Good evening Singapore and welcome to episode 24 of Sleepless in Singapore. Today is actually June the 30th. I am recording this almost live, almost in real time. Today is going to be a little bit of everything. It's going to be a little bit of Singapore, it's going to be a little bit of Bali and Nusa Penida, and it's going to be a little bit of Timor-Leste. So please make yourselves comfortable, relax, and let my voice be your guide for a restful night.

Now, Singapore was my second time. I took a flight from, I think, the Mandalay International Airport first to Bangkok and then moved on from Bangkok to Singapore. Because Hama had invited me, as you might remember from episode, I think, four or also the last couple of times I mentioned that. Hama invited me to come to Singapore to visit her and the friends. So I was happy and excited to arrive in Singapore for a second time. I didn't know what to expect. The very first time I had been to Singapore in 2012, I believe, I can't say I was super excited because it was very hot and we both were very tired and we arrived late and we couldn't find anything to eat and the hawker was closed already. And I don't know, it didn't leave the very best impression and I don't have the very best memories from that very first Singapore trip.

And I told that and Hama says, "Unbelievable, Singapore is the best place on earth. You should definitely come again." And she invited us and we all came and we stayed at Hama's place, nice big place, high up. Already that was better than the first time I was in Singapore. And then she took us out. She took us to Steamboat, which I still remember, Apeng Steamboat. We had a lot of fun there. I went back there a couple of times and then we went to Clark Key where we partied a lot. We went to Chupitos where we had shots for what back then I believe was an incredible amount of money. You can buy these like 8x8 trays of not very strong shots of like sweet stuff and one tray is like $100, which if you're in Singapore or if you're Singaporean or you know how it is here, doesn't sound very special, actually sounds like a very good deal, 64 shots for $100. But then again when you're European or basically from any other country without a very high alcohol tax and generally high prices, it sounds ridiculous to spend like $100 on these shots that are not strong liquor, they are, I don't know, I guess like a cocktail in a very tiny shot glass.

Anyway, it was incredible amounts of fun. We enjoyed a lot and we moved on. I remember back then there was still the crazy elephant around also at Clark Key and we wrote our names on the furniture there, which was the thing you do there, we didn't just do that. It was legal and everyone was doing it and the place provided the pens. But we put our names there and then we moved on to yet another club and the details are blurry but I do remember I had an amazing time. I noticed very quickly that you can have fun in Singapore and that I do like it. Way past midnight, Hama made us walk back all the way along the river to Queenstown.

And then the next day, wake up early, I think some of us might have fallen asleep in the regular bus we took to get around to do some sightseeing. I remember we went to Gardens by the Bay and to the Supertrees. And Hama took us to this hawker centre, like somewhere around Queenstown, to try all the Singaporean foods. I think it was probably the first time I had laksa, it was the first time I had otah-otah, it was the first time I had prata, it was the first time I had these duck noodles that were very famous, it was the first time I had chicken rice. And it also was the first time back then when we went up to one altitude which I think now has been closed for quite a while. But back then was the first time we went up one altitude, it's very very high up, a rooftop bar completely out in the open. It was super fun, it was expensive obviously, alcohol was expensive, but there was like a bar club atmosphere up there and it was super cool.

And so time went by very quickly and even though it was just like two days or three days, during those three days all of us, all of the friends, Hama and Fortunata and there was one more, we decided to go to Bali together, also just for a couple of days to enjoy some weekend getaway. And that's what we did, so on the last day in Singapore we left for Bali, I think we had different flights each of us, but somehow we managed to all find each other again at a very nice little hotel. I think first in Nusa Dua and then we took the boat over to Nusa Penida. Where sadly, immediately after arrival, or probably during the trip, Fortunata went very sick and had to rest for like a day. But we made the best of it, we had a nice little villa with a pool, everyone had their own bedroom, we had plenty of time to rest, there was a place pretty much around the corner where we could buy Bintang beers and Bintang lemonade. And I'm looking at a couple of bottles of Smirnoff ice, which I think Hama liked.

And then we just spent a couple of very nice days on Nusa Penida, we did some sightseeing, we rented a scooter, I'm looking at a video where the three of us are on one scooter, which only a couple weeks back I could have not believed because I didn't even know how to ride a scooter. But I learned it in the Philippines, like I told you a couple episodes back, and I felt safe enough to take two more people on the scooter. And it worked out fine, we all survived, nothing happened. And then from Nusa Penida, or actually from Bali, from Denpasar airport, I took a flight alone to Timor-Leste. Why? I don't know. I think I wanted to see one more country, I wanted to see something I had never seen before, because Bali technically I did before, I spent I think almost two weeks on Bali doing mostly sightseeing in 2012.

