Last Days in SG

Well my days in Singapore have been slowly dwindling down. Tomorrow at 6 am is when we take off for the US. Naturally, I have decided that a wake-up time at 3am means that I will be far better off just staying up until we leave, then sleeping all the way to Japan.

I've definitely had some interesting experiences these past few days, though. For one thing... it snowed! haha okay... man made-soapy stud-like snow, but whatever. They have this snow every night at one of the nearby malls... it was crazy! There were kids running around in bathing suits, and foamy people everywhere.

Later that night I headed out with Heather, Jim and Kevin to the clubs. We hit up this building, an area called St James, where there are several clubs that occupy their own rooms. If you go up to the second floor, you can see down into all the clubs on either side... it is so cool! It looks like clubs you only see in the movies and stuff! We danced until around 3 am.

Saturday I went to Sentosa! My brother was in a boat race, so we went out to watch a little, but I really just wanted to check the island out. I saw the huge Merlion and got to ride in the Cable Cars that stretch from the island back to the "main land"... which is actually also an Island, I guess. They have some crazy stuff over there that I didn't get to do... indoor skydiving, Segway tracks, wave pools, a beach, zip lining and more!

Today I went out to Fort Canning Park. I think I might have mentioned it before... it is this hill that has a lot of historical significance. The ancient kings used to live there, as well as Raffles (the "father of singapore"). There was also a Fort. I went into this thing called the "Battle Box," which is an old bunker underneath where the fort was. There is a reenactment area is set up to show what was happening when Japan attacked Singapore, all the way up to when Singapore surrendered.

Hopefully I will be able to get all of my stuff together and finish packing! I have a loooong trip ahead of me in the morning!

Taiwan Trip

Last weekend I went to Taipei, Taiwan for the weekend!

I really enjoyed the city... so much fun! There actually quite a few things to do there...maybe not all in Taipei, but around the rest of Taiwan.

We went to the Night Market there... no crazy bug food, but awesome sales! They had soooooo many shoes! There were so many people there too! I really enjoyed walking around and seeing everything.

These are some of my favorite yummy snacks! haha... they are just potatoes on sticks, but I love 'em! They also had whole deep-fried chickens for around $3 (USD) and tons of other options!! 

Another place we went was a traditional Taiwanese Temple. They had these cool carvings everywhere just like these.

We also went to a more modern temple. They had a guard change there every hour... very official-like. One kid got to close to the guard on duty and he stamped really loud and scared us all... haha they probably wait all day for people to do that.

We went to another area of Taiwan... near the Zoo, where we took a cable car to this area up on the mountain side. They have all of these tea farms there.

It was a little chilly while we were there... especially on the mountain.

Another thing we saw was the Taipei 101, which is their famous tower. We went up to about the 85th floor and ate at one of tehir restaurants... it was sooo good! When you went into the bathroom, one of the walls was completely made of glass. That was kind of a weird feeling! lol

I really enjoyed Taiwan... everybody was really nice and helpful to us. Plus, it was incredibly easy to travel around the city using MRT or taxi...always a big help! I hope I get to go back and see some of their other stuff!

JB Malaysia

Last weekend I spent Sunday in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (called JB for short). For those of you who don't know, JB and Singapore are connected by a causeway, so it is an easy day trip.

Before I went, I heard a lot of mixed rumors about the city. It's dangerous, some said. Its boring. There are only shopping malls. There's nothing worth seeing.
Well before my little trip, which I took, by the way, with my friend Heather and her husband, Jim, I did a little research. Google, people. I wikitraveled (Did I just verb that? Yes.) it and...presto! A whole list of stuff to do and see.

So after making it across the causeway, the three of us started out towards the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque. We hopped on a bus (literally, hopping over the sidewalk rails which is where buses choose to wait, for some reason) and rode until the driver told us we were there.

Check out those doors! They looked like they were painted with gold or something! We weren't allowed to go inside here...I am actually not even sure exactly what this building is. It was right next to the Sultan Abu Bakar State Mosque, so it might have been another building more recently built, or just somethign else all together.
Anyway, so we walked up the hill a little ways and found the Mosque we were looking for.

Nice building, right? We poked around a little, but didn't really do anything here. We weren't allowed into teh Prayer Hall, of course, but we thought we might be allowed to go in other parts, but the place was pretty deserted... perhaps because it was Sunday, and sometimes things close then. We did see this interesting sign, though...

We headed around back and over a couple of streets, skirting past a local selling his wares. Heather discovered he was an Elvis fan, and he became entranced with the fact that she was very familiar with Graceland. It was then that we spotted the Zoo.

