Singapore

To quickly update you since my last post, Christy and Tim named their son Sawyer Lee. Everyone is doing well as far as I know. I sent them a flower arrangement at the hospital to congratulate them. Later, my mom sent me a few pictures of Tim and Christy in their new house. I saw a pink arrangement that looked like the one I sent on their countertop, and I thought, hmmm, I wonder why someone would send pink flowers. So, I went back to check my online order, and apparently I clicked the "It's a girl!" arrangement instead of the "It's a boy!" arrangement. Ugh. Sorry about that.

But, since this blog is about Singapore, I should move on. We had a great trip to Singapore and Malaysia. We spent three nights in Singapore, three in Kuala Lumpur and one more in Singapore. But, to make things simpler, I am just going to write two blogs, one about Singapore and one about Malaysia. So, both will likely be lengthy and include lots of pictures.

It's always overwhelming to try and write about a vacation because there's no way I can include it all. So, I'll just try and hit some of the highlights. This vacation was different for us because we met up with another couple and traveled with them. It turned out to be wonderful. We got along great, and it was a blast. I'll show you pictures of our vacation buddies in the next post.

This vacation had a theme for me: food. Oh, how I love to eat. We had an amazing time trying new foods and flavors from all around the world. Singapore is a great place for a gastronomic adventure.

We began by going to Little India. Having never been to the real India, I can't say whether or not the one in Singapore is an accurate depiction, but it seemed authentic to me.

Here is one of the streets in Little India. It was bustling, and there was lots of horn honking.

I really like this picture of a sari shop. So many beautiful colors and fabrics.

I had henna done on one of my hands. It was actually the second time I have had henna done. For Julie's wedding, all of the bridesmaids had henna put on their hands. I love the stuff, and I kind of wish it were permanent.

And, here is the finished product. 

We also had a mission while in Little India: to eat fishead curry. We watched an episode of Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Foods when he was in Singapore, and he ate at a restaurant famous for fishead curry. So, we went there, too.

Here's the famous dish. It was really creepy, especially because the fish had scary little sharp teeth. It was also extremely spicy. Like burn-your-face-off hot. I preferred the other chicken butter curry dish we ordered, but it was interesting to try, I suppose. It's also worth noting that Travis, a miniature Andrew Zimmern, decided he, too, would have to eat the eyeball. I couldn't even look at him while he did it, but I will describe it to you. The eyeball had a hard plastic-y shell that had to be "peeled off" in his mouth. Then as he bit into it, there was a hard rocky center. But, he said the overall taste was good. Right... I am okay with never knowing what it tastes like.

We decided to try and branch out a little so we ate with our hands. It was pretty fun, but kind of difficult. I don't think we were aggressive enough. And, my fingers were stained Cheeto orange for the rest of the day.

We also happened to time our visit to Singapore with their National Day celebration. It's when they celebrate their independence. I was so excited that we would be able to see an amazing fireworks show since we missed the big ones in Japan this year.

So, we went to the riverfront to wait for the fireworks. It was so crowded. People were absolutely everywhere. And, we waited. And waited.

Here's a picture of the river. As you can see, the bridge was packed with people. The people on the bridge had purchased tickets for the show as well as the parade, which we were not able to see.

And, we continued to wait for the fireworks. We waited for around two hours, and we saw about five minutes, if that, of fireworks. The fireworks we saw were pretty amazing, but five minutes?! It was quite a disappointment. Apparently the show was scaled back this year. That information would have been helpful earlier, but oh well. You live and you learn. I want those two hours back, though.

After the fireworks show, we headed to Chinatown. Certainly worth the walk. Love me some good Chinese food.

Here's a picture we took along the walk. It is a great city/country. So much amazing architecture, very modern and clean.