So I decided I want to see something else, and I took a flight to Timor-Leste. And that turned out to be quite fun, quite impressive, quite very different from what I am used to, and from what I've seen before, I stayed at a little hostel that was really very basic. It had nice ratings, but it was very basic. And then from there I tried to find some other tourists, I checked on Couchsurfing, and I was trying to see if there is anyone in the hostel who might be up to some sightseeing or to do anything with me. And turns out, no. Turns out nobody is there, turns out nobody who is there is interested in doing anything with me. So I googled a bit, I did have internet, I think that was working quite alright, and I went on to do sightseeing all by myself. And in the beginning in the city, in Dili, I don't remember that much, but one little sightseeing trip I do remember was to the statue, to this like Christ the Redeemer statue.

And that I did with a local means of transport, which is a little bus, or which are many little buses, like minivans, more like small buses than minivans. And because there is a lot of sun, the drivers of these minivans, they try to put as many things in their front window as they can. So the one I boarded, I'm looking at a picture right here, the guy quite literally had only a maybe 10 by 20 centimeters window within his front window where he actually could look out. And the rest he decorated with plush animals, which looked very interesting, not very safe, but be that as it may, also this I survived and I made my way to the Christ the Redeemer statue of Timor-Leste, which was, I don't remember, maybe half an hour out or so. And I spent quite a while there, I had bought a drone in Singapore actually, I believe I had bought a drone. I was also flying it on Bali and Nusa Penida before, annoying everyone with it. And then in Timor-Leste I was also flying this drone and I got some amazing shots of the statue and of the sunset and of the beach. And I guess I forgot about the time or I don't know, there were like a couple of kids, a couple of locals playing, there was a couple of girls who wanted to take selfies with me.

And then people left and I was flying the drone a bit more to catch the sunset. And then it got dark and then I thought, okay, I should leave too. And I was trying to find one of these buses, but all the buses were gone. And all the people were gone. And I was out half an hour by bus, so definitely too far to walk. And so I was sitting there and obviously there's no Uber or Grab or anything, or at least back then there wasn't any Uber or Grab in Timor-Leste. So I got very lucky because there was a guy stopping with his motorbike and he asked me what I'm doing here because apparently I looked quite lost. And he said, look, dude, it's quite dangerous being out here all alone. There is quite some criminality in Timor-Leste and you're like a white guy and why don't you hop on the back of my motorbike and I'll bring you back. And even though that doesn't sound like the very best idea, I also really didn't want to walk back to the town for hours on an unsafe road. So I took my chances and I hopped on and the whole ride the guy was telling me like the most, the weirdest stories. He told me he's like special forces and the police and he was fighting for, I don't know what, some undercover stuff and I don't know. He gave me this like whole huge story, but he also took me to town and half an hour later or maybe even just 20 minutes later, he dropped me off at a supermarket that was very close to my hostel and everything went well.

And I went to that supermarket and I went to buy some stuff and I remember back then I took a picture of the Vileda products and sent them back home to Andreas, my friend and colleague in Germany who was working at the same company I was working for, who was producing these Vileda cleaning utensils. And then I walked around a bit more but Dili was pretty much dead and I could not figure out what's going on there in the evenings so basically I just went back to my hostel and I slept and I woke up and I remember the next day I had a very minimal breakfast which consisted of one sunny side up egg and half of a bread roll and some fruit salad, some banana, papaya, mango. And that was basically my two day stint, very short, to Timor-Leste to check out what's going on there. At least I have a halfway decent story with a guy on the motorbike.

And I went back to Bali and we spent another, I think, two days in Bali, in Kuta area, Kuta beach. It was the first time I went to this seafood place where they have the giant live lobsters where I went so many times, uncountable times after, like basically almost every time we go to Bali, which must have been 15 times by now. And every time I'm in that area we go for this particular road and these particular restaurants to just get the seafood there. I don't know if it's exceptionally good, I don't think so. It's alright. Actually it is quite good. But mostly we go there for the memories.

And then after Bali and after spending another two days of sun and beach and fun and going out I made my way again via Singapore to Brunei. And I think the Brunei story I will give you next time because maybe you could hear from my voice I'm not super healthy right now. I have caught a proper cold and it hurts a little bit talking. So maybe I'll just give you a quick Tom Sawyer story and then I'll talk about Brunei and what came after Brunei next Sunday.