An even earlier morning, my worst so far - I had arranged for a wakeup call at 4:30 to be at the airport an hour later. Having arrived at he airport and paid the driver I discovered that he had taken me to the domestic terminal, so there was a quick morning walk across the airpoirt area to get to the international flights. There was plenty of time anyway. I had coffee for my last dongs and a full breakfast on the plane. TigerAir was a nice surprise, not only was it a brand new Airbus with plenty of leg room, the service was also excellent and we arrived in Singapore well ahead of schedule.
I did not see much of Singapore - just a quick train ride from Changi Airport to Harbour Front station, as I had already decided to make as much out of the day as possible, taking a ferry over to Indonesia and return in the afternoon. Now - as so often when I travel - something nice happened that I did not expect. As I was walking around on the top open deck to see as much as possible of Singapore and the crossing, photographing the skyline and the heavy ship's traffic, I noticed two beautiful Asian women. One of them approached me and asked if I wanted them to take a picture of me with my camera, which of course I accepted.
We started talking, and they told me they were real estate agents going over to Indonesia to look at a few properties. When I asked them what I should try of the Indonesian cuisine they invited me to join them for lunch so they could guide me. I gladly accepted this too, of course, and had a wondeful meal of local Batam ingredients of which I don't remember half. The oxtail soup I do remember, along with squid, a few totally unidentifiable things and something resembling a biscuit made from soy beans. All very delicious, and I had much more than I could take. On top of that I got some Indonesian sweets served on leaves - I have no memories of what it was called, but parts of it tasted like honey.
After lunch I went with Samina and Sumiah to look at some properties. The Batam island is under heavy development, and wealthy Singaporians go there to buy retirement or weekend houses. Some of the neigbourhoods were really beautiful, brand new houses in light colors, some of them with a very pictoresque view to the Singapore strait. After this we visited an aquantance of Samina's, a lady who come once a week to work in her house, thus financing the restauration of her beautiful village house. A win-win situation for both parties. Anothe reason for Samina and Sumiah to go to the village was the special Indonesian health massage. They convinced me to try, too, and it was really a good relief for my aching muscles after having travelled almost day and night for the last 7 days.We barely got back to the harbour in time for the last boat at 9pm, far too late for my 10:15 train to Kuuala Lumpur (I discovered the consequences of the 1 hour time difference too late...). Samina went with me in a taxi to the Beach Road bus station, just in time to get a ticket for the midnight coach.
My day turned out very differently from my original plan, thanks to my new friends. And in addition to what they taught me about life in Singapore and Indonesia, they were really able to change my impression of Moslem women. Samina, mother of 4 children and originally from Pakistan, and Sumiah, a third generation Singaporean with great grandfathers from Java - just having adopted a newborn, beautiful baby boy whose picture she proudly showed me - were just as far from the media-created stereotype of Moslem women as possible. Instead of the oppressed, burka-clad, shy and uneducated women that western press normally will describe, I met two intelligent, interesting, fun-loving, successful businesswomen, confident enough to approach a lonely traveller, and even invite him to share their programme for a full day. I am very grateful for this extremely memorable and educating day - on a number of levels.
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