascinating how a skill (French) that I developed years ago, allowed me to be in Singapore, in a random jewelry store and learn about someone else’s life, culture, people, and country. I think it’s amazing that no matter where you go, you can learn something. Also I realized, what if I didn’t speak French to him? The second he started talking I recognized the perfect Parisian accent. I miss those accents. But I was so scared to speak French with him. What if I mess up? What if I can’t understand anything he is saying? What if I forgot everything? I made a list of a dozen reasons why I shouldn’t speak French with him. Despite my desire to speak French, despite how much I love and miss France, despite me actually knowing my ability, I had so much fear. But I had one little part of my mind that allowed me to actually go for it: “Why not?”

It’s been something that Allison and I have said often on this trip. Why are you going to Indonesia? Why not? Want to go see the light show? Why not? Want to try this restaurant? Why not? Can we go take a picture here? WHY NOT! It’s something that has so come in handy when this irrational fear part of my mind takes over. I mean, I don’t suggest saying “why not” to everything single thing (example: want to skydive with no parachute? Why not would NOT be the proper response in this situation) But the “why not” perspective that I’ve developed over the past month, has allowed me so much freedom. It may seem nonchalant and unenthusiastic, but I feel that it’s very much the opposite. I think it is the perfect push that has allowed me to do things, meet people, and learn things that I wouldn’t have, had I let fear or over-analyzing dictate my decisions.

After our little run in with Monsieur Jewelry Store, we walked around a bit more - stopping at murals, looking at art, and eventually finding ourselves on Arab St. It was lined with amazing middle eastern food (all of which I wanted to eat on. the. SPOT!) There were gorgeous blue tiled buildings, a bright, white Mosque, and enough hummus to last you a lifetime! We adventured a little further until we realized it was probably time to head home and pack. We were about to begin our 36 hour (46 hour for Allison… she lives in Minnesota :/) long journey home.

We had a bit of a hiccup at the MRT station when Allison’s card said it was expired and wouldn’t let her through. She got that solved in no time and we were off. Then another hiccup presented itself when my card said it was expired while we were trying to leave…? We finally made it though and went straight to check in to drop off this massive luggage we had (it was underweight so it wasn’t TOO bad!) We had yet ANOTHER hiccup when the attendant said that Allison had an outstanding bill for her luggage. We tried to pay that, her card didn’t want to work… we felt all forces against us. Finally we did get it paid for and our hangry, frustrated selves needed some food preferably with protein and vegetables. After a very late lunch, WE FOUND A FISH SPA! IN THE AIRPORT! Only in Singapore, my friends. We couldn’t NOT do it, so we paid for fish to eat our feet for 20 minutes and let me just tell you, that was the weirdest experience of our lives. Everyone says it tickles, but these little guppies just swarm and latch on and move all across your feet with so much force it kind of felt like this weird tickle vibration thing. Allison and I couldn’t get over it - it freaked us out so much. But you know, we had to do it.

Fish are friends... not food!

After that, we rubbed what Allison thought was lotion all over our bodies. Turns out it was body soap. Yes, Allison is blind… we’re working on it!

We eventually made it to security which side note, they do AT the boarding gate. So we went through security at our individual gate just 10 minutes before boarding. It was so interesting. We were originally very confused, as we got our boarding passes and immediately went into the terminals without any form of security, but I guess they do it differently here! We got onto the plane and found 2 rows completely empty so obviously we took advantage of that and slept across 3 seats. It was an easy flight. Immigration?Easy. Getting our bags? SO easy. Finding our departure gate? Also, very easy. What could go wrong at this point?

Our own rows! Highlight of the travel experience thus far!

Oh let me just tell you! When you walk into the Bangkok airport, there is a long row (A-W) of gates for what seems like a hundred different airlines. There are then people sitting in chairs and on the floor and spewn about in front of these gates. Allison and I walked in, trying to find our gate to check in. Mind you, we were 7 hours early for our flight (we would later find out our flight was delayed an hour and a half…) Apparently, you can’t check in until 3 hours before your flight. So, feeling defeated, we found a seat amongst maybe 1000 other humans and prayed the time would fly quickly. We played cards, found some food, scrolled through instagram one too many times, and felt every form of hope in our body just leave. We are hanging in there!

Party at the airport!!

According to Allison, “The only thing I can think about right now is how awful it is to sit here. To look back at the day. I would say it was relaxed… a slower day. I got a picture that was exciting but it was a little over edited… *Allison left to go clean out her backpack because she an entire bottle of bug cream exploded in her backpack :(* (She’s back) Today was consumed with (long pause) the same thing happened, I’m trying to think of a word (I’m concerned with her mental processing right now). Today was consumed with (laughs hysterically… are you ok, Allison?She’s still laughing) I’m thinking back on the day. Went to Haji… ya know, to be quite honest, some of the things today were a bit of a let down. I was expecting bigger açaí bowls with more toppings. I was expecting a few more Instagram worthy photos from Haji lane. I was expecting to get yummy food before leaving Singapore. It was restful but I’m not feeling too rested, ya know (no, no I don’t) I’ve been anxious to get home all day! That’s my honest truth. Also on my dating app, NO people want to go on dates with me! *cries* Maybe my wifi isn’t working; I’ll reconnect again.”

Thank you all so much for coming on this long adventure with me through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia! I will do a big recap and compilation of thoughts when I am back in the states (which is approximately 32 hours from now!) Lots of love!

At the beginning of the day...

Us pre-airport...