27th – Resorting to more walking

For some reason I was feeling sore from the walking Monday and Tuesday so I decided to find a city tour bus that, according to my guide book, had greatly decreased prices if you could show them a Singapore Airline boarding pass. The tour was app. 1½ hours long and would pass through all the most important parts of the city, giving me a chance to see if I had missed anything. And as an added bonus it would give my legs a rest while still being sightseeing.

According to the guide they started at the Singapore Flyer (the city’s 165m tall Ferris wheel) so I headed off in that direction when leaving the hotel. Singapore seems to have been made with the assumption that if one can take the MRT somewhere, one will. Considering the high temperatures and humidity it’s not a bad assumption. Halfway to the Flyer I ended up in a confusing mess of malls, hotels and conference centers. It took a while to find myself through to the other side, and from there, with a bit of trial and error, I finally made it to my destination. My guidebook is from 2012 (bad timing – the new edition will be out in the beginning of 2018) and some information seemed to be slightly deprecated. It turned out that while the rebate was still there the saving was much less than I had expected which resulted in a price I wasn’t really willing to pay.

I like that the high-rises are not just big blocky buildings but try to stand out.

So instead I went across and west past Marina Bay mall and started towards Chinatown where I had a lunch consisting of delicious dumplings and beef noodles with meat so tender it fell apart when lifting it out of the soup. I considered going back up onto the roof of the Marina Bay Sands hotel but the weather was heavily overcast and while I wasn’t worried about rain I did prefer a bit of blue sky for my photos.

Wooo! .... Oh.

After lunch I wanted to check out Sentosa, an island connected by a bridge which contains golf courses, a few beaches and an area named “Resorts World”. I walked there because I wanted to see the city and not come back home and say I was underground most of the time. Remember what I mentioned about the city and walking (or rather not walking) everywhere? Combine that with a lacking ability of being able to realistically estimate how long it takes to walk an unknown distance by just looking at a map and you get two hours’ walk with Singapore’s Container Terminal on your left and West Coast Highway on your right. At least there was a sidewalk the entire way so you didn’t feel like you were going somewhere you shouldn’t despite the locations did its best to prove you otherwise.

I reached the mall located right before the bridge to Sentosa and after some searching I finally located the monorail to the island. With it being called “Resorts World” I don’t know what I expected but getting there and off the monorail you were put in the middle of a… resort, surrounded by eateries, hotels, Universal Studios (an amusement park, not the actual studio) and various other activities. The view from the waterside was mostly the cranes and whatnot of the container terminal I had passed on the way there. I spent a few hours at the aquarium (nothing new but some beautifully huge pools with ditto windows) before I returned to the mainland and took the MRT back to the hotel.

The largest pool in the aquarium.

A large cylindrical aquarium felt like a centerpiece in a large central room. 

At that point it was around 1830 and I felt absolutely smashed. So after an hour’s break I decided to go for an easy dinner so I ended up at quite a good burger bar at the street level in the hotel building. From there I continued to Raffles Hotel. Here, more than 100 years ago, Singapore’s national drink, the Singapore Sling, was invented. I thought that if I was to have it while there I’d get it from its birthplace. The drink was good, and they were generous with the alcohol, but S$36,50 good? I am not sure. For the interested, here’s the recipe; 30ml gin, 15 ml cherry brandy, 120 ml pineapple juice, 15 ml lime juice, 7.5 ml Cointreau, 7.5 ml Dom Benedictine, 10 ml Grenadine, a dash of Angostura Bitters and garnish with a slice of pineapple and cherry. A poster near the bar said something about the record of the most consumed in one night was 10 and it was by a guy not long after its birth. When arriving I thought it was because it was a strong drink, leaving I’m sure it’s because he was the only one being able to afford that many…

Raffles Hotel.

I left and continued to take the MRT downtown where I got some much wanted night shots of the MBS Hotel. I might as well go into full tourist mode now that I’m here.

Returned to the hotel, finally concluding the day at around 2330. My legs are going to hate me tomorrow.

26th – Crabby shopping

The day had a slow start of crawling out of bed and having a much needed shower and shave. I started the day’s program with writing notes for the previous two days; I woke up during the night with the lights on and my notebook in my lap with not a word written before falling asleep. I really was in need of sleep!

I left the hotel and spent a few hours walking through Fort Canning Park; the park is the former location of the British governor’s residence and island defences. The cloud cover was much denser than yesterday but despite my fears we didn’t get a single drop.