It looks kind of cute and quaint, right? Not much there? Wrong. We started at this bird show (those of you familiar with my Road Trip blog from when I was in Spain might find that fact a little comedic). The Bird guy didn't speak in English for most of the show, and so we had no idea what he was talking about most of the time. Towards the end, he started translating some into English for us... but only during the parts where we had completely figured out what he was talking about already. Figures.
Anyway...
The more we looked around this place, the more we began to realize just how huge this zoo was. They had tons of animals! One thing they seemed to have an excess of was Lions. They had grown lions, cubs and...teenage lions? So many! Oh...and camels!

I wanted a picture with the camels, but I was afraid they would bend down and lick me or somethign. Noooo thank you! I don't want that nasty looking mouth anywhere near me!
All in all, I was really impressed with the area...especially since it cost about the equivalent of $1 (USD) to go in!




After the zoo? Lunch, then an Electronics Mall stop, and then we were on our way to our next destination! Arulmigu Sri Rajakaliamman Hindu Temple. Try saying that 5 times fat!... Or even just one time correctly, for that matter. Anyway, this is known as the First Glass Temple in the World. It was so...shiny! The entire thing was covered with glass! So cool!

All of interior was covered with glass! Really! But, that is not even the most interesting thing about of little trip here. There was a wedding going on!

The ceremony had already finished, but everybody was still gathered around the Temple area and were eating in the well... Fellowship hall, we would call it back home. Cafeteria? Well... the place the Temple had for eating.
Everyone insisted that we join in too! We were ushered into the room and sat down at tables with all the wedding guests. They served us a traditional wedding meal, apparently. It was on a banana leaf and we ate it with our fingers and everything! Some of it was a little spicy for my mouth, but it was still really good. Cool, right? I am so glad we went to that Temple! One more pic of it, just for good measure...

Let's see... for me, that was really the highlight of the day. Our other destinations included an old Chinese Temple, a trip into the mall that is right next to the border, a walk through some local shop area outside the mall, and another Hindu Temple. This one was completely different from the glass Temple.

So that was pretty much my day in JB! So what did I learn? There is definitely stuff to do and see there besides just shopping (consult wikitravel these and other options). Also, it is not as unsafe as some people seem to think it is! We stayed together and didn't do anything stupid, and the three of us were fine. I think that as long as you remain aware, you should be fine there! Glad I went, it was a lot of fun!

Dragon Boat Races

This weekend there was a big Dragon Boat race down around Boat Quay. My brother was in a few with the American Dragons Team. They didn't do too well Saturday, but on Sunday my brother's boat placed 4th in the finals!

Apparently the Drums on the boats are mostly for traditional purposes... they usually don't even row with them except in races like this! The drummer sets tehir pace according to how the lead rowers set the pace, not the other way around! 

Boat Quay has a lot of restaurants along the water, so while we watched the races, we also got to eat! We were at an Irish place...so Stew for me!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Actually, it is still Thanksgiving in the US, but here in Singapore, it is already Friday morning!
Let me just start off by saying that I LOVE THANKSGIVING. Thanksgiving-Christmas is my favorite part of the year!This year, of course, we didn't get to spend time with our family in Mississippi, as is our usual tradition, but we found a Turkey, opened some cranberry sauce, mashed the potatoes and still managed to enjoy ourselves immensely.

Much to my brother and father's disappointment, however, there were no football games for them to watch on TV...somethign I didn't really care about, myself.

Today is another "holiday" or sorts in itself, of course...Black Friday!!!! Crazy sales here, but we went out to the mall anyway!

We ended up making a little trip up to the top of the Marina Bay Sands Tower.Check out the view!

Presents!

Last week my Dad had to go back to the US for work and we sent a shopping list with him!  It was like Christmas had come early!!!...actually, we did each have an early present from some friends.
Look at our goodies!

My personal request....

Yessss!!!!
:)

They have shoes for that?

Last Sunday marked the Singapore National Tug-of-War Challenge. Now if you're like me, you are probably thinking: "They have Tug-of-War Challenges? That's a real sport?" They do!

Teams competed in matches (best out of 3), then the winners would progress on towards other winners, and the losers towards other losers...what is that called? Brackets? They were very serious about the competition, too.

The team pictured here is the Malaysian team, and they actually ended up being the winners. They had super amazing leg strength and a good technique...and yes, there is such a thing as good technique in Tug-of-War!
What amused me (and my mother) the most, perhaps, was that they even have their own shoes! I mean, I guess it is to be expected... what sport doesn't have their own special shoes to wear? It was still sort of funny, though. They all had shoe covers to wear as well whenever they were walking anywhere other than on the green mat part.
Right now there is some sort of Asian Olympic thing going on... I guess this means that Tug-of-War isn't included in that since they had to have their own championship on the side.
It was an interesting find, nonetheless!

