First destination: Singapore

After a grueling 19-hour trip in a cramped unknown chinese airline, with one of my contacts bathing in a water cup, and watching The Phone Booth with no sound and only in Chinese subtitles, I finally arrived at Singapore...at 5am. Just as a precaution, I waited until sunrise to make my way to the city (because some people are really worried that I won't make it back alive from this trip). The first thing that I noticed about Singapore, and probably all of SE Asia, was how HUMID the place was, almost like swimming through air. I had to make several pit stops during the day in some of the sprawling shopping malls located on every corner of the city.



Having been told that I can only check in at 3pm at the hostel, I had good 8 hours to kill before I could rest. So lugging my backpack, still with only one eye contact, I trekked throughout this small city-nation. A little background on Singapore: It was first founded by Sir Ruffles from Britain in 1819, and before colonization, the city was merely a small fishing village. It soon became a booming port town with European, American, and Asian trade ships going in and out, day in and day out. So even today, English is one of the official languages (though most people aren't very good at it), and three distinct races occupy the city-nation - Chinese, Indian, and Malay. What's most interesting about Singapore is the fact that it's an amalgamation of colonialism, high technology, and a strange mixture of races that don't seem to mix at all. They live together, side by side, but they don't have a common language so it doesn't seem like the different races interact at all.



As a backpacker, I've found that Singapore doesn't have too much to offer considering I'm not going to be shopping at Cartier or Burberry any time on this trip, their idea of nature is a zoo, and outdoor activities are limited to running and cricket. One great thing about Singapore is the numerous food courts that offer Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian cuisine for a very affordable price. I'm not exactly sure how long I'll stay, but don't be surprised if I'm in a different country by my next post.



- Ryoji

Start of the journey

I'm starting my backpacking trip tomorrow! I'm going to LA first and spending the night there because it's much cheaper to fly from LAX to Singapore than from Chicago. I've pretty much thrown away everything that I own - furniture, clothes, random gadgets - so that I'm down to 2 cardboard boxes, a backpack, and a guitar. My parents are actually moving back to Japan, going back to their home country, which means that I don't have any family obligation to stay in Chicago. It's a great feeling to have no strings attached.



It's a bit scary right now as I'm beginning to leave my comfortable bubble with my high school/college friends, my family, and throwing myself into a complete unknown. I'm actually kind of homeless now. It's a lot stranger than the time I went backpacking in Central America over winter break because I knew that I had a place to come back to when I was done. But now, I don't really have a place to return. Just like the other trip though, I need to wait until I have that "fu*k it" feeling where I stop caring what happens next. Then, just then, will backpacking be truly exciting.



So I guess this is the first and the last post with my own laptop. I'll frequently update this (hopefully) at internet cafes around Southeast Asia.

- Ryoji