The visit to Borobudur was about as expected, with crowds and heat that have long become a trait of any of the ‘must see’ places in Asia.  The setting itself was lovely, based near the foot of some jagged volcanoes that reached up into the clear sky.  All around was the expansive view of jungle and greenery vivid in the humidity.  The temple itself was certainly large, though the structure, again, fails to match up with the scale or grandeur of the temples at Angkor.  Nevertheless, it was interesting.

 Again I was enlisted into the interviewing council of a group of students who peppered me with basic, uncreative questions until they had exhausted them, unaware that my supply of time was far greater than their own.  Seemingly shiftless groups of teenage boys hung out all over the place, causing me to wonder what exactly compelled them to spend their free time sitting around an old world heritage site.  They were, nevertheless, harmless, and my time in Indonesia concluded without any great fanfare.  At the airport the officials do the usual price gauging, though were the so-called ‘airport improvement fee’ goes is beyond me, as the airport was in relative tatters.

On to Singapore, where I filled in two long, enjoyable days lazing about the central city and enjoying the comforts of civilization.  The Singapore Metro, though of little interest to most, had just opened a new line which I was quite excited to see and ride along.  Later I found a free (yes, free!) museum on urban planning and renewal throughout the history of Singapore and their plans for the city-state’s future.  It had multiple scale models that made me long to be allowed to stay overnight but alas closing time finally drove me from the air-conditioned confines.

One of the great joys of Singapore is the food, a smorgasbord from across the whole of Asia.  So for the simple price of 2-3 dollars a meal, I was able to eat quite well from a selection of Chinese, Indian, and Malay food available throughout the neighborhoods I was in.  Otherwise I spent the days walking with camera in hand, taking pictures as much as possible to make up for my disuse of the camera on my first trip over a year ago.  All in all I was quite satisfied that night when I boarded the plane for Darwin and the excitement of the Australian adventure finally started to grow in me.