Laugh off Asia

Last Saturday I got to go to Laugh Off Asia, a stand-up comedy show. As the name might suggest, the comedians were all Asian... 3 Singaporeans and 3 Filipinos.

The show was held in the old parliament building, which gave the whole show an interesting feel, and was the object of many jokes. "You can bet I'm the first one to ever say THAT in the Parliament house!"... and other similar things.

The show was formatted as a sort of "competition" between the Singaporeans and the Filipinos, but they didn't really compete at all. The first Singaporean and Filipino each did 10 minutes, the next two did 15 and the last two did 20 minutes.

The actual comedians weren't the only ones getting a laugh, however, because the MC was totally hilarious. He was from Pakistan, something he immediately put to good use laugh-wise.

One of the things I was unsure about before going, was whether or not I would even understand the jokes. My fears were completely unneeded, however, because I, and the three friends who also went (Kevin, Heather and Jim...all American), had no trouble understanding any of it (well, except when they would say something that was obviously funny in whatever their local tongue was).

Most of the people there were Asian, mostly Singaporeans, but with a fair number of Filipinos present as well. There were also others, however. The "white people." Two French guys, a couple Germans, a few British, one Australian and a Swiss Guy, and a few more Americans. While the majority of jokes were centered around the different cultures you can find all around Singapore and the Philippines, there were also a fair number of "White people" jokes... some for each of us, I guess :)  I have to say, it was sort of odd being the object of their jokes. I mean, nothing they said was out of the ordinary jokes range... Americans know zero Geography, beware the Germans in case they get drunk and then decide to occupy us, don't ask the Swiss anything important because they'll remain neutral... but it was still funny hearing it from an Asian's point of view.

The show was extremely funny. Afterwords, we happened to meet a few of the comedians, and they were excited to know we enjoyed the show despite our "White-person-ness" haha

One of the interesting things about the old parliament house is that the names of all the important people that used to meet there have their nameplates on their chairs.
I took a picture of Lee Kuan Yew's chair... so did everyone else. He was their first Prime Minister.

The parliament house had a  very "old-timey" feeling, in a lot of ways. This is especially true considering what their current parliament house looks like.

It is not the tall building, but the flattish round one.What does it look like to you?... you can go ahead a say it... UFO. That's right, Singapore is ruled by aliens. Comforting, right?

Haha... anyway, I had a lot of fun. Afterwords, the four of us went strolling down Boat Quay (pronounced Key, for all you Americans) and then ended up heading over to Clarke Quay with Kevin where we met up with our friend Dexter. We ended up dancing at a club called Highlanders (no cover and a live band...why not?), eating ice cream at BK and then heading home around 4 am. Excellent Night.

An Unexpected Surprise

Last week I went on a tour of an area called Fort Canning Park. It started in the evening and was supposed to be a night tour of this really big hill in Singapore. On the hill is where 5 ancient kings used to live (supposedly), and it is also where Raffles, the British founder of Singapore) built his house.
The group was walking around the hill, minding our own "historical" business, when low and behold, we stumbled upon a concert. This wasn't just any concert either, mind you, but a heavy metal concert. Children of Bodom were playing, a Finnish group, and there was a large crowd of locals (dressed in black) to watch.
My group didn't actually go into the concert or anything (it was an outdoor concert at the very top of the hill), but later, when we climbed up the gates of the old Fort Canning, we could see them playing.

This just goes to show that you never know what to expect from Singapore!

Anime Festival Asia

Last weekend there was an Anime Convention here in Singapore. Did I go?... Of course I went!
Some of you who have frequented my blog posts for a longer period of time, might be aware that I really enjoy anime. I usually try to attend Megacon, the convention that comes to Orlando every spring, so I was really excited to be able and go to one while in Asia.

Right off the bat, the most exciting thing about the convention, was that it was cheap! I don't remember right off the top of my head how much Megacon was last year, but it was probably at least around $30. Anime Festival Asia, AFA for short... $8!!! That's right, I said 8 bucks! No this got you entrance to the event for one day and included the exhibition room. That was also where the signings took place and the gaming.

Now the convention had another main attraction... Anisong. They had concert tickets available for all the groups playing, but I didn't have time to stay for all of that part... so sorry, no comment on all of that section. I expect that the concert was actually the biggest part for a lot of people, though. There have been commercials playing on TV for their arrival for a while now.

