After spending the last three weeks jetting around the country for work, today I am again waiting for a plane – at least this time I’m here because it’s holiday time..🥳 and you know what that means.. Japan 🇯🇵
During our World Bicycle Day ride with the Brompton gang, Vida offered to take us on an early morning ride along the Green/Rail Corridor.
This is Singapore’s great rail trail. It runs 24km, from the city centre to a crossing to Malaysia, along what was formerly a railway line used for “commuting and transporting goods between Singapore and the rest of the Malay Peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century. With the return of railway land to Singapore in 2011, the Rail Corridor forms a continuous open space through the heart of Singapore, and presents an opportunity for communities to shape this space, and forge new memories together.”
Wisely Vida suggested that we start early to avoid the heat. So bright and early at 7:00am Vida met us outside our hotel to start, what would be, a 36km ride along this beautiful green corridor and the Alexandra Canal PCN. The route we took is shown below and is available on Strava from this link.
The Rail Corridor is a very pleasant and popular ride. It surprises by offering such a beautiful green corridor to enjoy Singapore. The views above are of the original Singapore Railway Station and of a beautiful sunrise. As we continued on there were more pleasant surprises such as a Yayoi Kasuma pumpkin and one of the original rail bridges.
When I tell most people that I took my Brompton to Singapore they seem to suggest that there are no hills and that there is only city! But Vida made sure that we were aware of at least one hill and I can confirm (as any casual view of a map of Singapore would) that there are plenty of green spaces and wildlife. I should have taken a picture of both the steepish hill and the macaques that crossed our path – but you’ll just have to trust me.
Of course a morning ride wouldn’t be complete without a breakfast stop. We stopped at the Railway Mall for a cheeky pau at Nam Kee Pau (they seem to be everywhere in Singapore). Yum.
Coming from a country that is apparently suffering from a housing crisis, it is fascinating to see how differently Singapore handles housing. I think all Australian’s should contemplate this quote from the Singapore Housing Development Board:
Singapore’s public housing has housed an entire nation – today, more than 1 million flats have been completed in 24 towns and 3 estates across the island. HDB flats spell home for 80% of Singapore’s resident population, of which about 90% own their home.
Perhaps our housing crisis is a collective decision about what we are willing to accept? – There are other ways – The reason I mention this is not because I am writing a political blog – but rather because Vida took us to the 47th floor rooftop garden of Dawson Skyville, a public housing estate. I would have to say, that I have never contemplated entering a high rise public housing estate in Australia. It is an interesting contrast that in Singapore these estates are seen as “public spaces” where anybody can enter. It was eye opening with stunning views. Here are a few photos.
Vida got us back to the hotel around 11am and with just enough time for her to race back home for a virtual work meeting. Thank you Vida for sharing with us your Singapore. We hope to see you again sometime soon.
We freshened up and had light French lunch with rose at Merci Marcel followed by a little siesta.
After the siesta we left the Bromptons behind and used public transport because we had a fancy meal planned. But before we shimmied up to the restaurant to be wined and dined we did some exploring around the Sultan Mosque. This included a visit to the delightful Konditori Artisan Bakes and Patisserie.
The streets are bright and lively here.
Keen readers of this blog would be aware that there is a strong focus on libraries from one of the contributors (not me). But even when that contributor is not physically present her impact is still felt. Somehow we ended up in the main branch of the Singapore Library. So for your library folk here are some pictures.
The finale for the day was a degustation at Seroja. I could try to describe it – but I’ll leave it to short quote from their story and some photos. You’ll be hungry just looking at them.
The restaurant shares the same name as the lotus flower in Malay, a significant cultural symbol for various peoples in the Malay Archipelago region. To me, it represents the commonality in our diversity, how we are similar yet different and the beauty of this harmony.
At Seroja, I celebrate the familiar flavours of the Malay Archipelago that I grew up with and am continuously inspired by. Our food and beverages uses spices and herbs that are native to the region that give our food its distinctive character.
When it’s holiday season Tokyoites go to Kamakura/Enoshima for a day trip. However as we are Australian we go for a few days before we head home. Yes… this means taking our luggage on board trains and taking up most of the room!
This tour started at Tokyo station. Our bikes are fully loaded with one S-bag each and two panniers. We will spend seven days riding around 300 km. This is the first time we’ve taken Bromptons on a multi day tour. It will be interesting to see how we cope with each other, the bikes, and the lack of clothes.