The Gate of Fort Canning, the oldest gate in Fort Canning Park.

Fort Canning Flagstaff. The tallest point in Fort Canning Park, previously used to signal messages to the city.

For lunch around 1130 I ended up in a small restaurant very popular among the locals. Luckily the lunch rush hadn’t quite started yet so I didn’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes (and it helped I was a single guest as opposed to the group of 7 in front of me). They took guests’ orders while standing in the queue, didn’t give us any reference numbers and when being seated the drinks, food and bill arrived almost immediately. The Pork Rib Soup was amazing but I am sure all the other guests judged me hard for using my hands instead of the chopsticks when munching on the tender, tender meat just sliding off the bone.

Apparently I'm not the only one who likes the place. Highly recommended!

After lunch I left the restaurant, turned the corner and made a reservation for dinner at a place that according to reviews make a great chili crab.

From there I went north and reached Orchard Road. Orchard Road is the main shopping street in the city, app 2,5 km long and instead of shops it’s just malls back to back all the way. I entered one; 7 floors, each app. 7.000 sqm + two floors in the basement similar in size. So generally, not a small mall (especially compared to the ones we have at home). And when walking down the street looking at some of the other malls from the outside this was far from one of the largest there.

The malls were obviously not just large grey boxes.

Along Orchard Road you take a turn down a side road and ten steps away you are suddenly faced with a completely different style.

And exclusive organic-looking mall with hotel.

I had almost reached the botanical garden before the rain started – and it was not just a drizzle though it seemed that way in the beginning. I found a safe haven in a café and an hour – and a brownie – later the downpour had finally stopped and I could continue. The botanical garden was huge, and apart from the relative short walkway among the trees it felt pretty much like any other botanical garden you’d find.

Swan Lake. No dancing involved.

Taking the MRT back to the hotel I had a 1-1½ hours’ rest before having to go to my 2000-o’clock dinner reservation. Having ordered a Chili Crab I was given a whole crab in sauce with necessary equipment (nut cracker, long pokey thing to poke out meat from the legs and claws, various other things and, of course, chopsticks) and a bib. The latter was standard equipment for all guests as eating a whole crab in sauce quickly results in a mess. Especially when you are me. Such a mess. But a delicious mess. A delicious, delicious, mess.

After dinner I had a short walk through parts of Chinatown before returning to the hotel at around 2300.

Former Hill Street Police Station, currently contains the Ministry of Communications and Information and Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth.

24th – 25th of September – Departure and arrival

Having had bought the tickets as such short notice and having had to pack and prepare I obviously didn’t have time to get much sleet. Not promising considering my sleeping (or lack of) habits during flights.

Having already checked in from home and only bringing a carry-on the process at the airport was nothing but going straight to security, much easier than what I am used to. Felt a bit weird considering how much I usually end up travelling with.

We departed and arrived in Singapore at 0630 the next morning according to schedule. And of course I barely got any sleep. I blame Fate of the Furious, Power Rangers (I refuse to acknowledge this – the series from my childhood can hardly be even more cheesy. Right? Right??!?!), The Wall, King Arthur, The Mummy and 1½ episodes of Scream Queens for keeping me awake.

With a slow immigration queue I didn’t get to exit the airport until around 0800, and decided to aim for what I deemed was near enough to the center of the city without having to do any complicated change of trains on the way. I took the MRT to a random station and planned on starting exploring from there and realized I had put myself in the middle of the not very touristy area of the financial district. Standing completely surrounded by tall buildings near a crossing with no obvious signs, sidewalks and pedestrian crossings it was hard to figure out what way to go. With a bit of trial and error and basic navigation I soon found myself near the Marina Bays Sands Hotel. It is a weird but massive building; three curved towers with a curved roof across the top. I wouldn’t say it’s an ugly building, but rather… different. From there I had a walk through the Bay Gardens, a park with some fancy-looking built trees, some botanic buildings and activity areas. I settled with just having a walk around, still recovering from the lack of sleep. Also, the heat combined with the humidity did not make things any more pleasant.

Gardens by the Bay

When getting close to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel you start realizing how curved the building actually is.

The hotel on the inside.

Downtown to the left, Marina Bay Sands Hotel to the right (with the Gardens by the Bay further to the right outside the photo).