So anyway, I head off to the convention, and to be honest, my expectations were all over the place. To start out with, I expected it to be hugely popular and crowded.. I mean, this is Aisia we're talking about. you expect Anime to be popular. I also expected there to be a lot of Cospley (dressing up as the characters), and I expected them to be pretty good quality, or maybe more extreme. Thirdly, I expected there to be stuff to buy everywhere. I wasn't really planning on getting a lot of Merchandise, but I still was expecting to find it.
On the other hand, I had tried to set lower expectations for the Convention. In the US, when people attend bug Cons, like Megacon, I don't only see anime. People dress up however they like... Star Wars, Star Trek, Anime, Popular Movie Characters, Pop artists, Disney... you name it, you could see it.

To be frank, I felt like AFA lacked a lot. Their exhibition room was a pretty good size, and it was certainly very crowded (Asian as far as the eye could see!), but in all other areas of my expectations, they fell dismally flat.
One of the biggest disappointments was definitely the lack of stuff to buy. Don't get me wrong, there was stuff to buy there...but where was the huge tower of Tshirts? Where were the countless stacks of posters? It just wasn't the same. There were cosplayers, but most of them were pretty simple. All in all, a bit disappointing, I would say.

So even though it is a little sad that the Asian Anime Convention I had so anticipated was a little, well... boring, I am still glad I got to go and see it! Can't wait for Megacon in Orlando, though!

Hari Raya Haji

So guess what yesterday was... Public Holiday!!! haha I know all you Westerners are probably thinking "What is with all these public holidays? Didn't they just have one last week?" Don't be jealous!!

I think I mentioned in one of the my other posts that each of the major religious groups here can pick one or two of their religious holidays and designate it as a public holiday. Well yesterday was Hari Raya Haji, an Islamic holiday.

I am not sure how much you guys know about this day, but I believe it's purpose is to celebrate the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son (whom they believe is Ishmael) in obedience to God. Of course, before Abraham could do that, God provided the animal to sacrifice instead. I believe it also marks the end of the time of pilgrimage to Mecca. Well anyway, this is a day in which animal sacrifices are customarily made and over the weekend, over 4,000 goats were brought into Singapore for that purpose. 4,000!!! 

I have absolutely no idea how or where all these goats were sacrificed...and every single on of them was intended for that purpose. I mean, there is no way the temples around here would even be able to hold that many people, right? And it's not like yard space is abundant around here either. I really have no idea where this all took place.

Of course, I spent my day shopping with the family...surprise surprise. haha We ate at a German restaurant that I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would, and then we saw a movie.

Oh, side note about the movie:
The movie we saw was Tower  Heist. It was pretty funny, but with Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller I expected nothing less. During one part, the concierge of the Tower (the Tower staff are the main characters) produces a bunch of red flowers and informs Ben Stiller's character that, as it is Chinese New Year, he has gotten the flowers for one of their Asian residents. He also insists that he must say something nice to  her or else she might have a bad year. He then proceeds to present her with flowers when she arrives in the building lobby and to address her in Chinese. There were no English subtitles, so I have absolutely no idea what he said, but all the Singaporeans in the theatre (many of whom speak Chinese) all started laughing, so I have to assume it was funny. That is when the bizarreness of seeing a movie where the majority of the people around you actually understand the Chinese struck me, and I couldn't help but laugh too.
Of course what I found odd and somewhat funny was that the movie was set for sometime in November, but Chinese New Year is not until closer to February.

Back to my topic of Public Holidays....
No need to be jealous, my lovely American friends and family. There are no more public holidays that I am aware of here until Christmas, by which time I should be back in the States. You guys get Veterans Day soon, then Thanksgiving after that.

American Food

After eating at Chili's for the second time last night in Singapore, I decided to  do a blog post on finding American Food in Singapore.

Let's start with the basics, the seemingly obvious places to go:
McDonald's and Burger King... they're everywhere, right? To be honest, I like them better here than I do in the US... the same was true when I was in Spain and other parts of Europe. For the most part, places like this are pretty similar to their US counterparts, though I think the quality of the meat is sometimes better, and they use different oils to cook with and stuff. Let's go ahead and add Wendy's to this list..also something that I have found to be pretty similar to what's at home.
For the record, let me just go out there and say that Asia has yet to master "The Hamburger." Try as they might, it just isn't quite right. This come mostly from my dad, as I have never been fond of burgers anyway... McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Swensens...all have less than adequate burgers, though Burger King is probably at the forefront of this list. Now Carl Jrs... they have managed to provide a decent Burger.
Among the other popular American chains are KFC, Kenny Rogers, Popeye's, Long John Silvers, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut and Dominoes.
KFC... not a fan. It just doesn't taste the same to me! Their sides consist of an option between mashed potatoes (not good ones, either), fries or Cole slaw. Also, you get absolutely no silverware at all and hardly any napkins!
Kenny Rogers... One of my favorites here, though mostly because it reminds me of Boston Market which I have a particular fondness for. It still isn't top notch or anything.
Popeye's... they have good fried chicken. They even have biscuits and gravy, which was sort of surprising for me!
Subway is by far the most "normal" (aka like how it is in the US). You get pretty much all the same options as any other Subway would offer... but the $5 foot long isn't a fad... that would be an awesome deal here since things are usually a couple bucks more expensive. 
Pizza Hut tries really hard, but it isn't the same either. They have no sauce on most of their pizzas, and a lot of their toppings can get strange. Also, there is not really a "make your own" option, and even altering the choices of pizzas given to you can be a hassle. I still think the pizza tastes okay, but it just is not American.
Dominoes isn't even worth it.