Here is Helen jumping for joy at the thought of riding 300 km with me.
Driving in New Zealand has proved to be interesting. So far, at least on the West Coast we have passed over many bridges which are only one lane in width.
This means quite often you have to give way to traffic coming the other direction! One bridge we went over near Greymouth was also used by a train, which cars have to give way.
From the photos above you can see the sign next to the bridge, and the smaller arrow refers to the side who has to give way. Surprisingly enough it does work… But pleased we have not come across a large truck or bus!
Today has been one of those hot and sticky days. When you walk, the sweat is literally dripping from you – okay I was pulling a couple of bags but I have never sweated so much. I will acknowledge now, I will never move to a location with humid weather.
After enjoying a Japanese breakfast, repacking the packing from the previous night replacing the suitcase and wandering around Coredo (building and shopping complex highlighting traditional Japanese fare), enjoying lunch and saying goodbye to Gaku, we bought another small suitcase – sorry mum I hope it’s going to fit in the car. We then lugged the suitcases (two large bike cases and two smaller cases), and the bike bag on three trains, up and down escalators after 1.5+ hours we made it to the airport checkin. Hooray.
After a short conversation about our bags (yes the air is out of the tyres, and we do have one fragile item in a bags) we were regretfully informed the flight was full, and we have had our seats changed – to business. She hoped we didn’t mind. Given the pulling of the bags, we are more than happy to take the upgrade – thanks Qantas!
if you have ever travelled in Japan, you will be familiar with eki stamps.
eki stamp
Every JR train station across Japan reportedly has a stand somewhere with a stamp, an ink pad, some paper or flyer. Eki stamps are a great way to remember where you have travelled. On previous holidays I have attempeted to get a stamp from every train station we’ve visited. They even have them at popular tourist sites – a great memory!
On Tuesday we travelled from Nagano to Matsumoto… this is where the eki stamp got me in trouble. We were early to the train station, purchased lunch for on board the train, and decided to go and wait on the platform. Our bags are kind of bulky and we wanted to get there early. Before we headed down I noticed the eki stamp stand. Put everything down and stamped my book – ah there is nothing like a stamp (okay… It’s a little nerdy, but so Japanese). We purchased a drink from the vending machine next to the stand, then headed down to the platform. We waited there for about 20 minutes or so, train was ready to board so we hopped on and got organised.
Sometimes, you just have a feeling something is missing -I had this feeling for about five or so minutes but everything seemed to be present so I ignored it. I had nearly finished a katsu sandwich (crumbed fried pork – I hadn’t had one before so I thought I should try them at least once).The train had about five minutes to go, I thought I would get out the green travel pass and our seat reservation tickets so we could enjoy lunch without the flurry of searching while the conductor waited for the tickets. Seat tickets, check. Travel pass…. Now they are kept in the brown travel wallet…. Along with our passports……hum which was…..I didn’t know! Quick scramble through all the bags. No travel wallet. Kym was doing the usual, what are you looking for, and me in my mild panic replied the passports, the travel passes..! Where the heck are they? Insert typical short argument about ones memory, then my statement , we need to get off the train. So mad scramble occurred. It was at this point I really thought our suitcases were heavy as we took them out of the only luggage holder we were occupying and proceeded to dump all luggage, lunch bags etc onto the platform in a most untidy fashion. It was at this point as Kym carried the plastic bags and food items, camera and phone, that his phone fell from his hands on the edge of the platform for a half a second and fell onto the ground near the train lines. We had a terse conversation about one of us going to find someone to assist. I then remembered where we stopped and where the travel wallet was – the stamp stand. I ran up the stairs, along the corridor, in between passengers, ran across the central section to the stamp stand. The travel wallet wasn’t there, I ran over the stand selling items stand saying “have you seen a brown passport wallet”, making opening movement with my hands. She said, yes, yes come me and we ran over to the train office where he handed me the wallet. Of course I bowed deeply and said, oh thank you, thank you. I ran back across the central section, corridor down the stairs again to where Kym was standing looking quite unhappy and sorry for himself. The rest Kym has said himself.
We may of missed the 1pm train to Matsumoto, but on the bright side we did catch he the 2.04pm. Let this be a lesson – make sure you have a procedure/system for all necessary items when travelling… And don’t leave anything at the stamp stand!
