Day 1: We began our exploration by having the craziest multicultural day ever. Our hostel (cutely named "Beary Best") was in Chinatown...so we started with Chinatown, wandering the streets, getting our bearing, and just taking it all in. Unsurprisingly, it is the most authentic Chinatown we have ever seen (light years beyond NYC). We topped it off with some quick visits to a Hindu temple built in the 1820s and then a Buddhist temple built 4 years ago (both very mesmerizing). We met up with Lucy's friend Nick who has lived here for a few months, and he became our impromptu tour guide. We discovered that the metro is GORGEOUS and clean, and took it up to Little India, where we ate a traditional lunch served up on a banana leaf! We then headed to Arab street, where wonderful whiffs of hooks descended upon us from all directions. We toured a mosque and got a quick lesson in the foundations of Islam by a very nice man, who quite obviously had made it his personal goal to convince us that he was not a "Jesus hater", and show us how similar the two religions actually are.
We then headed to the Gardens by the Bay, a brand new complex that is part of a huge waterfront redevelopment project. It was beautiful! They had these fake trees that glowed purple at night that you could go up and walk on the "canopy". Kacie saw her first banana trees. That night we took a bus over to a huge outdoor food market near the beach where we were so tired we really didn't have any appetite at all, but it was still a really cool cultural experience. VERY TIRED THAT NIGHT.
Day 2: Today was nature day! We spent 6 hours touring the 175 year old 128 acre botanic gardens. Kacie took about 500 pictures! It was one of the coolest places we've ever been. Highlights...trail they the untouched rainforest, Lilly pads almost 3 feet in diameter, learning that bananas are a ginger, the largest orchid collection in the world, other marvels. That night we went to some dinner and headed back to the hostel, exhausted once again.
Day 3: So Singaporeans LOVE malls and shopping. Coincidently, everyone is very well-dressed...and there are a lot of malls. In fact, it is my belief that there is only 1 giant, inter-connected (air-conditioned) mall on the entire island. We explored orchard road, which looks like Times Square...but just malls. We did lots of people watching and at times felt very poor. After an amazing lunch in a local food court (part of Nicole's food was literally on fire when it was served to her), we enjoyed high tea in the Marriott (which was a giant pagoda!). The evening's festivities involved the infamous Singapore Night Safari and then a very late dinner. We had a great time seeing some pretty cool looking animals that haven't made it to our zoos in the states.
Day 4: We packed up and said goodbye to our Beary best hostel, and made for Changi Airport (ps: rated the BEST airport in the world!). We landed in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (on the island of Java--at 200 mil it is the most populated island in the world) and it was quite...different...than Singapore. A great warm up to Asia, we are now in a land where only the numbers and letters are familiar. We are striving to learn as much Indonesian as possible. I have decided to focus on numbers, but as a result, I keep forgetting "hello" and "thank you". We spent the day relaxing first at an expat restaurant, then at "afternoon tea" on our porch! We have an amazing little hotel in the center of town, with very nice staff. We are right next to a mosque, and so 6 times a day are treated to the mesmerizing calls of the imam. So far, having an amazing time! (And the prices are awesome...we each took out 1 million rupiah at the ATM when we got here...$100...and man does it go a long way!)
Until next time...
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