Side Trip Adventure

I was able to enjoy a week with Brit boy in Singapore. We had a great time going to the Night Safari, visiting Arab street, and searching little India for a fortune-telling parrot (which was apparently taking a day off). It couldn't have been more fun. At one point Brit boy even said, "I wish you could join me in Australia." Although it seemed like fun, I laughed it off knowing that it would cost too much for me to make that trip. So we made a promise to meet up again when he was in the states (we just saw each other two weekends ago) and we said our thanks for making a new friend. Then I gave him a kiss goodbye.

The day he left I was talking with the owner of the hostel, named April. She asked me, "Why didn't you go with Brit boy?" I told her my woes about costs when she informed me that there were plenty of inexpensive airlines that provided cheap fares to Australia. So we got on the internet and began looking at prices. To my surprise we found tickets for as low as $200 dollars. To me, that seemed pretty good. I was looking at a trip into Malaysia for scuba diving which would have cost about the same so I decided to weigh out the options.

I went next door to a Javanese massage center. Now, Singapore is not known for inexpensive massages, you would have to go to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, but it was still cheaper then home for an hour and a half at $40 bucks. I didn't know what I was in for though. The women who gave me the massage did not speak English at all. It was kind of difficult to communicate so I had a few laughs as I was trying to figure out what to do. Here's the thing, when I get a massage at home I change in a separate dressing room and then I am escorted to a room where I slip under a sheet. At that point the massage therapist will fold back the sheet for the massage.

At the Javanese place I didn't get a robe and I changed in the room. So when I was about to get under the sheet the women came in and stopped me. I was instructed to lie on top of the sheet and then she covered me with towels. So here I was giving her a full view of my birthday suit. Oh well, we're both women right? Apparently I don't know a thing about Javanese massage. I think the philosophy might be "no pain, no gain" because it was so painful. She began by getting on top of the table and practically beat down my back. I actually thought she was going to walk on my back! To my relief she didn't, but I did not get to relax, because each time she moved to another part of my body she would massage deep to the core of my muscles. Ouch!

And let me tell you it was a full body massage. I didn't know you could get a massage on your chest. It wasn't anything vulgar, but it was certainly a new experience for me. Let alone, I was trying to relax and contemplate my options. Should I stay in Singapore or go to Australia? The logical decision would be to stay in Singapore. It was cheaper, plus I still had more to see, and it was warmer. Although, if I went to Australia I would get to continue my fun holiday romance, plus I would see a whole other country, and getting to Australia from home can be really expensive. By the end of my painful massage I had my decision.

I walked back to the hostel, gave April a smile and said, "I'm going to do it." I got online and purchased a ticket and a temporary visa for Australia. Then I proceeded to email Brit boy and tell him that I was going to be there the next night. I needed to know where he was staying so I could stay there too! After I purchased everything I began to wonder...did he really mean it when he said that he wanted me to go to Australia? What if he doesn't want to hang out with me? This could be a really awkward side trip...