After 20 hours of flying, plus time waiting in the airports, our journey begins. We had a minimal layover in Seoul, Korea where Eric was able to snag a noodle bowl and 'authentic' kim-chee. We had to go through security here and to our surprise, there was snow on the ground! We didn't think we would see the white stuff until next year back in Portland.
We then miscalculated our arrival in Singapore. Thinking we were arriving 1:30 in the afternoon, we arrived at 1:30 in the morning. Changed our options for transportation to our hotel and had to add another night into our reservation, but worked seemlessly and actually works better for our jet-lag. That fun stuff. Eric and I both relished in as how international flights go, ours was actually far less gut wrenching than we thought it would be. A few movies, a few zzz's, plenty of food and we were good to go. Took about two days to get a good nights sleep through the night here.
Singapore. So far, just like exploring another big city. English (thick accented though) is widely spoken and getting around easy. Been cloudy the last 2 days, so kept the temperature down. Sun is out and blazing today, 86 degrees but high humidity! Mid-day reprieve in front of the computer. Time spent, eating and wandering mostly. Our neighborhood (and hallway for that matter) can be quit interesting at night as we are in the red light district and prostitution is legal here. All the cars are mercedes, bmws, etc. I guess the car tax is so high here, the only cars that our owned are those by the wealthy. But this means little traffic.
Caught in a monsoon rainstorm yesterday. But fortunately, spent it at Raffles Hotel, a famous and old hotel downtown. Like a step back in time. Fun looking at all the photos of famous actors and actresses at the hotel back in the day when Singapore was an exotic place to travel. This is where the Singapore Sling was invented. Not paying $22 dollars for one here though at this high end hotel. Had mine on the plane : ) Construction is out the wazoo here. I guess Singapore doesn't like anything old. The high rises being built are astounding. Look like large spaceships and everywhere!
Walked around Geylang district, many food stalls and fruit stands. Durian fruit abound, haven't tried yet, will wait for Thailand. Illegal to open one in public places in the city except for this neighborhood because of the stench the fruit gives off. Oh, what to look forward to! Other places have been: Chinatown, Fort Canning Park (spice garden Eric loved on course). National Museum of Singapore. Great museum! Individual self-service pay stations for each exhibit. Love this set-up. Well designed exhibits. Incredible architectural interior of this building. Buddhist Temple in Chinatown and 2 different Hindu Temples. I enjoy looking at the 'art' inside these temples. Colorful and all the unique dieties. At least unique to me as I am really just now learning about the details of these religions.
Have explored many hawker food centeres. Eaten our Laksa, Chicken and Rice, Sweet Potato dumplings, Carrot Cake (savory dish of radishes), kaya (coconut custard), otak-otak (spiced coconut drenched fish wrapped in leaf), chapti, dal, pork bone tea (soup), oh and barley juice, sugar cane juice and fresh lime juices! Talk about refreshing. Markets: Geyland Serai, Maxwells, Sims Vista, Lau Pa Sat.
Acutally ran into the one American we knew was in Singapore when we were. Guess there is only so many spots a tourist will be.
So far it is just planning what to do in between our meals. I can't wait to leave the big city in a few days though and really start 'traveling' our way North. A few kinks for us to work out in establishing our groove, but I trust it will come.