From there I went back through the financial district, through Chinatown and towards my hotel where I arrived at around 1230. I was starting to feel a bit smashed so I was glad I was lucky enough to be able to check in a bit earlier than informed. I took a short 1½ hours break before venturing back out into the sauna. I realized that I might have been more exhausted than I thought so a few hours later I returned to relax and get ready for dinner.

Waking up I left to go to Little India to have dinner at a restaurant which is known for their fish head curry. The fish head was fallen slightly apart when I got the bowl with the dish (after less than 5 minutes after ordering!) so I never really got the feeling that I was being observed while eating. But that wasn’t quite true, though, as I was being observed; apparently one of the waiters got frustrated at my lousy attempts trying to separate the meat from the bones so he came to my table, grabbed utensils, took the meat which he put onto my plate, added sauce and rice, gave me a gruff “there!” and wandered off. Huh. The fish and curry was absolutely delicious and a great start to the visit – a bit spicier than I had expected very delicious none the less.

One of two elephants where you entered Little India.

After dinner I returned to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and went up onto their observation deck. Here, in the dark, the lights from Bay Gardens really did the area justice and looking in the opposite direction you had an excellent view of the Singapore downtown skyline.

Gardens by the Bay, the large steel trees in the center and two (very) greenhouses to the left (Flower Dome and Cloud Forest).

Downtown (with the mall connected to the hotel in the lower left).

There was a nightly light show in the Marina Bay.

A bar on the rooftop. How considerate!

Returning to the hotel around 2300 I crashed in the bed almost immediately. It was some very much needed sleep I finally got. And the bed was so nice!

A quick trip

So... I have been looking for a new job for a while; hitting October the 1st I will have hit my 14 month anniversary. Not really anything you want to celebrate. But... If you have finally found someone desperate enough to hire you and your employment start the 1st of October, then it is something to celebrate.

And how do you do that better than to go on a trip?

My new position was confirmed around 11th-12th of September and I didn't think much of going on a trip until I realized that until I get to save up vacation almost a year will have passed. So to try to get the travel bug out of my system I realized I had to do something about it. And fast. I have wanted for quite a while to go an see Chernobyl. but unfortunately I couldn't find a flight that fit with a 2-day tour date (and the tours needed some time to confirm a reservation and getting permits to go into the zone, so a less than 2 weeks notice was bit too late). At this point I realized that if I was to go anywhere it would have to be a city visit (similar to my trip to New York) and somewhere I hadn't been before. So before long my decision fell on Singapore.

Obviously.

So I quickly decided to depart the 21st... *record scratch*

Haha. As if. Nope. Not so fast. I was amazed to realize that I had a really hard time making up my mind. Should I go or stay home? Yes? No? Maybe? No! Totally yes! I wanted to go somewhere but part of me felt that going to Singapore was more a "lacking any better option" than "I really want to go!". At one point I was ready to make reservations and leave, and when sitting looking at flights I was.... meh. 

I had finally made up my mind; I chose not to go, simply because I didn't feel like I could justify going with all that doubt in my mind. And then I really started stressing out. I couldn't understand why I didn't want to go - it went against every single part of my instincts. I was afraid I'd be bored in the city, and yet it was a place I had never been before and everything told me it would be fun. I didn't have the same connection to it as with New York and yet they are both big cities with plenty to do - and I never got bored in NYC. And with work coming up in a week's time time was running out. Fast.

So tonight I said fuckit and got a flight out to Singapore. I have never bought a trip before less than 12 hours before departure and with all the stress I have been though the last couple of days I hope I'll never do it again, either. But to make it better; the moment I confirmed my booking I felt much more relaxed than I had felt the last couple of days. 

24^th – 25^th of September

Flight to Singapore. Got a direct flight, leaving Copenhagen mid-day, arriving early morning giving me the entire day in Singapore.

25^th – 29^th of September

Wandering Singapore, doing.... touristy stuff. 

29^th – 30^th of September 

Leaving Singapore near midnight (so I get almost the entire Friday in the city) and arriving in Copenhagen early Saturday morning.

So.. let's see how this will go. When I decided not to go (before I regretted and started booking anyway...) I told myself it was the right thing to do, even if I might end up regretting it. But in the end I would rather regret going than regretting not going. I have high hopes and just need to push my doubts away.

11th – Return home

Still being full from the dinner last night I only had a very light breakfast before we checked out at 1000 and got picked up to the airport an hour later.