Other  popular American favorites also include things like Starbucks and a collection of ice cream places, but I don't go to them very often.

Funnily enough, when I think of eating American food, I sort of lump in Mexican with that even though it should be considered more as "Western Food" instead. We've tried a lot of Mexican places, and most of them were all right, but nothing special. My big pet peeve? They almost never give you cheese on the side when you order fajitas!! Also, they generally have horrible queso!!

And now back to  Chili's and, for that matter, Friday's as well. I don't really know what to say except.... they are sooooo good! A tad expensive, but GOOD! 1.) They have lemonade ( a rare thing here) AND it isn't just the Snapple kind! 2.) They have free refills! This is literally nonexistent here. 3.) There food is American. It doesn't just look American in the pictures, it tastes like it too!! Ahhh I can already feel my mouth watering just thinking about Friday's yummy Chicken Alfredo or Chili's Guiltless Chicken pasta. My brother gets the ribs every time... loves them! Oh, and their lava cakes... just like home!

There are other places as well that I haven't tried out yet.. Tony Roma's, Outback, California Pizza Kitchen and probably more. While getting "authentic" American food can be a chore, it certainly is worth it sometimes. It's funny how the little things count for so much... like the football games (like legit football, and not soccer or rugby) that play on the tvs while you eat.

So anyway, that by no means was an adequate description of the concept of eating "American Food" while in Singapore, but I hope it will suffice for now. Enjoy your next trip to Five Guys or the Olive Garden...and think of me while you are there! I know they will certainly be two of many trips I will be making once back in the states!

Halloween

Happy Halloween! 

So in case you are wondering, Halloween is not a big thing in Asia. The Chinese are really superstitious and tend to stay away from things involving "bad spirits" and the like. The holiday is not, however, nonexistent... especially here, in Singapore where there are so many foreigners.
To be honest, I am not entirely familiar with how or if Halloween is celebrated in most parts of the world, though it probably does not get as much attention anywhere else as it does in the States. Here, there are Halloween decorations strung up around stores and little costumes for sale. Most of the stuff, however, seems like cheap small items and is no where near the level of decorations you would see in your everyday Walmart.
In general, Singapore does not do Trick-or-Treating, but certain apartment complexes or living areas where there are a lot of Westerners will open up and let their residents wonder freely, gathering their assorted candies.

Last Friday the Marines held another social at the Embassy...a Halloween Party! I signed up!... and I mean, who wouldn't? At the very least, you can get $5 pizza and $5 drinks! Good pizza is a rare and iffy thing here. the pizza they served was from this place called "Canadian Pizza" and it actually tasted okay... though there was a profound lack of pizza sauce. 
The costume contest promised on the invitation (winner drinks free) never happened, but costumes were abundant!  I didn't have many resources to pull from, so I wore a blue dress I have and attached some blue  wings and flowers to myself, decorated my arms and face with little sticky gems and lots of blue make-up and went as a fairy. My friend Heather went as a basket of laundry, and her husband accompanied her as Static Cling. My other friend, Kevin was the Green Lantern. Dexter, who works at the embassy, did not dress up. boooo haha There were a lot of other costumes there too... a Zorro, a Pimp, Cereal Killers, a slutty policewoman, cats, candy corn and so many more. Funnily enough, there was also one guy dressed up as a Mexican. I assumed, being in Asia, that it was really as Asian underneath the sombrero and mustache, but it  turned out to be a real Mexican!... imagine my surprise! lol
Anyway, it was a fun party and we stayed from around 7 until 11 or so. The actual party went on much later, but we all wanted to catch the public transportation home before it all shut down, and so dutifully headed out to catch a bus.

That was all over the weekend of course...what did I do for actual Halloween night, you ask? We made fajitas. haha... not very "halloweeny" I guess, but hey, they tasted good! Actually, my brother also had carved a pumpkin a couple days before (those things don't last long here, but I took a pic before it got ruined... it is the one at the top of the post) and we ended up making some delicious Oreo Ball treats. We tried to decorate them like eye balls, but that part didn't turn out so well. They were very  tasty, though, I assure you!

