Crazy travel plans that lead to 3 days in transit and some tips for sleeping at airports

India posts and photos will follow shortly once I have completed my 3 days in transit that take me from Dharamsala (India) via Delhi airport, Mumbai airport, Heathrow airport (London), my parent’s house near Southampton, central London (to try to buy Harina Pan), Heathrow airport (again) and finally Buenos Aires (again). In essence, I left India on Thursday afternoon and will arrive in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning. Am I crazy, probably but I’m not one to miss out on any opportunity to squeeze just a bit more out of my time off!

Delhi airport has this cool wall of mudra hands

Delhi airport also has a really cool sun salutations yoga sculpture

In the meantime I have developed my skill for sleeping on airport floors, so I thought I’d share some tips in case any of you also devise equally silly travel plans that take in 4 airports over 3 days!

• Selecting the right spot:

This is important! You want to find a spot where you won’t be bothered and feel safe. On the way in at Mumbai Domestic Terminal I followed the locals and positioned myself on the floor between some benches. It meant no-one disturbed me and I could lock my bag to the bench.

Finding a spot at Mumbai International Terminal was more difficult. In the end I found a spot between a pillar and the wall (there were other people sleeping along the wall) so again people wouldn’t need to walk over me etc.

At Caracas Domestic Terminal everyone gathers together in one spot to sleep. Safety in numbers I guess…

• Little luxuries to make yourself more comfortable:

I’m lucky enough to be travelling with a yoga mat which I roll out to sleep on. Not only does it keep out the cold of the floor (a bit) and provide a little cushioning, it also marks out my ‘spot’. Many Indian people have various types of mats or blankets to sleep on, which don’t provide padding but at least keep you off the dirty floor. The etiquette was to take your shoes off before sitting/sleeping on the mat.

 

I also like to have my fleece top or a blanket to keep me warm as most airports like to blast the air conditioning (this is especially important for Caracas airport where the air-con is sub-zero!).

I have an eye mask to keep out the bright airport lights, an inflatable travel pillow for my head (I noticed Indians have some amazing ability to sleep with their head directly on the floor, even lying on their sides. I don’t). I also use either my headphones and iPod or earplugs to keep out the noise.

• Security:

Of course, when you are travelling on your own you don’t have anyone to keep an eye on your bags while you take a nap. In transit I put my rucksack in a Bolivian rice sack so it doesn’t look so appealing and then I put the bag between me and the wall, on the basis that I would most probably wake up if someone tried to move the bag. I sometimes also sleep with my feet up on the bag or an arm draped across. My day bag has a strap that I can lock to a bench, railing, trolley so usually I try to lock it to something if I can, or at least padlock the zips closed and keep the strap wrapped around my body somehow.

As a lone female traveller, I’ve been lucky enough never to have any hassle when sleeping at airports though I’ve had many funny looks when I’m rolling out my mat and setting up my place to sleep!

Here is a link to a website about sleeping at airports. I’ve found it a useful resource over the years.

This sign is above the paper towel dispenser in the toilets. You can’t help yourself, and choose how much paper you want to waste, because a lady is waiting there to give you a big handful of paper towels!

Singapore

Singapore skyline

Wow, Singapore was a real culture shock!  Sounds funny to say that when it’s the most ‘Western’ of all the Asian countries I have visited on this trip.  For some reason I found the sheer choice, efficiency of everything and the number of brightly lit, glitzy shopping malls a complete assault on my senses.  I thought it was meant to be the other way around with the sounds, smells and sights of places like Bangkok causing sensory overload.  Anyway, despite this feeling I had a great few days in Singapore.

Sherman (my Singaporean friend in London) totally hooked me up by asking his mum to put me up in his old room and putting me in touch with his friend Jasmine (who’s a film maker I’d met once before in London).  Elizabeth (Sherman’s mum) made me feel totally welcome in her lovely house (filled with more designer clothes and shoes than the V&A!) even though I think her and Sherman’s (great?) Aunty thought I was a bit mad.  Aunty thought it was very clever of me to get from the airport to the house without getting lost and thought I was brave and clever to take the MRT (metro/tube) everywhere, even to get back to the airport.  She was super sweet though in that typical Aunty kind of way and kept trying to feed me sweets!  Elda, the Filipino house helper was also super lovely and had the warmest smile for me every time I saw her.  She even walked me to the metro station the first time (on Aunty’s instructions, to make sure I didn’t get lost) and she told me that this was her second time working in Singapore.  In between jobs she’d gone back to the Philippines to get married and have a family.  Now, because she is working in Singapore, she hadn’t seen her children in two years.  It really made me think about the sacrifices people make in many parts of the world to provide for their families.  And here I was gallivanting around the world with hardly a care in the world!

Marina Bay Sands hotel and ArtScience Museum

Crazy water/light/projection/lazer show at Marina Bay Sands

As I said, Singapore is super-efficient so I zipped around town on the MRT (with a pre-paid card like the London Oyster system, so no worries about finding change to buy tickets) or caught a taxi (even no need to insist to the driver to put the meter on or negotiate the price in advance) or took a bus (lovely and air-conditioned).

