Singapore - Visa Run or Food Run?

A 60 day Indonesian visa will only get you so far.  It is fairly straight forward to extend, but costs about $60 a person for another 30 days and involves a strange process of getting a letter from a local, with a copy of their identification, and having them vouch for you financially.  Although it was a possibility, we looked for a more exotic way to continue our stay in Bali. 

We monitored the Air Asia website, and found a a great deal on a visa run to Singapore.  The flight was about $65 round trip, and although we had to pay $25 for a visa on arrival when we returned to Bali, it seemed well worth it.  After all, we had been detoxing, eating healthy, and were starting to tire of the Balinese cuisine.  Where better to cure all these ailments then one of the food capitals of Southeast Asi?  We were even able to snag our first Couchsurfing gig (albeit through an introduction from a friend).

Our Couchsurfing hosts, Emily and Chris - trying the crocodileWe have been to Singapore a few times in the past, with our friend Laura indoctrinating us to the food culture, introducing us to Din Tai Fung and Donut Factory dumplings.  We have explored some of the tastiest hawker center treats. 

For this trip, I took it as a personal challenge - how can we eat all of our favorites, and try some new dishes, and stuff ourselves silly in about 48 hours? Gluttony is my favorite sin. 

We ate our old standbys, like BBQ sting ray and chicken rice, which is probably the national dish of Singapore.  We ate dim sum, carrot cake, iced kachang desserts, fruity drinks, oyster cakes, BBQ pork, sea bass, crayfish, and dumplings.  We of course had our Din Tai Fung soup dumplings, drank soursop juice, and even tried crocodile.  

We went to tons of hawker centers, or outdoor food courts, including Maxwell Road, Old Airport Road, Adam Road, and Lau Pa Sat.  We became fixtures at the Raffle City mall basement food emporium. We found a new favorite donut place (the Donut Factory disappointed, and has been closing down locations, but J. Co. Coffee and Donuts stepped in nicely).  

We also were able to see our friends, Meiling who we met during our past stays at the Singapore, and YS, who works for a former client from my law firm days.  They both treated us like royalty at some of the hawker centers, ordering dish after dish so we could try as much as possible.  YS said “you can try it all!”

Hawker Cuisine with MeilingIn a little more than 48 hours we ate almost 30 different dishes and almost 10 different beverages.  I was stuffed and bloated by the time we trained back to Changi airport, but entirely happy with our decision to take the food run to Singapore.   

Some tips if you want to eat your way through Singapore:

1. Take the MRT train from the airport to downtown, for a little more than $1.  Public transportation is cheap and efficient.  There is a tourist card for 1-3 days.  If you think you will take more than 5 or 6 rides a day, it is worth it. 
2. Check out the hawker centers.  You cannot go wrong.  They are the cleanest and safest food stalls out there.  Order a few dishes from various vendors and bring them back to your table (or, give them your table number, and they will deliver).  It is also the cheapest way to eat, with many dishes costing as little as S$3.
3. Try both Laksa and Chicken Rice, the national dishes of Singapore.
4. Alcohol is expensive, but a large bottle of beer at a hawker center is “only” S$6.  Avoid the western, expat restaurants and clubs if you are looking for cheap drinks.
5. When you get hot, pop into a shopping mall for air con, a drink, and a snack.  The basement food courts have everything in one place.
6. Don’t spit, jay walk, eat on public transportation, chew gum, etc. Singapore is a “Fine City” - it is clean and efficient, but comes with a price.  You can get fined for everything!

For a video tour of our eat fest, check this out: 

And, for those of you who do not want to sit through 5 minutes of eating, check out the highlight reel - a cool 30 seconds flat of Singapore eats: 

Too Hippie For SquareTown, Too Much of a Square For Hippie Town

Square Town 

I often felt uncomfortable in my former skin.  I did not like wearing suits.  I did not like pretending that I was impressed by expensive cars or clothes.  I had my one fancy purse, that I bought years ago.  I never wore expensive shoes.  I always bought clothes on sale.  I knew I was saving money for experiences and not stuff.  

Most of all, I knew I did not belong in corporate America.  I did not like to play the game, to engage in the office politics.  It was a game I played pretty darn well, but did not like myself for it.  I owned too many buddhas, and wished for a different life.  I wanted to explore yoga more, listen to Balinese or Indian music, light incense, and engage in other similar activities. 

I often felt like too much of a hippie for this world, this Square Town.  I was a little too round.  When I announced my plans to finally leave the profession, one of the partners said he heard I was running away to join an ashram.  Close, but not quite. 

Hippie Town

On the other hand, I am not so idealistic to swear off things like money.  I made good money, I saved it, and as a result I am able to live a different lifestyle now.  Part of this lifestyle involves buying flowing pants and skirts, and wearing multiple bracelets and necklaces, one of them with a sitting buddha image on it.  Did I mention the buddha tattoo on my back?  And the other one on my wrist that reads “fearlessness” in Sanskrit.  I get more and more hippified as I continue down this path of perpetual traveler and digital nomad.  

Then, I arrived in Ubud, originally an artists’ colony that developed around the Balinese culture and the Hindu spirituality that exists in central Bali.  The town’s tourist focus now includes plenty of restaurants for vegetarian, vegan, and even raw food.  There are health food stores, supplements, green juices, detox programs, and plenty of healing initiatives.  It is easily the most “hippie” place I have been to.

