There is a lot to put in this blog, and since I know I wont remember it all if I only post on Sunday, I'm breaking it up into two entries. We are now midway through Jordan's stay here, so this is a good point to write.
My pledge brother from AEPi, Jordan Rothstein, was one of my biggest supporters in the move to Singapore. That's probably because he's already taken a big leap of his own, teaching English in Seoul, South Korea. Anyways, as soon as he found out I would officially be making the move, he started making plans to come here for his winter break.
That takes us to Monday. Due to some poor planning on my part, we had a little adventure at the airport Monday night. I had worked the day before so having to go to the airport at 9:30 PM and then be back at work by 3 AM wasn't the most idea. Unfortunately, I made it even more difficult by not checking his flight status (because, stupidly, I never got his flight number). Suffice it to say, his flight was two hours delayed from Beijing and we didn't leave the airport until 12:15 AM. I got to sleep by 1:15 and then went to work at 3. A nice present though, Jordan brought me a pair of Michael Jordan shoes from Beijing. They are really nice and much cheaper than in the states...they are straight out of Chitown haha.
Work was nice and oddly, I was the one able to watch the Chicago Bears beat the Vikings (Jordan loves da Bears). I got back from work and Jordan met me there. He spent the morning visiting the National History Museum (the one I like so much). Once we reconnected, we headed out to this great little microbrewery my roommate Manuel suggested (Manuel is the guy that is moving out, thus the reason there is a room available...he actually officially moved out Tuesday). Reddot Brewhouse is a nice little brewery near the Singapore Botanic Gardens and the beer is good. We were there for happy hour so we had some drinks, some onion rings and some beef skewers...all delicious. We came back to the apartment and I was sure I would fall right to sleep. When we got back, our plan was to set up the next day's trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Well, after calling some bus companies, we decided it just wasn't worth it. Again, I should have planned this out a little farther ahead of time, but it is what it is. The decision was made that instead of us going across the border, we would just spend my two off days having an awesome time in Singapore, and we have done just that.
Wednesday, we woke up and headed for the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. On the way, we got off the MRT and ate at the Newton Hawker Center. We both got chicken rice and it was very nice. I was surprised that a lot of the stalls weren't open at the center, luckily this one was. Anyways, we then took the bus (again, I enjoy getting to see the city on the bus) down to where we thought the BT Nature Reserve was. I don't think we ever really found the one we were looking for, but we did go to the Bukit Batok Nature Park. We walked up this long hill and saw that there was a Japanese WW II Memorial there. Back when Japan was occupying Singapore during the war, they had POW's make this 40 foot memorial for the fallen Japanese soldiers. Before they surrendered, the Japanese took down the memorial. Anyways, right near there, we saw these little monkeys running around. It was awesome! They were swinging from trees and everything. We didn't take pictures, because I was scared flash might freak them out.
So we took this nature hike and it was really beautiful. It reminded me that Singapore is a jungle, even if it's now more of a concrete jungle. The wildlife was beautiful. After going down the hills, we took the bus over to Orchard road. The two places are the complete opposite, but I loved being at both.
From there, we went back to the condo and headed down to the pool. Yep, that's one of the great things about Singapore, it's late December, and we were swimming. We showered up and got ready for our nighttime activities.
We headed to the Raffles Hotel to get a Singapore Sling. I have been here for a month, but I didn't want to go have the famous drink by myself. Of course, I knew Jordan would want one, because if you come to Singapore, you have to get a sling. We went to the famouse Long Bar at the hotel. Here is one of the craziest parts about this bar. As you know Singapore is a very clean city, but at this bar in a five star hotel, they serve peanuts and you throw the shells away on the floor (just like Texas Land and Cattle haha). How funny is that? We got our Singapore Slings, and I can officially say I've had one. The drink was good, definitely not the strongest of drinks, but it was the experience that counted. Side note, we met this couple in their late 50s that are taking five weeks to go to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand...yeah I was a bit jealous.
We then headed down to Clarke Quay, my favorite spot, and found a nice little place to relax at. After, we went to this nice Thai place right along the river. My friend Akshobh met us for dinner as well (and pointed out that Sri Lanka's Cricket Captain was at the table right next to us...he was quite excited). After dinner, we met up with Manuel and his fiancee in hopes of going out. However, Jordan and I made a crucial mistake, we were both wearing shorts. A big no no apparently. There is an international dress code everyone is just supposed to know-guys have to wear pants and closed shoes. So, instead, we just hung out at another place in Clarke Quay, wrapping up a really nice day.
This morning, we got ready and headed to Sentosa. Obviously, Singapore is a very small island, but part of it is an even smaller island called Sentosa. As Jordan said, it's a tourist destination in a tourist destination. After eating a nice lunch, we got on the monorail to the island. We decided to go on the street luge. In order to get there, we took this awesome sky ride up to the top of the hill. It's like a ski lift, but instead of snow, you just look down at the beautiful tree tops of a jungle. Another side note, in the harbor, I saw cruise ships-must do more research haha. We did the street luge, which was a lot of fun. It's on a little course and they take you through safety stuff before hand. After the luge, we went to a little restaurant called Cafe del Mar (very Singaporean name right?). Outside they had little cabanas we could sit in. After, we went to the beach and got into the water. It was very nice, not too cold and not too salty (still salt water, but it wasn't unbearable). After spending about thirty minutes in the water, we headed to a different part of the island and went to a 4D movie. 4D is a three dimensional movie with the touch aspect as well. For example, when one guy hits his head on a tree, the chair moves. It was very nice, but I'll still take Avatar.
When headed back to the condo and now we are relaxing before New Year's. I have to cut our celebration a little early as I have work in the morning. At work though, the plan is to have the Mizzou bowl game on. I will be busy, but Jordan will probably come with me so he can watch.
So far, it's been great having Jordan in town. It's nice to have someone to go around with and be a tourist with. That sounds so basic, but it's really good to not be by myself and just doing touristy stuff. We are having a great time and hopefully it continues the next couple of days.
Go Mizzou and Happy New Year's everyone!
Michael
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