Arriving at the airport the part that ended up taking the longest was waiting for the check-in booths to open up for service. Luckily they opened up 3 hours before departure instead of 2 hours so half an hour after arrival at the airport we got into the queue for passport control. The queues were slow, very slow, but getting checked was painless and we found ourselves wandering a small boring airport trying to kill a few hours. Several of us ended up in a café before going through security to the gate and boarding.

Flight home was uneventful. The layover in Istanbul was just two hours this time and the second flight had issues with their cooling so even if you had your personal cooler blowing air at you, you were still very hot. Arrived home on time, got our luggage and left. And that was it.

Iran is a very underrated tourist destination and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to see a different culture or climb a not-so-popular (for westerners) mountain. It's a beautiful country and the locals are very friendly. But due to the low traffic of international tourism you can risk ending up at a hotel - even a nice one - with staff that might not be very good at speaking English. It's all part of the charm. And don't believe the news; we did not get terrorized and people were not building nukes on every street corner. But, if you go, I'd highly recommend getting a full visa before arriving and not just a visa grant. You can avoid a lot of frustration having it all sorted out in advance. 

Big thanks to the guides Hamid, Zohre and Parisa, the extra two guides on summit day Hasan and Fatima and our cook on Damavand Rahim who all were part of making this trip memorable and who took care of us all the way. You guys are awesome! And thanks to the group; Søren, Niels, Søren, Mette, Dino, Johannes, Ole, Lars, Anders, Anders, Frank, Hilde, Ellen, Steen, Jens Ejner and Martin for being such nice people and making the trip as successful as it ended up being.

Full album can be found here.

10th – The Scandinavian reunion

This night was much colder than we have been getting used to and while we didn’t have storm-like conditions like the previous nights it was windy when exiting the tent and it showed no signs of slowing down. The wind has also changed direction which means that people going to the summit today will have to pass straight through the sulphur fumes. And with a few clouds gathering it seems timing for our summit attempt was perfect.

After 3 nights in the camp we were to go down and return to Tehran. We had breakfast at around 0800 and at that point most of us were already done packing. Having packed everything, we left around 0915 and we arrived at the bottom around 3 hours later. It was then a simple matter of relaxing and doing nothing until the rest of the guides, kitchen staff and equipment and mules with our bags arrived.

During the descent we must have met at least 3-400 people going up and only a fraction of this number going down. Combining with the many arriving yesterday the already existing chaos will potentially only get worse. Another sign of we having perfect timing. On the other hand, part of me would have loved to stay behind to see how things developed with all the extra people arriving.

On the way down we met an Iranian who, when realizing we were a group of Danes and Norwegians, presented himself with “Hej! Jag är Hassan från Sverige!” (“Hi! I am Hassan from Sweden!”). He had come to Sweden long ago, gotten a citizenship and 12 years ago returned to Iran. He couldn’t resist getting a group photo with him and us and we had a few fun minutes of talking where he clearly disproved himself when saying he didn’t speak Swedish well anymore which he clearly still did (that being said; I’m just a Dane, it all sounds like hurr-di-hurr-di-hurr to me, anyway).

Arriving at our pick-up point we ended up waiting close to 2 hours for the rest of the guides (who had stayed behind packing the kitchen supplies and equipment) and the mules with our big bags. From there we drove to Polour where we changed to our busses that returned us to our hotel in Tehran where we arrived around 1630.

We got to drive in a... Peusan? Nisgeot?

I am pretty sure those tires are barely legal no matter where you are.

1½ hours later later, after having a much needed shower, we left for the largest rotating restaurant in the world, located in Tehran. It was an absolutely delicious buffet and to my surprise Iranian food does not involve spiciness. While I hadn’t expected blurry photos when photographing the view I had expected it would have been faster than it taking 2½ hours to do one rotation. We were back at the hotel around 2330 which finished a wonderful day, but also a sad one as we had said goodbye to our guides.

Milad tower with the restaurant near the top.

I was quite a nice restaurant.

Tomorrow we will be picked up to go to the airport around 1100. We don’t depart until 1525 but it is generally recommended showing up 4 hours before departure. Remembering the immigration process it feels unsafe to not adhere to that recommendation.

9th – Summit day

Like any other summit day arriving at the summit was amazing, coming back down was amazing and everything in between was "Oh my god who's idea was this???".

But I am getting ahead of myself.

We got up at 0400 after a night with winds similar to last night that fortunately quieted down before we came out of our sleeping bags. The campsite has increased in size so the constant noisy chaos has increased. This also means that more people are sleeping in random places in the building. When arriving for breakfast people were packed away in their bags on every available spot on the floor in the common room. We heard from those sleeping in the dorm that the floor there is also getting crowded.

