Travel - day 2

More traveling.  Bus, plane, and now another 8 hours of plane.  Still exhausted.  Very weak, very feeble.  As soon as I sat down on the half-full United Airline (and by the way ANA the first flight I took, awesome service, food and comfort) I fell asleep in spite of the extremely uncomfortable United seats. 

Side note: my flight rankings for overseas flights

1.       ANA

2.       Air France

3.       Virgin Atlantic

4.       British Airways

5.       NOT United

Anyways, I skipped the meal, skipped the films, skipped it all and slept.  Upon arrival I admit I was quite nervous, having to enter a new country and continent.  The customs form comes complete with the warning, “Penalty of Death for Drug Trafficking.”  Taxis were also reported to be suspect when foreigners make it clear they don’t know where they are going.  So after clearing customs and getting a cab, I did my best to sound like I knew where I was going, which was a hostel in the middle of the city.  The drive through the city was amazing.  A city of life and colors everywhere.  And this was 1AM!  The down town was lit in amazing splendor, and the architecture of the buildings that comprises the downtown is as impressive as any designs as I have seen. 

The hostel itself…well I found it, because I had the address.  In fact, it not marked at all aside from the address.  It is called Smeet Family Home Hostel.  Apparently it’s just that, a family named Smeet lives there and rents out rooms as hostels.  I was just glad to find it, get off the streets and crash.  Comfy bed, AC, the rest…well its cheap and it will work for one week until I move in with the others.  More to come on that. 

Singapore fun fact day 2: in 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore on a mission to find a trading site.  He convinced the people of Singapore to sign a treaty giving the British exclusive trade rights.  By 1824, the East India Company secured undisputed legal rule of the island.