Return to Singapore

School is out, and Singapore is back!... or rather, I'm back in Singapore. This time, however, I have my Grandmother with me. So far we have hit up the Botanic Gardens (pictured below), the Jurong Bird Park, China Town, Orchard Road and some other tourist sights.

I love being back in Singapore, but I will only be here for about a month before I head off to AUSTRALIA!!! That's right, THAT plan is still in full swing! And now I leave you with pictures from some of my most recent adventures for your viewing pleasure:

Hawker Center

Singaporean "Sprinkles"

"Ion" at Orchard Road

Also, Happy 4th of July!! I haven't been in the USA for the 4th since 2009!! We celebrated by doing some Singapore sightseeing, eating hamburgers, going shopping, then eating at Chili's. We also had some cake and played Phase 10!! Happy Birthday, America!

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!

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.

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!

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 :)

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. :)

Celebrate the Little Things

Guess what readers... it is time to celebrate! Why? Two reasons:
1.) I have reached the 1000+ blog views mark! Holla!!!! Super excited about this one guys, and it is all thanks to youuuuuu (and you, and you, and you....). I am so excited, that I have decided to bake each and everyone of you a cake. Unfortunately for you, I will also be eating each and every one of your cakes due to complicated mailing issues...and because I like cake.
2.) My last post was number 33 of 2011! I had 33 posts the entire year for 2010...so yay for doubling and surpassing my previous numbers!

Yes these accomplishments might be small... but hey, I don't have any other holidays or what-nots to celebrate, so why not party over  these?

On a side note, I am happy to inform you that the Grand Prix came to Singapore last weekend. Formula 1, as the race is known here. Singapore is well known for having a long, twisty night  track, so naturally the whole place has been teeming with excitement for months in anticipation. Roads were closed down in the downtown area all weekend for the cars.
The Grand Prix is like the world's version of Nascar, but the cars are smaller and more speedy looking. Though I have never followed Nascar, I am pretty sure I enjoyed Formula 1 better.
Shakira and Lincoln Park were also here last weekend performing on stages in the downtown area around the races... so sad I didn't get to see them :(

Night Safari

Tonight I went to Singapore's night time zoo... they call it the Night Safari!
So cool!... so you know how you spend all day long in the sun trying to get the animals to even blink at you from their shady slumber? Well, that is because many of the animals there are nocturnal! So a while, Singapore decided that since the animals were active during the night, it would make more sense to show them off then!
Bam! Night Safari. It opens in the evening until midnight and is located within the normal Zoo grounds, but at the same time, it was also different. The Zoo tram drove on a slightly different path that took you much closer to many of the animals, and had a sort of "tour guide" navigating along the way. As you might have guessed, it was really dark, and no flash photography was allowed. There were also the walking paths, but they were much more restricted in some areas, and then there were other paths that must be closed off during the day, because they definitely weren't there before!
Highlights?
The wolves gathering to howl together, the huge Tiger playing with something right in front of the viewing window, the two Leopard cubs pulling playfully on ropes while their mom watched, Rhinos and Hippos actually MOVING around, an enclosed bat area that we could walk through as the bats flapped around and past us, huge flying squirrels actually soaring around.... get the picture? Needless to say, I enjoyed the whole thing very much. Unfortunately, I also am not in bed as early as I usually have been, so I am planning to sleep in and forgo the exercise in the morning.
Oh well. Anyway, so I've a full day ahead tomorrow.... getting ready to leave for Xian and Beijing Saturday morning, so I'll be packing and finishing as much of next week's homework as I can! When I was in Shanghai I couldn't access my blog, and I doubt I will be able to this time either, so it is goodbye for a week or so until I return!

Lion Dance

All this week the Lion Dance Championship is being held down on Orchard Road.
You know the sort of Lion I'm talking about...

 the one where two guys are covered up by the decorated version of Lion fur, and they dance around and act like a Lion.
Haha... that is probably a really offensive description for serious Lion-dancing people, sorry if I offend anyone! Anyway, during the championship, the two guys jump around on raised posts to the beat of drums and other instruments. I am not exactly sure of what their judging criteria is, but I think part of it is how much they can act/look like an actual animal, because they spend a lot of time doing stuff that a lion would do, then suddenly they are jumping up and down and doing lifts and stuff! Each team had their own set to perform on, and they would change after each team.

Here is one of the teams. Not sure that the video is excellent, but they were actually the best team. The entire routine lasted about 15 minutes total... talk about a workout for those Lion boys!