Happy Deepvali!

So this past week was Deepevali. It is an Indian Holiday, but they got it declared a public holiday here in Singapore! The festival is actually called different things in different places. I always pronounced more like: Depvali, and it is also commonly spelled Diwali. I have never seen or heard it as Deepevali except for here, but if you ask a local Indian, they will insist that is the only way to pronounce it... other Indian friends say differently. Oh well. All I have to say to that is: When in Rome....

So Deepevali is also known as the Festival of Lights... perhaps you have heard of that one? Often times in the US people mistake their Indian neighbor's decorations as an extra early attempt to put up Christmas lights! Not so! During Deepevali there are lights everywhere! They have significance, too. They are supposed to bring good fortune (or something really good, I think) during the next year. I am not really an expert or anything, so I won't go into more detail in case I offend someone!
Anyway, so Deepevali was last Wednesday (although some places, like Bali, haven't celebrated it yet!), but Little India has been decorating for weeks ahead!

So on Tuesday night I headed down to Little India with my family to check out the Deepevali Market. That is this tented market that is set up just before Deepevali each year selling all sort of things. None of that stuff is actually open ON Deepevali, mind you, because that is supposed to be a day spent with your family. Little India was PACKED!! There were people all over the place. They were outside the market, inside the market, hopping, just hanging out...anywhere and everywhere! We checked out the market ourselves, then just walked around the area getting the feel for the holiday. As I said before, the next day, the actual Deepevali Day, is a Public Holiday in Singapore, so nobody had to be up early for work or anything.
Next day... Public Holiday!! Yay!!
I decided to go with my family and check out Istana... the Singaporean equivalent of the White House.

Actually, their President doesn't live at Istana anymore, but there are still official offices and everything there. Istana is usually heavily guarded and closed to the public except for on 5 public holidays a year... this being one of them. A lot of locals will take a picnic and spend the entire day there! We just went to check it out for a couple hours.

While we were there, we also go a free Henna! Afterwords, we ate at this Brazilian place that my parents love and then my mom and I went shopping for most of the rest of the afternoon and got a wok! I am hoping to get to use it tonight when I make dinner... though I am sort of planning on cooking Mexican and not Chinese, but I guess it will work just as well :)

HHN at USS

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Singapore!

So I thought I was going to have to miss HHN this year, but Singapore hosted one of their own! So exciting! Theirs lasts only two weekends and is much smaller than Orlando's, of course, but I was still really looking forward to it!

I went with my brother, and since we don't have work or classes during the week, we decided to go on the only Thursday the event was offered, hoping it would also be the least crowded day. Oh sweet success, how we enjoyed your succulent taste! To start with, let me out line how the park is laid out. The entrance brings you into their Hollywood area, though some stands have been creatively reconstructed as Bollywood themed instead. The whole park is one circle, so we'll pretend that we are moving in a counterclockwise direction. Next you come to New York, Sci Fi City then Ancient Egypt. After comes the Lost World, the kingdom of Far Far Away and Madagascar. El Fin. During HHN, only Hollywood, NY, Sci Fi City and Ancient Egypt were open. I was slightly disappointed about that, because I had expected that we would be able to go through pretty much the whole park even if some shows were closed down.

 There were only 2 haunted houses in the whole park... only two! I know that sounds pretty bad, but they were both really well done. Also, the park is so much smaller that it would have been hard to fit in as many as there are in Orlando.They had 5 or 6 scare zones total, however. Actually, almost everywhere, with the exception of directly in front of the rides and house entrances, was sort of a scare zone. Their post-apocalyptic NY area was really quite amazing. They also had a circus themed of area... the "carn-evil" in Hollywood, some creepy scientific creations around the Sci Fi zone and Mummys (...Mummies?) rampaging through Egypt.
There were only 4 rides open in the entire park. One was one of those spinney rides... like the tea cups at Disney, but all sciency-themed. Sci Fi city had two roller coasters. Battlestar Galactica: Human and Battlestar Galactica: Cylon. These two reminded me of the Dueling Dragons ride... they were the same theme and everything, but two separate coasters.  Both were really fun and, by a some fluke, we got to ride at the front of one of them during one of our rides! Yesss! The Mummy was also open, and we rode that one more than once as well. It is pretty much the exact same ride as the one in Orlando, except I noticed that in the room with all the fire, the fire is not as hot here! Thank goodness! Take note, Orlando...less fire is okay!
All in all, it took very little time to get through the whole park. We did almost everything there in about an hour and a half. Of course, as I stated earlier, we also managed to pick the least crowded day to go which saved us hours of wait time! After our first time through, we stopped at the Dinner to try our some hotdogs and milkshakes. The hotdogs were okay, though not really American tasting, but the milkshakes were... weird. They must have used some keep type of mixture because they tasted more like Wendy's Frosties... but bad.
We left the park right before midnight (HHN lasts 8-12) and managed to  catch one of the last MRTs home! Score!... then all I had left to do was sit up another hour waiting for my enrollment date to open on my school website so I could register for classes next Spring, but I won't get into that now... that could be a long story.
Anyway, so conclusion? HHN at USS was fun, but definitely not on par with Orlando's. I am rally glad I got to experience it though!

