Day 854 21st November 2018
20 miles (Singapore Airport to Hostel) Average speed 9.4 mph Top speed 21 mph
Mileage reading 17671
A great but tiring day back on the road.
After very little sleep, maybe 30 mins dozing while watching a film called Red Swallow during my 13 hour flight, I retrieved my bike from baggage reclaim.
I used a toilet to change into shorts and shirt before finding a quiet spot in the basement taxi pick up area to rebuild the bike. It had aircon and despite a few odd looks was no trouble at all.
Then I tried to find my way out of the airport, but I ended up on the expressway, so pedalled quickly to avoid police while car drivers tooted at me.
It was hot and when the sun came out it was even hotter, but as I arrived at the national stadium the heavens opened; it was good to be under the cover of the stadium. I hid under a bridge, where the only way up was to go up some stairs. Once the rain had eased I made my way across and into Marina Bay where I enjoyed the Sands hotel and all the sights in the drizzle.
View of the Marina Bay Sands hotel from across the bay
Going on through Chinatown I saw lots of action and quite a bit of traffic amongst the maze of one way streets, I eventually got to the hostel where I was greeted by Eza and shown to my room, after locking my bike outside. He was very helpful and his colleague gave me a map and pointed out all the good places to see and the good hawker centres for food.
Once unpacked I had lunch in a restaurant next door and a couple of beers before getting some sleep. I woke to my alarm after 3 hours and walked into Chinatown for dinner at Maxwells Food Court of noodles with pork, chilli sauce and veg with a fish soup. The cook came over to show me how to use chopsticks and I complimented her on her fine cooking, which came to the princely sum of 4.50 dollars.
I walked down to the bay and then stopped on the way back for a beer in a bar that was celebrating its 9th birthday, the bottle of Heineken cost 13 dollars (ouch). I met a guy playing pool and chatted with him for a while before getting to bed at 1 am with a blister on my foot from so much walking in cycling shoes.
Hostel tree in lodge 12 dollars.
(http://www.treeinlodge.com/index.php)