*Side Note* Ate at TGI Fridays tonight! Sooooo good! :)

Paramore Concert

I'm a little late, perhaps, but I thought I'd post about the Paramore Concert :)

Okay so...
What: Awesome Paramore Concert
When: last Sunday night
Where: Singapore's Indoor Stadium
Why: Okay, this one shoudl be self explanitory...
Who: PARAMORE!!! and The Swellers as openers!

Okay okay... so my dad agreed that my brother and I (or me and my brother, whichever) coudl go the concert as long as we played Squash 3x a week in the two months leading up to it. What could we say?.... nothing but "deal!" of course!
Now to be completely honest, I don't know most of Paramore's songs. I have 2 or 3 in my personal itunes collection and have heard 2 or 3 more via radio, but that is about it.... it was still really good though!

These crazy Singaporians squished together on the floor like sardines packed too tightly into their container. It was a little ridiculous. The people off towards the right would push on those in front of them, and the whole crowd would be pushed over... then the left side would have either no where to go, or retaliate push, so that we would all be swept back the other way. It was like an ocean of people with crashing waves. And then, just when you'd think you couldn't possibly get any closer to the people in front of you.... something exciting would happen on stage, and the whole crowd would surge forward a little but more. 

The Swellers were pretty good. I had never heard of them before, but it turns out they have a couple of albums out... the locals sure seemed to know the words, at least. This was their last concert with Paramore on this tour (who was headed  to Hawaii after this) so they all got on stage and played together and stuff. 

But of course... the main attraction: Paramore! They were really good! 

They sang quite a few songs from some different albums... including some acoustic ones from their first album. They "finished" their concert having left out Misery Business, of course, but then returned to sing it with The Swellers and an over-excited audience member.  

 

Like I said, really good concert... enjoyed it! I would definitely see them again. I have not been to many concerts, so this may just be my inexperience showing, but the Tshirts they were selling were outrageously overpriced in my opinion. They were 50 Sing dollars, which is around 41 USD. I mean, I wasn't really planning on buying one anyway... but if they were closer to  $25, I might have considered it. They also didn't have anything about the tour on them. That would have been cool too since the tour included several Asian locations, but oh well.

So anyway, that is my two cents :) 

...what's that? You want to  know if I took any video of the concert? Why as a matter of fact, I did; and since you've asked so nicely, I'll upload one for you :)

Race of the Dragon (Boats)

Okay now, You see the words: Dragon Boat Racing... and you're probably thinking: "what's that?" Right? Well let me explain: 

One of the sports here is called Dragon Boat. It is hugely popular in Asia as well as other countries, such as Canada...even the US has a few teams of their own.
Dragon Boat teams are sort of like Crew teams... meaning that they also race in long boats... but otherwise, they are very different. The rowers sit side-by-side, sometimes 8 or 10, sometimes 20! They paddle the boat in a similar style as what you might use in a canoe.
So my brother has been practicing with the American Team for a while now, and just had his first race yesterday! There were over  20 teams!... The Irish, Canadians, Germans, Filipinos, Australians... and the multiple other groups  that are Singapore colleges or alumni groups or what have you... just to name a few. Around here, anyone and everyone can have a team. Most schools have one, most associations and business have one... so on and so forth, and neither age, race nor gender can hold you back from competing!

This is the beginning of the race. They started spread out, but had to come together quickly to make a tight left turn.

The American Dragons of Singapore.

Jeremy is the youngest on his team, being only 18... they joke that when he joined, he brought the average age of the group down by 4 years. The oldest on the team is around 60. 
This race that just took place was a 10k. For those of you who aren't aware of the conversion, that is just over 6 miles! It took just over 50 minutes to complete the course... and they were rowing during the heat of the day! The American team came in 10th or 11th over all... which was in the top half, so that is good. The SIM alumni group took the gold and the Australians the silver.

Now usually, the traditional boats associated with Dragon Boat are a little different from these. They have Dragons on the front of the boat, and there is also a drummer who marks the pace. They don't just strike the drum one beat per stroke, however. They pound beats and somehow the rowers follow them... I guess with practice lol Also, in case you saw the person standing up in the back, but don't know why he's there.. they are steering. 

Below I am posting (or attempting to post) a short video of the end of the race so you can see it yourself. If you can actually see the video, I guess you'll know I've succeeded! :)

"swing'ng" Singapore Zoo

So today I visited the Singapore Zoo with my mother and brother. I wasn't really sure what to expect, to be honest. For those of you who read about the Shanghai Zoo... you might know that it was huge, had some strange animal sections, and not always the best exhibits. The Singapore Zoo, however, is highly advertised as a "must see" of the country. They also have a Bird Park and a Night Safari, both of which I plan on visiting.

So the Singapore Zoo... it was awesome! You walk past  the entrance gates, and already they've transported you into some magical jungle-like world.