We departed at 0510 at a comfortably calm pace. I felt much better than yesterday morning so I was feeling optimistic about the progress. Already half an hour into the ascent we could get rid of our headlamps and get rid of our warmest layers. The temperature was nice with a cool early-morning breeze.

The view an hour or so into climbing.

You can just see Damavand's shadow to the right.

Damavand's shadow clearly against the background.

Unfortunately I soon realized that the headache I thought I had gotten rid of started coming back in intervals; sometimes a gentle pressure, sometimes throbbing pain. It was not until the tour leader “suggesting” to take a couple of pain killers I finally got it under control (and it probably didn’t hurt I forced myself drinking extra during our hourly breaks) and I could continue without having to worry too much about that. But at one point it was very, very tempting to turn around.

Crossing the 5100m mark we passed by a frozen waterfall and the path steepened and turned into scrambling on rocks. Getting past this the environment opened up and you could see the path curving up towards the summit. Not having any known points of reference, it didn’t look nearly as far as it ended up being.

Nearing the summit.

Due to the wear and tear of the headache, constant rumbling stomach and not eating much from the snack bag that was handed out I was getting completely exhausted at this point. I was walking in the back of the group and the guide keeping up the rear started assisting with gently pushing/lifting my bag. I’ll admit it was very appreciated but I am a grown independent man, woman!

Damavand is a volcano, the tallest in Asia (and tallest point in Iran), and it’s releasing sulphur non-stop. Looking towards the summit with no clouds in the sky you will see what you think is clouds but actually is fumes being vented from the volcano. We had been informed the smell was horrible and made it near impossible to breathe but the truth was, though, that as long as you stayed out of the fumes you’d be fine. You obviously couldn’t avoid the smell but it was never as bad as it had been described. You should just keep in mind that small vents were hard to see and you could inadvertently walk straight through the fumes from these. Considering how bad the smell was from fumes that were barely visible I don’t want to know how it is walking through them when they are full white as they are from the main outlet.

Getting much easier to see how close you get when passing by the outlet.

Near the summit we passed the main volcano’s main outlet and due to the wind direction you could get almost as close as you wanted to the edge without feeling particularly uncomfortable (at least not as much as one would expect) and get a clear view.

Beautiful bright colors that were hard to see due to the fumes.

10 minutes later, at 1130, we arrived at the summit, very satisfied and personally I felt the best I had since departure, almost 6½ hours earlier. The summit itself was a small spot where you could get together and take group photos, but just behind a rock formation there was a large area where it was possible to walk around and get an unobstructed view in all directions of the surroundings. The weather was amazing; barely a breeze and only wearing two thin layers made it all even better. Therefore it was extra weird that our tour leader ordered us to leave after only 15 minutes. There were plenty confused opinions on this but unfortunately he did not budge. We started our descent and taking a different path down it was possible to walk/slide most of the way, making it a bit easier and faster than if we had had to take the same path as we had sued to get to the summit – especially taking the scrambling parts in consideration.

Summit photo of the group members currently present.

View from the summit.

View of the plateau behind from where we came up.

Descending was fairly uneventful; 2 people wanted to go down faster and went ahead, coming back in camp at 1345 and 1400 with the rest of the group arriving an hour later at 1500. The slow group, the last 3 people who had been behind us the entire day, returned around 1715, all having summited.

The rest of the day was spent on resting and kicking back. Having spent 10 hours getting up and down it was a relatively short summit day compared to some of the other I have experienced. Add to that that it was by far the warmest one I have done and we started late it was a very nice walk (especially in hindsight).

On return it was obvious that the camp had increased in size and still doing so. Usable space is so limited on the rocky surface that people have even started setting their tents on the helipad. The camp with the main building has 6 toilets available which has been fine until now, but now, because tomorrow is a holiday and the following day weekend locals travel up here to spend their two days off. One in the was told by a local that app 500 people has arrived to camp (and only a few went down) which means that the line to the toilets have increased from non-existent to 10-15 minutes long. It also means the tent situation has gotten more chaotic – if you came back to an area after just a few minutes of being away you’d see changes, the frequency of tents getting removed and set up is frantic. At sunset it did seem as if the tents on the helipad had been removed, but the pathway to the helipad, being flat and established, is now completely filled up with tents.