Singapore

I’m back at work now typing out this blog page. I never seem to have enough time to do it at home! And this seems to be the one school where I can "borrow" someone's wireless connection.
For those of you keeping an eye on Asia’s news, last week there were a couple earthquakes in Indonesia, which is right next to Malaysia and Singapore (where I was), but I didn’t feel a thing! In fact, the way I found out about it was reading it in the newspaper a few days after.
I had a great time in both Singapore and Malaysia. I will focus these blog pictures on Singapore.
I arrived in Singapore late Wednesday night, and went straight to the hostel. It was very simple, with just the bare necessities, but the other travelers and the owner were very kind. The next day I headed out to start my day exploring Singapore, and promptly jaywalked across the street. Suddenly I realized where I was, and got all panicky, but luckily no cops were around to arrest and cane me. I took the bus to the train station where I would be leaving that night to Malaysia, hoping to leave my backpack in a locker, but no such luck. I don’t think anywhere else has those little conveniences like Japan! So I ended up carrying my backpack around all day, which wasn’t too bad. Then my next stop was – The COFFEE BEAN!! There are many Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s in both Singapore and Malaysia, how excited was I! I had the first of many White Chocolate Ice Blendeds. There is tons of shopping in Singapore, and the city really reminded me of an American city – large buildings and English everywhere. The performing arts center is in the shape of two large durian fruits. I have never eaten one, but they are super popular in Southeast Asia. I haven’t actually smelled one before but they all say, “It smells like hell, but tastes like heaven.” I of course saw the Merlion spouting water into the harbor. I walked through Chinatown and many small markets. Finally, after a full day of walking across the city, I arrived at back at the train station. I took the overnight sleeper train to Malaysia. It left about 10:30pm on Thurs, and I arrived at 7am on Friday. The ride was really comfortable, except for the strange Australian woman sharing the room with me who thought it was much more comfortable to sit on my bunk than hers. Boy was she wrong.
I’ll write about my Malaysia part in the next blog.