Well, we are safely back in Philadelphia after an amazing trip to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Luckily we weren't sold into sex trafficking and/or a prostitution ring. And no, Kyle, we do not need any antibiotics for any infections acquired while in SE Asia. Thank you for the kind offer, though.
Guuhhhh, I can't believe our vacation is over and we now have to refocus on being semi-responsible adults. These next several posts may be a bit lengthy, tiresome and dull for the lot of you, due to the fact that there will be lots of pictures and words and information that you don't care about, and probably a lot of run on sentences, too. Because that's how I roll. And since this is my "journal" I can do and say and post whatever the hell I please. You have been warned.
The sequence of the posts will be as follows: Singapore, Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Railay, Bangkok, and Singapore again.
So here we go....
I think our total travel time from Philly to Singapore was roughly 27 hours, including layovers. We arrived in Singapore at 1:45 am and took a shuttle to our hostel, where the hostel desk attendant greeted us with some leftover Indian food that Joanne and Ivan had bagged up for us earlier in the evening. They obviously remembered our huge appetites are knew we'd be starving. However, we were so exhausted from travelling that we just put the food in the communal fridge and crashed. Or tried to crash. Our room ended up being located near the front of the hostel right near the common area and reception desk. The desk attendant's phone went off at some point and played some sort of Indian song that wasn't conducive to restful sleep. The phone wasn't even on very loud, but he had obviously left the desk and that song played for an entire minute, which is a very long time when you are irritable and exhausted. Also, I should mention that our room was probably 7x7 ft with a bunk bed, one small mirror on the wall and no window. I've never stayed in such a small space before. I was also under the impression that I had booked a double bed private room but I suppose I had mistakenly booked two twin beds. Whoopsie. After 4 hours of restless sleep (I think we finally laid down around 3 am or so) we decided to get up and start our day. We reunited with Ivan and Joanne, which was the best way to start a sleep-deprived day! It was so good to see them after 17 months! After hugs, squeals of excitement and some chatting, I decided to shower. At this point I got a better look at the bathroom/shower facility, which was combined. What I'm trying to say is that there were three bathrooms, and in each bathroom there was a toilet, a hose near the toilet, a shower nozzle, and a knob to turn on the shower. I've never used a bathroom where you have to shower literally 2 feet away from where you've just done your business. I was a little perplexed at first, but as our trip went on I got used to using these types of facilities, where one can shower, shave and shit all at once! I learned this expression from Clark, who learned it from Grandma Palmer. So you can blame her for my foul language.
The hostel actually had a fairly good breakfast, consisting of tea, coffee, apples, toast, and the best part...nutella and peanut butter! We ate and then set out to explore the city. I loved being in an area with such diverse places of worship. Very close to the hostel were Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as Islamic mosques. Preparations for Chinese New Year were in effect all over the city. We started out early and didn't return back to the hostel until much later that evening.
Buddhist temple literally 200 meters from the hostel.
Hindu temple not far from the Buddhist temple, which is actually a pilgrimage point for Thaipusam (which I will post a little bit more about later).
City streets near Little India.
Sultan Mosque near Arab Street.
Moroccan food! Very unimpressed with the kebabs, but maybe that's because I'm used to the Americanized version of everything. At least the fries were good.
Parkview Square courtyard.
Bugis Street shopping center.
The shirt only came in one size and wasn't big enough for Clark. Too bad because we both love it's business and colors. I'm glad Clark and I have eccentric taste together.
One dollar fresh fruit drinks saved us from dehydration. This featured drink is kiwi. Clark struck out earlier with papaya, and my starfruit was just ok.
Trying to find our way down to the bay area.
Singapore is truly a city of malls and a shopper's paradise. We'd continually stumble into malls unsuspectingly everywhere we'd go. And they were all very, very nice.
On the other side of the above mall we could finally spot the Singapore Flyer (world's biggest observation wheel), which meant we were getting close to the bay!
Double Helix bridge, Marina Bay Sands and the Art Science Museum.
The Singapore skyline.
After our exhausting trek through the city, we decided to eat dinner in the Marina Bay Sands mall, which is just in front of the hotel. I was rather cranky from being so hungry and got upset when my Singapore noodles slid off the banana leaf into my shirt, and when I had to de-shell the prawns. Also, these SE Asian countries don't believe in napkins so my hands got all messy from making my prawns edible and I had no way of cleaning them off. I was so upset that I flicked a lime off my plate, which Joanne found rather amusing. An obvious overreaction on my part, but I was just so hungry and my meal was not easy to enjoy due to the above factors.
The skyline during daytime hours.
The iconic Merlion fountain. At this point I had sought shade at a covered theatre as I made my way to the Merlion. That sun was just relentless!
Marina Bay Theatres on the Bay (the dome with spikes).
Thank goodness for these massive fans along my walk. I probably should have checked the pulse of the guy laying down on the ground, just to make sure. It was so hot and humid out, almost unbearable in direct sunlight.
I made a loop back to the Science museum and met up with Ivan and Joanne at the appointed time. We then took the train to Chinatown.
Lots of shops selling all sorts of items. These cute pastry magnets were just adorable. Joanne, being an impulsive shopper, bought four.
Decorations for the upcoming Chinese New Year. So much red all over the place!
Since it's the year of the snake, a giant snake had been strung up in one of the streets.
There's a Hindu temple in the middle of Chinatown that seemed to be a little out of place. I love looking at all the deities that decorate these temples. Truly beautiful.
We decided to eat dinner on the Food Street in Chinatown. Our main objective was to eat chili and pepper crab, which are authentic Singaporean dishes.
I was not impressed with the chili and pepper crabs. So small and tough to crack, even with tools. The sauce was nice, but the whole process made me even hungrier so I decided to give up. I refrained from having another moment like the night before, but I just took off my gloves and said something to the effect of: this sucks, I'm done.
After dinner we explored the streets of Chinatown a bit more, finding dried fish and meat stalls along our way.
By the time we got back to the hostel, Clark was still laying in bed, but feeling slightly better. Poor guy. We went out for Indian food that night which ultimately did not help Clark's stomach issues. At least we had planned accordingly so that we'd have an additional 2 days in Singapore before departing for the US at the end of our trip.
The next morning we packed up and left for Malaysia! Luckily, Clark was feeling well enough to travel, though not quite 100%. It seems that we timed our trip very well and avoided rain nearly everywhere we traveled. It was pouring rain in Singapore the morning we left. Thank goodness we flew out of the rain and into some more hot and humid weather in Kuching.
***I'm not kidding when I say that these will be loooooooooong posts. Clark may insert some of his comments from time to time, and his comments will appear in different color.***
2 comments:
Lots of pictures and I love them! What an awesome experience!!!
Love the pictures! I was kind of disappointed when I came to the last picture on the page...Can't wait to see more! Poor Clark! I am sorry to hear he was not feeling well...
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