forced to linger more in Singapore

If it could go wrong, it did go wrong in Singapore….of course, I wouldn’t have know this when I stepped off my uneventful, verging on pleasant, 11 hour flight. I eased through immigration and walked outside to meet my pre-arranged airport shuttle. I had specific instructions on where to wait and what time the bus, which they claim looks like a bumble bee(hard to miss right?), would pick me up and take me to my hostel. I arrived at the meeting point five minutes early, it was almost 7pm and the sun was setting, the air was hot and thick with moisture. I waited ten minutes, before double checking all my pick up information. Ten minutes became twenty, then forty; still no van that looked like a bumble bee, in fact, no van at all. I decided to make a very expensive ($3.50/min) phone call to ask where my bus was. The man on the phone didn’t understand me, but kept saying the bus is on the way. So I waited, I waited another thirty, forty, fifty minutes…nothing. It was now 8:30, completely dark and I was still at the airport. I decided to get a taxi, another $25 I didn’t want to spend, but at this point all I wanted to do was check into my hostel and shower.

Finally at my hostel I checked in, showered and promptly passed out. I woke up in the morning, itching an all too familiar itch, bed bugs! Indeed, that’s right I was in Asia for less than twenty-four hours and my first bed-bug problem had found me. I don’t have time to deal with the problem at that moment as I had an appointment at the US Embassy to get more pages added to my passport (yep, I filled it up). After getting lost on multiple buses, I finally arrived at the entrance of the embassy where I was informed by a security guard, they were closed for a random Thursday holiday. Apparently, whoever scheduled my appointment forgot, when they told me to come at 11am that day. So I left, passport still full, told to return at 8am the next morning, without an appointment and likely be forced spend the entire weekend, not budgeted for or planned, in Singapore.

After being denied access to the embassy, I walked around Singapore’s historic areas and did some standard sightseeing. The streets of Singapore are filled with fast moving dangerous traffic and the sidewalks are none existent; as I was darting and weaving my way through the city, I accidentally fell/stepped in a massive hole. Now with a twisted ankle and bloody knee, I walked back to my hostel to deal with the bed bug issue. When I quietly and politely told the staff I had been bitten by bed bugs they were unresponsive. When I asked to moved rooms they acted angry. When I asked for new sheets they got downright rude. After moving my things to a new room, which I was convinced was not bed bug free, I went looking for a new place to stay.

I checked thirteen hostels, hotels and guesthouses near my budget range in Singapore and all of them were full or filled with bed bugs as well. I resigned myself to my fate and chose to sleep funny hours (sunrise til noon) and cover myself head to toe with clothing so there would be nothing for the bugs to bite. My strategy worked well as I found relatively few bites over the next few days, however many fellow travelers reported problems with bed bugs as well and the staff of this hostel just didn’t seem to care. I began to notice the number of blood stains on the mattresses and the walls around the hostel too numerous to count. This place didn’t just have a bed bug problem it had a full on infestation, and the ambivalence of the staff was not helping.

Friday morning I spent hours at the US Embassy waiting to have pages added to my passport and after many hours of waiting, I was told what I already suspect, they needed two business days to process my passport and it would not be ready until Monday afternoon. I was officially stuck in Singapore until Monday.

My weekend in Singapore, aside from the bed bugs was nice, I checked out the city. Went to several malls, museums and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Casino and Shopping center. This place was absurd. Several high end shopping outlets framed a casino and a three tower hotel/conference center with a boat sitting atop. I made the best of my situation and enjoyed seeing more of Singapore than I planned.








On Monday, I made my way to the embassy once again, this time to pickup my passport and armed with two new sets of blank visa pages, continue my journey through Asia. Finally!

Some how the bus company put the wrong name on my ticket when I booked a bus to Malaysia and began my journey onward. I hoped it wasn't a bad sign.