The first animals you see are these cute little monkeys with white faces sitting in this low tree... and then you realize, they aren't in a cage! They are free-ranging monkeys! There were about 6 different types of monkeys (or apes...whatever the proper terminology might be for each one...) that were "free raging" in different sections of the zoo including (drum roll please!) Orangutans!!!! haha, sorry but I really like orangutans. *interesting side note*... They always spelled Orangutans as two words: Orang Utan. Weird, right?
They also had some pictures of this really famous orangutan that used to live there... and he was with STEVE ERWIN!!!...Oh how I miss that man :(

Okay, okay... back to the zoo... They didn't have pandas here, but I think they are planning to acquire some within the next year  or two. They also had no alligators, but  they did have 3 types of crocs.
The Zoo is this section of land that juts out into a reservoir, and you could take a boat ride from one side to other... which had some nice scenery. It was a little strange, though, because the land across the reservoir and all around the zoo's property is what they call "live-fire land" or in other words, it is were the army and military and stuff do practice drills and things like that... so as we were taking this nice scenic boat tour... we hear strange sounds of firing from across the water.
The animal exhibits were all really nicely designed, and the animals seemed pretty happy with it... though I don't speak animal, so I guess I will never really know.
Another highlight?.... we all three got to ride an Elephant!!!!

Mom also had fun feeding the giraffes...

Overall? Awesome experience! It was beautiful, had a lot of animals...and showed a lot of them in a unique way! Fun for all, glad I went! Now I'm excited for the night safari...where you get to see all of the nocturnal animals roaming around!... unfortunately, many of them are probably predators, so hopefully I won't be eaten!

Tastes like chicken.

So today I continue playing informant on my Singapore adventures with my description of the Frog Farm I visited with my family earlier.
First we rode the MRT (metro) out to what one might refer to as a "suburb" area of singapore... though I am disinclined to think there is actually any such thing, or at least not in the way one would usually picture a suburban area. There were, however, less malls here...which was the basis of my classification. Anyway... we next took a taxi and entered the "middle of nowhere" area of the city... which I also thought did not exist. This area pretty much consists of all the farmers in one huge area, the large area that is a wildlife preserve (or part of it) and the military training grounds nearby, which of course are not open to the public's eye.

We were, as you might have surmised, in the farm area... and headed to the Frog Farm.
Now a trip to the Frog Farm was the grand idea of my mother... and thank goodness she never reads this blog (at least to the best of my knowledge, she doesn't) because that way she will never know that I actually enjoyed it far more than I admitted I did. I love frogs! When I was little, I would go "frog hunting" with my brother. We would go hunting all around the neighborhood collecting as many frogs... or toads... we don't judge!.... as we possibly could and haul them around until we were made to come inside for the night.

Of course, here in Asia, frogs would be considered relatively common cuisine... so "frog hunting" begins to take on a whole new meaning! The frogs raised here were actually the American Bullfrog, funnily enough, and they were HUGE. (You see how I used the big print to emphasize my point, right :] )
There were hundreds of them! They pretty much have concrete sections walled off, with a layer of water in the bottom... and then enough frogs to cover the entire floor... of course, for some reason they tended to pile up on each other... and I'm am talking piles of 15 at a time... instead of spreading out and taking it easy. They feed the frogs 3 times a day, which is probably why they weren't very hungry when we tried the same thing. Poor frogs, I am no frog expert, but since the goal of Frog Farming is to eventually eat the things, I am thinking that they were definitely being overfed to increase  their size. Apparently, the frogs are carnivores... I didn't know that! When they are younger, they often will eat one another! Isn't that interesting?...and kind of bizarre. I mean, what carnivore doesn't have teeth? Shouldn't that me a necessary item for the classification? The farm didn't feed them meat, though, but instead some kind of food pellets similar to what you would feed ducks or fish at the zoo.
Anyway, back to the farming process....
It is actually pretty basic. Areas for the frogs where they are fed and grow large, areas where they mate and lay eggs, areas where the tadpoles grow up... so the cycle continues. The farm also raised catfish and snakeheads (which are a type of fish...with sharp teeth!). They use the fish as their own sort of garbage disposable by feeding them the frogs that die when at a few months old. Apparently the fish grow well with that type of food and are more valuable in the market.
Besides those, the farm also sells eels, which are considered a delicacy in  many places around here, and Tilapia because they are easy to raise and very popular... and I have to say I can't argue with that, I love Tilapia! 
After our little "tour" we ordered a quick snack...frog, of course, as well as some crocodile bites. What can I say... "it tastes like chicken" really is not just an expression, you know.