When you’re on a bike tour, people ask you almost every day: “Where are you going?” Sometimes we give the short answer, and say the name of the next town or next major city. But if they seem genuinely interested in our trip, we give the final destination for whatever leg of the journey we’re on. So, in South America, we were headed to Quito. In Europe, we were riding to Istanbul. In Asia, Singapore was our finish line.
The day we rode into Singapore started with sunshine, and lots of it, as so many days did in Southeast Asia. To make it to our destination, we needed to cover 130 kilometers (about 80 miles), only 12 of which would actually be in Singapore. We had an early start and made great time, but thunderstorms rolled in with the afternoon. At first we rode through, because after all, being soaking wet was actually more pleasant than being blazing hot. But the steady shower turned into a torrential downpour with lightning in close proximity, so we were forced to sit out for a while under an overpass. The minutes ticked by and we were losing valuable daylight riding time. But the storm raged on, and we knew the rain was so hard that drivers wouldn’t be able to see us… it simply wouldn’t be safe to ride.
Finally it let up a little, and we set out into the border city and confusion of Johor Bahru in Malaysia. We knew there was a causeway that would take us across to Singapore, but we couldn’t find it. Seriously? How was this possible? All the road signs were marked for neighborhoods or areas… not a single one said SINGAPORE. It seems like that would have been the most logical signage, but after stopping to ask about seven people for directions, we finally found our way to the immigration center.
By this time, the sun was setting. When we crossed, we took no picture with a Singapore sign like we had planned. Our bags and gear were drenched, and we were actually a little cold (first time in months) from our wet clothes. We fumbled our way through the directions we had written down from Google maps. Basically, we weren’t exactly experiencing the victorious feeling we had hoped for.
As we pedaled past a bus stop, we saw a car pulled into the space and a guy outside waving his arms to get our attention. We stopped, and the first thing he said was, “You must be Dave and Bethany!” What?! The only contacts we had in Singapore were the family we’d be staying with, and they were Belgians. This guy was Asian. We had no idea who he was.
He introduced himself and explained that he was a friend of Meng, our warmshowers host in KL. He was also a long-distance cyclist, and had ridden his bike from Finland to Singapore in 2004. He knew from Meng we were riding into Singapore around this date, and he had just happened to see us as he was driving across the causeway. And just like that, we had a new best friend in Singapore.
We exchanged contact info with SK (our new friend), and pedaled on, suddenly feeling better. We had made it! Sure, we were riding in the dark. Sure, we were behind schedule. Sure, we were really hungry. But we realized we can be thankful in all things, as the afternoon storms had actually allowed us the perfect timing to cross paths with SK on the road.
SK–our amazing guide for Singapore.
We finally reached the home of our next new friends—the Vanhoorickx family. We had been connected by a mutual friend, and they were so generous as to open up their home to us for the next four days. We had a blast getting to know Luc and Marjolein, and their children, Bo and Linus. Bo gave up her room, and Linus shared with her so we could have a comfortable place to lay our heads. We were incredibly thankful.
Such a great time getting to know the Vanhoorickx family!
To be honest, most of our time in Singapore was spent in their home. We did some tourist activities, but our priority was packing the bikes. We knew because of our airline’s requirements, we (read: Dave) would need to get them in the smallest boxes they’ve ever gone in. SK was kind enough to supply us with bike boxes, and Dave spent tedious hours taking everything off of the bikes and cutting the cardboard boxes down to size.
Dave’s engineering skills at work–making the bike as small as possible!
Smallest they’ve ever been! Eighty inches (205 cm) was the limit. And it paid off… for the first time, we didn’t have to pay any extra baggage fees!
When we did get out as tourists, SK availed himself to us as a personal guide. He showed us some of the best stalls in the well-known Singapore hawker center food courts. We feasted on spring rolls, claypot chicken, noodles, rice and more.
We were introduced to popiah–the maxed out spring roll. Very tasty.
He also made recommendations on the best spots in downtown, and the best ways to see them on a budget. It turns out SK also owns a hostel (Tree In Lodge), but because it was between locations for a few weeks, he had extra time and made a point to hang out with us and show us around. We were struck again by the connection and instant bond you seem to feel when hanging out with other cyclists, especially those who have done long tours. You just understand each other in a way that’s beyond explaining.
Hanging out with SK over lunch… the food was good, the company was better.
We spent most of our tourist time in the city in the late afternoon and evening, so as to avoid the hottest times of day. Singapore is so clean, and it was a refreshing and welcome change from many of the places we’ve been in the past four months. As we walked around enjoying the city, our conversation often turned to the reality that we had made it here–we had crossed our finish line in Asia. We would be flying back in just a few days… and many things will be different. While we’re excited, the ending was bittersweet.
Marina Bay by night
View from the top: We visited the SkyBar on top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and got the cheapest thing we could find on the menu–$8 cokes.
OK, we were really paying for the view, which was awesome!
Thank you, Singapore. We couldn’t have asked for a better ending to our Asian journey.