I explored the Marina Bay Sands development (though I didn’t get to stay at the hotel or try out their roof top infinity pool) which was bigger than I had imagined.  The hotel building isn’t quite as impressive as it looks in photos but the view of the Singapore skyline is impressive and so was the sound/light/music/laser show they have each night.  It reminded me of the crazy fountain/laser/music show in Lima but on the sort of budget you would expect in Singapore!  They also have an excellent museum at Marina Bay Sands called the ArtScience Museum where I saw a great Andy Warhol exhibition (I can’t think of a more appropriate exhibition for Singapore – the perfect blend of art/consumerism/pop-culture) and an exhibition about the Titanic.  This was mostly made up of sets that you walked through, information boards and a few objects that had been recovered from the Titanic.  Of course they had sets so that you could have your photo taken at the front of the ship (think of that famous film scene with Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio) or on the main staircase.  There was even a real iceberg that you could touch, well, it was a big piece of ice that looked like an iceberg.  I didn’t think it was real ice until I touched it myself!  And of course there is also a giant glitzy mall at Marina Bay Sands that even had a canal with boats.

I visited most of the museums, which were all really excellent and inspiring, if a bit big and overwhelming.  It was nice to rediscover my enthusiasm for museums again!  The National Museum of Singapore (who I’d been working with before on the V&A’s Wedding Dress exhibition) had a large interactive display about the history of Singapore, which was fascinating and informative (if a bit too big and with too much information) as well as a beautiful display of traditional Cheongsam dresses.

Boat canal in the middle of Marina Bay Sands shopping mall

After my visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum I kind of wish I’d started my Asia visit in Singapore rather than finished it here.  The museum gave an excellent overview of the main Asian cultures and had particularly excellent examples of sculptures and textiles from each country.  I had a brief look at the Middle East section and got a lot out of the India section, especially as I wouldn’t be visiting the main tourist sights of India.

The Singapore Art Museum was between main exhibitions but I loved the two small permanent displays, which were really well curated and interpreted for a general audience.  SAM’s outpost [insert name of extra SAM gallery] had a really interesting group show, which included some great installations and street art.

Sherman and Jasmine had recommended I visit the Peranakan Museum to find out more about the Chinese Straights culture and history in Singapore.  Again, the displays were well interpreted for someone (like me) who knows nothing about Chinese Straights history.  I saw the most beautiful beaded table cloths and other textiles, and happily collected by embossing stamps (meant for kids I think) as I went round each section of the museum.

I also went to a couple of independent pop-up exhibitions with Jasmine and it was fascinating to see a historical neighbourhood, the tradition buildings and to see how the area was being developed.

Raymond, the Tomb Whisperer

Bukit Brown (not only a cemetery but a green oasis in Singapore)

Bukit Brown

Jasmine was a tour guide extraordinaire during my visit making sure I ate at some great hawker markets (small markets where street food vendors are now required to sell their food so the government can keep an eye on things) and gave me an amazing insight into the social politics and continuing development of Singapore.  I won’t go into the details here (I’m still digesting the complexity of it all myself) but it made a country that can seem quite superficial from the outside infinitely more interesting.  It was also nice to meet people who were socially active and interested in similar/comparable issues to those that I’m interested in.

Jasmine had organised a tour of Bukit Brown cemetery, which my visit luckily coincided with.  You can read about Bukit Brown here and through the other links on this page.  To make way for a new road development, which is supposed to ease traffic congestion but won’t, many of the graves have to be exhumed.  Although there is an active campaign against this process, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the government will press ahead as planned.  Some families have already exhumed graves at their own expense so they can pick an auspicious date rather wait for the official government date.  The campaign has raised awareness though and hopefully it might also raise awareness about how land is being developed in Singapore.  There are 22 golf courses in Singapore and only one Bukit Brown.  Imagine how much land space is taken up by golf courses and still the Singapore government says there is not enough land space…

The tour was led by Raymond, also known as the Tomb Whisperer, who showed us some of the most important graves, either in terms of style or importance of the person buried.  Many of Singapore’s pioneers are buried at Bukit Brown.  The tour was fascinating and again it gave me an insight into another aspect of Singaporean history and culture that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.

I also have to add a little note here about Changi International Airport.  I’ve been to this airport a few times for work and I have to say that it is still my favourite airport in the world (I’ve visited my fair share over the years).  Why does it get my vote for best international airport?  Well, it never seems that busy or crowded, the staff are super helpful, it’s easy to find your way around despite the size, there is more than just shops to keep you entertained during long layovers (free cinema, butterfly garden, pay-lounge (with showers), quiet seating area, Wi-Fi, cheap food court etc.).  What more could you want from an airport?!

Historical neighbourhood

Delicious mock-meat dish from the hawker place near Sherman’s house

Singapore Sling cocktail

Singapore Street Art at SAM

No caption required…

No smelly fruit on the MRT please!

More advice from the Singapore Government…

 

I’ve included lots of external links in this post as I don’t have the space/memory/information at hand to provide all the details here.  For anyone that is interested in finding out more about Singapore then I hope that the links will be useful.  For anyone not so interested, I hope you might at least enjoy the pictures I’ve posted!