May 22, 2015
Cleaning up for the cruise: And meeting other around-the-world adventurers
I spent another four nights in Singapore, mostly preparing for the cruise and my subsequent arrival in Australia. The first two nights were spent at the apartment of Jake, the couchsurfing host. He was a hard-working young Singaporean who still lives with his family but also has his own studio flat so that he can sometimes have his own space, and it’s here that he occasionally hosts people like me. Jake was a really nice guy, although he worked long hours and we only had a little time to hang out in the evening. There was also another couple staying with Jake at the same time, computer science students from America who were on their own around-the-world journey. If I thought that would mean we’d have something in common my thoughts were soon cut short after I asked them how long their trip would last.
“Two weeks in total,” they said, “First we went to Stockholm, a couple of nights in Rome, a stopover in Dubai, after Singapore we’ll go to Bangkok for two days, Tokyo for nine hours and then home.”
“Cool.”
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During the day I walked around nearby Little India and bought some essential supplies, such as an Mp3 player for the long and lonely cycle across the Australian desert that was soon looming ahead of me, and a spray can full of black paint. The paint was used on my bike frame and racks during my last two days in Singapore, when I moved back in with Andy, because I knew Australian customs wouldn’t stand for any dirt or muck on the bike at all, and spray painting over the dirt was easier than trying to clean it off.
I also went through all of my possessions and threw away everything that I didn’t need, which turned out to be a great big bin liner worth of stuff and nonsense. I think I threw away more than I kept. But eventually the bike was clean, my gear was sorted, everything was neat and tidy and spick and span. I was ready for Australia. I was ready for my cruise!
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Naturally I’d been nervous about returning to stay with Andy again. He had been a wonderful host to me the first time of course, but I was concerned that he might have come up with even more ways to cross-examine me about methods of propulsion that may or may not be allowed under my rules of travel. Fortunately he seemed to be behaving himself as we sat down to lunch with his girlfriend Waiyeng, and their good friends Pierre-Paul and Suelynn. Conversation was normal, at least until Suelynn addressed me almost for the first time.
“Chris, Andy told us about you, and I’m wondering,” she paused for a moment, looking at me questioningly, probably for suspense, and then continued, “are you allowed to run up the down escalator?”
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21/05/15 – 8km
23/05/15 – 8km
Today's ride: 16 km (10 miles)
Total: 40,864 km (25,377 miles)
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