Just Da:ns

Okay, so I've fallen behind in posting... let's just pretend that today is actually the 16th of October, or perhaps even the 17th! If we accept said fact as true, then I would have just participated in the Da:ns festival this weekend!
This is a festival that Singapore puts on once a year down by the bay and is all about dancing!!! Da:ns is pronounced a it like Dance, and I still have no idea why it is not just called the Dance Festival! I only caught the tail end of the festival, but it was still really fun!

On Saturday, the theme was Swing... love it! They had local dance groups come out to demonstrate and teach everyone how to do certain moves. In the end, we ended up learning little routines. They taught the dance extremely fast, though! If we were in the US, I don't think people would have been able to keep up! I like Swing dancing and all, but it was kind of hard to do all their moves. On a whole, I think I liked Sunday night better.
What was the theme for Sunday night, you ask? Hip Hop!!! SO much fun!!!!
First we learned a more typical hip hop routine. The guys that taught it were hilarious, and their moves were much easier to learn and remember than Swing! After that, we learned some Michal Jackson to the tune of Smooth Criminal!!! After the guys, a girl's group came out and taught us some Beyonce!

Besides fun themes like this, there were also a lot of performances of traditional dances that were interesting to watch. They had elaborate get-ups with masks and stuff.

It was awesome that Singapore hosted this event for free all week long! They even had a free bag check area for purses! Even better, the event was along the bay, so every night the buildings lit up around you and you could see the light show going on across the water! Fun weekend!

Here we go again.

So, it is that time of week again: the one where we have to clean the apartment before the maid comes. Yay!!! *sarcasm*
But before I bore you with that, let me recount the details of the weekend. On Saturday I met some friends, Heather  and Clayton, at the Botanical Gardens. The Gardens are huge, and a really popular place to hang out. We walked around some and checked out the Ginger Garden, but then spent the rest of the late afternoon relaxing by one of the ponds with a bit of wine until dark had fallen. The gardens were beautiful and have a section that is like a rain forest!...can't wait  to go back and see that part!
Afterward, we headed over the Holland Village via the MRT...which brings me to the most exciting news of all... The Orange Line is open for business!!! Yay!!!! There was party stuff going on as the Singaporeans celebrated, and a stage with a live band was set up outside of Holland. We ate at the Hawker Center and enjoyed the last couple of songs played by the group before the show ended, then chilled with some Frolik (the yummy froyo, pineapple flavored today). By now the group had managed to become 5: myself, Heather, Kevin, Dexter and Annie. I think I might have already mentioned this a few posts ago, but Heather, Kevin and Annie are all here on a Fulbright Scholarship program. They are doing some kind of work-study deal for 9 months. Annie and Kevin have already started theirs, but Heather has quite begun hers yet. Dexter is here doing an internship with the US Embassy.
Anyway, we pretty much just hung out at a bar in the Holland area for a while before heading home. Of course, about 10 minutes before we all were leaving, the weather  decided to storm. Typical Singapore. Luckily, since I live around Holland Village, I only had a short walk through the downpour...and of course I had my umbrella.
Sunday was sort of a lazy day. My throat has been mothering me some, so I just worked on some school work (the stuff I had procrastinated on earlier  in the week), ate at our usual Mexican place for lunch, and ended up watching Thor with the family that night...which I actually enjoyed more than I thought I would, though I think I prefer Iron Man and Captain America more.

So back to today.... cleaning! I really dislike how every week we have to make it a big deal to clean the apartment before Jane (the maid) even gets here! On top of that, she likes to text my Mom  about what time she thinks she will show up, but my Mom doesn't hear her phone go off half the time! Last week Jane didn't show up until almost 1 and didn't leave until right after 6!!! How am I supposed to make dinner when she is taking up the whole kitchen with the ironing board and mop and stuff? I wish this whole Maid stuff wasn't so ingrained in the Singapore culture!