I signed up for classes at the Yoga Barn.  I started to explore classes at the Yoga Barn, which can be both physically intense, as well as a bit more spiritual than I was used to at home.  I became more used to chanting Om and Shanti, and was trying a lot harder to focus on meditating.

Early on, I attended an afternoon Sound Healing class.  I had an unlimited pass and wanted to make the most of the various classes.  It was a master class, with a half dozen healers playing percussion, using Tibetan bowls and crystal bowls, and many instruments I had just never heard of before.  There were even a few didgeridoos. The leader wore a shiny brown satin two piece outfit, with a Native American beaded belt.  He had long, flowing hair, and plenty of necklaces.  Most of his brothers and sisters dressed similarly, other than the one percussionist from San Francisco.

We started the class by singing in a group - all about love and the world.  I felt slightly uncomfortable, and not just because I am a terrible singer.  Once we were told to lay down and just listen to the sounds and the vibrations of the music, I felt more comfortable.  At some point in the class, I felt a sharp pain in my left shoulder, to the point that I could not get comfortable, and I needed to roll over into a fetal position.  I was not sure if that was the “healing” or what.   In the end, I am glad I went, but at first it was a little too much for me.  I have attended a few more sound healing classes, and in each one this pain in my left shoulder has occurred.  It probably has something to do with healing, or energy flows, or meridians.  Maybe there is some merit to this stuff.  But, I remain skeptical.  

Tibetan Bowls at Sound HealingI enjoy the spirituality of the Balinese culture of offerings and temples.  There is something different about this island, and this town.  Perhaps it is an energy, or merely a history and culture that concerns itself with evil spirits and honoring the ancestors.

I am settling in to life in Ubud a little more, becoming more used to the sing alongs and Sanskrit chanting.  I am becoming a little more comfortable with being in such a chill place.  We burn incense all day at the villa, I have been using an essential oil called “bliss,” and we even bought some healing crystals.  Hook, line, and sinker.

Most of all, I try not to judge other people.  The sound healers and other yoga teachers all have one thing in common - they are entirely comfortable with who they are as human beings.  Which is not something I can say about most people back in the “real” world. 

But, I still wonder, am I a little too square to fit into this hippie town?  And, if I am too much of a hippie for the world I left, where do I fit in?

Balinese Blessing of a Harley Davidson

After our Balinese purification ritual in Tampak Siring, we hopped on the back of the motorbike for the 30 minute drive back to Ubud.  I was soaking wet from top up, but we both were able to change into dry bottoms for the ride back home.  I assumed my shirt would dry on the way, in the open air of the motorbike.   

As we inched closer to Ubud, the weather turned.  It started to drizzle, and ultimately the skies opened up.  Balinese motorbike drivers pulled over to throw on massive ponchos.  We pulled over to put the camera and phones under the seat to keep them from the deluge.  We were officially soaked head to toe, for the second time that afternoon.  It was as if we were purified once again.

When we arrived back at the villa, all I wanted to do was use the bathroom and change into dry clothes, before ordering a pizza and curling up in bed.  But, we got to experience another uniquely Balinese experience - the blessing of a motorbike.

I am well accustomed at this point to the Balinese daily offerings.  I have seen women weaving together the palm leaves to make the offering basket.  I have seen women place flowers, fruits, and other items into the small basket, and then place them on an altar, the ground, cars and motorbikes, often lighting incense as well.  We have seen the special offerings for the holidays of Galungan and Kuningan as well.  Our friend, Komang, has placed offerings on our rental motorbike, or near it, to bless us and keep us safe while traveling the roads here in Bali.

But this was not just any old Honda or Yamaha motorbike.  It was a Harley, and the largest one I had seen.  It was so wide and so long and so heavy, that when the owner was trying to move it for the ceremony, Made, one of the villa employees struggled to push and pull it into place.

The owner of the Harley was the owner of the villa, and he gathered with his family just after dusk, with a Balinese priest to bless the Harley.  It is generally quite common to have a blessing ceremony for a motorbike in Bali, and they re-bless the bike every 6 months.  But this seemed a bit excessive. 

The Harley was covered with a gold colored cloth.  The priest sat cross legged, chanted, and rang a bell to bless each of the items that were used in the blessing, including holy water, rice, and the offerings themselves.  The offerings included baskets upon baskets of fruit, flowers, treats, and incense.  There were stacks of them.  

As the owner sat cross legged on the ground, checking his email and taking phone calls, the women in the family, his wife and mother, took turns walking around the bike, sprinkling the water, throwing bits of rice, and waving blessed palm leaves over the bike.   Like much of Bali, this was the perfect combination of ancient Balinese Hindu tradition, mixed with the modern day conveniences of technology and ridiculously expensive bikes. 

It continued to drizzle, and although I was itching to get inside and put on some dry clothes, it was interesting to see the ceremony. The entire ceremony lasted thirty minutes, and we were there for all of it.  The family was welcoming, allowing me to take pictures and film, even if it was dark.  Afterwards, the wife offered us fruit from the offerings. When we took 2 pieces, they just kept filling my hands with it.    

So, in one afternoon, we were purified at a Balinese temple, purified again on the back of a motorbike, and then watched a purification of a Harley Davidson.  Only in Bali.