While in Singapore, we also headed to Sentosa Island. It's a little island a short distance from Singapore. It's under heavy construction right now. Several new hotels, casinos and a Universal Studios are being built there. I think it might be pretty cool in about two or three years, but for now, it's a little on the cheesy side and quite over-priced. The beach there is ok. It's all man-made, but it could make for a fun afternoon. Unfortunately for us girls, we were traveling with some eager boys who didn't want to lay around on the beach and soak up the sun. Ok, maybe we were soaking up rain and not sun, but we were really trying hard to pretend it was sunny.

Sentosa Island does have a huge merlion, though. And, it was pretty neat-o.

Large and in charge.

Singapore is a shoppers' paradise. Besides having all of the name-brand and big name stores you can imagine, it also has lots of little markets where you can haggle down prices. I, personally, hate the whole haggling process. I always walk away feeling ripped off and guilty for trying to argue with someone over fifty cents or a dollar. It starts messing with my head, and I don't even realize I just spent thirty minutes arguing over fifty cents. Anyway, it can be fun for a little bit, like five minutes.

Here's a picture of one of the busy markets on Bugis Street. Talk about sensory overload. There was so much techno music in this place, and each stall was playing their own tune so it was a bit crazy. Felt like a dance club in there.

Another evening, Travis and I went to check out Raffles Hotel. Unfortunately, our travel buddies came down with some icky food poisoning and were unable to join us. They were all better by the next day, though. Thank goodness!

It's a really beautiful hotel over one hundred years old. Our plan was to go inside and drink Singapore's famous drink, the Singapore Sling. But, it was going to cost us $23 per drink, and it's a lady's drink so we obviously bowed out. We were actually sitting in the restaurant talking about how ridiculous it would be to pay that much for a drink, and no one waited on us for the first five minutes. So, that was our sign, and we snuck out. $46 saved. Can you imagine? After taxes and a few weird fees, that would be over $50 for two drinks. Dumb, I tell you.

After visiting Raffles, we headed to the Arab Quarter for some Egyptian food. I had never eaten at an Egyptian restaurant before, but boy oh boy, it was terrific. I was quite familiar with hummus, but I had only eaten falafel once before. We ordered way too much food, but it was so tasty! I think middle-Eastern food might be my new favorite. Or, maybe it's Chinese. But, I also really love Indian food. Oh, goodness, guess I still don't have a favorite.

We read about another restaurant in Singapore that, according to Anthony Bourdain, serves the world's best dumplings. I only had to read that once before I was sprinting to the restaurant. Ok, not really, but it certainly didn't disappoint.

Here are the chefs preparing the dumplings. They were awesome. We had a few different types and the best hot and sour soup I have ever tasted. There were people lined up outside of the door, and that was certainly a clue we had to eat there. It was a wonderful combination, my favorite, in fact: cheap and delicious!

On the last day, Travis decided we should visit Singapore's urban rainforest. I believe it's one of two in the world. We didn't see a whole lot of wildlife, but we did see wild monkeys and huge ants. The hike wasn't too difficult, but it was super hot! When we finally reached the summit, we read that we were only one degree from the equator. (By the way, we knew this before we went on the walk, but it was still cool.)

And, here's a picture of me along the trail. It was nice to get away from the city for a little while.

I could go on and on about Singapore, but I should probably wrap it up. I undoubtedly left out so many things about this trip, but if you're considering traveling to Singapore, I would suggest going for it. I know, I say that about every place. But, Singapore is very safe, clean and modern. It's also one of the most diverse places I have ever visited. We saw people from all over the world. And, since English is spoken there, along with many other languages, it would be such an easy place to live. Well, in my opinion, anyway.

It's also worth noting that there is a huge amount of governmental control in Singapore. There's really no freedom of speech or free press to speak of. Also, chewing gum is forbidden as is spitting on the street, smoking in a non-designated area on the sidewalk, and many others. The customs form upon arrival warns that drug trafficking is punishable by death. I didn't test that one, trust me. Anyway, it's a great place to spend a few days, but I don't want to idealize it too much.

I was planning to end this post with a really cute picture of Travis and me, but somehow I deleted it so please use your imagination. :)