*sigh* anyway...with that mini-rant out of the way, I really don't have much ore to add. No plans yet for this week or the weekend coming up, but I will be sure to fill you in as we go along!

Living it Up

Last night I spent some time at Clarke Quay at the clubs! Awesome time!!... let me start from a little earlier, though.

So I met  up with a few people around 7. The plan?... to go up in the Marina Bay Tower thing... the building that looks like a boat. (<----- THAT one on the left!) Unfortunately, the weather was kind of yucky yesterday, so we decided not to pay the $20 required to go up it.  Instead we headed out to eat...at a Hawker Center of course (yay cheap food!!!) then over to Clarke Quay. At first, we just sort of hung around and relaxed/people-watched (an unbelievably amusing activity in Singapore) on a bridge area, but after a while, and by then our number had increased to 7 total, we headed over to the bar/club area.

First stop: Yellow Jello. One of the guys in our group, a local, insisted on buying this drink...The Graveyard, it is called, for everyone. I declined, not being much into alcohol, and also not liking carbonation. This drink has 6 things combined together, but the primary drink is Guinness. Well... let me say that first of all, the drink was black when it arrived, and they had this straw in all the glasses that were black crosses. I tasted one... it tasted like licorice. Aka nastiness. Ewww...so glad I did not get my own! Now Yellow Jello had this band playing...they had the most amazing playlist ever... Michael Jackson, Coldplay, Van Halen, Ke$ha, the Killers...to be honest, I don't really remember all the music we heard, but they had some good stuff, I promise you!
What next you ask? Well it was on to the Rupee Room for us!
Soooo much fun! It was $20 to get in, but that was the only downer!...and that did get you one free drink, so that was nice :) Anyway, bollywood-styled awesomeness ensued. You could hardly even tell when one song ended and the next started. One minute, they were blasting T-Pain, the next it somehow merged into a Indian pop-song or something. The people there were awesome. There weren't just Indians, or anything, but they would show us their awesome dance moves and we would all join in. So much fun, really!

So around 2, we all headed out to queue up for a taxi home (the MRTs stop running much earlier). I think it took me about 30 minutes when I got home, maybe less, to change, brush my teeth and fall into bed! This morning I woke up (and yes, it was still morning! Though not for long) and my entire family was gone :(  Haha, but that is okay, I know they went over to Sentosa, this magical island full of wonders, for an outrigger  race that my brother is doing to day.
In other news... today is the opening of the Orange MRT line!!! Holla!!!! You have no idea how awesome that is!!! Now I have to walk 2 minutes to get to an MRT instead of 10!!! Here, that is huge!

Happy Hour

Yesterday I attended a "Happy Hour at the Marine House" event.
There are about a dozen young Marines that live at the US Embassy, and they have this event once a month. There is food for $8 and drinks for $5 (an amazing price, by the way!). The event is invitation only, though not necessarily for the sake of exclusivity, but more because of the fact that you ave to be on the list to get into the Embassy. My mom, on her tour of the Embassy last week, had been informed that, though many were invited, it was often a younger crowd that showed up, so naturally, she sent her 21 and 18 year old instead.
Unfortunately, this tip was wrong. The majority of people there were probably about the same age as my parents and most, though not all, seemed to work at the Embassy.
*sigh* oh well. We ate our subs and drank our drinks, and were about to leave, when a girl started talking to us. Her name was Heather, and we instantly became friends. Later, I was introduced to someone else named Kevin. They are both on some sort of work study type of scholarship thing for 9 months.
We headed out of the Embassy and down towards Orchard where we walked around and grabbed some more food.

We tried two desserts... Ice Kachang and Cheng Tng. They were both pretty good, actually. Singaporeans (or really, just Asians in general from what I can tell) put all of this weird stuff into their desserts, like beans and such, so sometimes they look a little unappetizing.
Ice Kachang, pictured left, had beans and small red jello cubes in the bottom of the bowl, then a pile of shaved ice, and then a mango sauce with mango chunks in it.  The ice was colored red, brown and green. The whole thing was a lot sweeter than I thought it would be, and actually tasted good with the mango, which I have not always been a fan of in the past.

The Cheng Tng, pictured below, had all sort of...stuff, for lack of any actual knowledge of what it all was. One top of the stuff, they put shaved ice, and then the filled the bowl up with some brown sugary liquid. The ice melted pretty quickly, so it is mostly gone in this pic. We ordered it because the guy in front of us got it and said it was his favorite. It actually had sort of a caramelized taste to it.

After, we hopped on a bus down to Clarke Quay to see the night scene going on down there. We mostly just hung around, but I hope to go back and do some actually clubbing or something.
A fun night  all around, I think. :)