So last week Curt and I went to Singapore - he had a big meeting there where people were flying in from all over the world, and they decided Singapore would be the meeting place - fine by us because I got to come along for my first tagalong business trip - Whoop!
We had such a great time, though of course it was a little different than a normal "vacation" as Curt was busy doing work stuff most of the time. We did tack on a weekend at the end so that he could see Singapore, too, so that was good, but for the most part this post is going to be about what I saw of Singapore... which thanks to Heather, was a lot!
Singapore is such a great city... very clean, metropolitan, friendly, and SUNNY and HOT! Curt and I were in heaven and before we even got out of the airport were already commenting how lucky Singapore expats are... for real. Everything smells floral, not just clean, and everything is so technologically modern. That's one thing that's kind of weird about the city, too, though - it's SO modern that it seems to be a city lacking history - you really have to dive deep for it which is unlike any other city we've visited in the East thus far.
Singapore's claim to fame is shopping malls - huge ones, small ones, luxury ones, and everything on every spectrum. Heather took me around and showed me many, but as everything there is ridiculously expensive AND neither of us are huge shoppers, it was mostly admiring window shopping and her just showing me the sights.
Heather also took me to the famous Orchid garden inside the Botanical Gardens where we had a photo safari day, so below I've posted a few of my favorites (of the 300+ pictures I took, haha). The orchids were truly breathtaking and they were everywhere you looked... such a dainty flower in my mind but here they grow like weeds and in every color of the rainbow! The rain came later that afternoon so we slowly made our way back - their public transport is as well organized and easy as London's and I suspect fashioned after London.
We had to eat dinners mostly with Curt's work group, and went to Clarke Quay which is this adorable outdoor eating/pedestrian area along the river, but also fit in a couple of dinners with Heather and Ben, too! Heather also took me to see Boat Quay, Robertson Quay, Chinatown (really nice compared to China, even!), a wet market, a hawker center, the Ion (most expensive real estate in Singapore), the Esplanade and to see the Merlion, and the MOVIES with their friends to see Iron Man 2 ("it's gonna be Siiiiick!") LOL
We had such a great time, and I was so grateful to have a friendly and willing tour guide!
Coming from cold China to hot Singapore took its toll on me and Curt though - after a few days we were dehydrated, and always felt tired despite the copious amounts of water we were drinking.
Over the weekend the two of us hit the zoo - Heather told us it was a must see as a lot of their monkeys kind of run "loose" around the treetops near their habitats. And it was amazing... a cotton-topped tamarin was within a finger's distance of touching me - it touched Flat Stanley instead and I was so excited! - and we got to see orangutans up close and personal. What was so neat about the zoo is that I guess since Singapore has one climate all year around, the animals are all acclimated and despite it being in the heat of day, everyone was out wandering around!
That night for dinner we went out to Chijmes, a church and converted cloisters area that is now a popular dining place for night life. It was so cool and a neat concept... we didn't get to go in the church as there was a wedding that night, but we ate at the churrascaria there and had our fill of meat.... yea for being a carnivore!
Our hotel was on Orchard Road which is a big shopping district and tourist area, and usually every night after dinner we'd go hang out at this Irish Pub that was close by. I had some great cider, and Curt his Guinness after some VERY fine meals, and we really enjoyed hanging out with Curt's colleagues and coworkers. They were mostly all men slightly older than us, and a mix of Scottish, Irish, German, and other cultures, so we had the best time ever joking and chatting. I even finally met someone who has given a Glasgow kiss... how exciting is that?!
One night after an evening at the pub, one of the guys who had visited Singapore numerous times decided Curt and I in our young and innocent ways needed to be educated on the "other" side of Singapore. Just down the street, in this building that is I think an indoor strip mall by day, is the Four Floors of Whores... LOL. Heather had told me it was around somewhere while we were out walking Orchard Road one day, so I was kind of prepared, but then I wasn't, because apparently everyone here is a woman that used to be a man... picture a very surprised face here! Oh my goodness!
It was shocking, and while I could tell mostly that these women were really men, I'm sure 90% of men out there would not be able to at ALL which is highly scary... gone are the days when Adam's apples and bigger hands are the give away, these she-men were dead ringers for the finer sex which just goes to show you how far cosmetic surgery and hormones have come... I felt like I was an anthropological observer!
So we go into this bar, and I mean it was ok, they aren't lewd and aggressive,and it's not disgusting, they're just there hanging around - we were told not to make eye contact if we didn't want any "attention," but it didn't matter because they can apparently spot a real woman a mile away and didn't try to come over to our group. I must have served as some sort of repellant which was fine by me - so we sat down to take in the "scenery." It was interesting, that's for sure... what blew my mind is how can Singapore get so crazy bent out of shape over chewing gum and litter and allow this? Doesn't really make sense to me...
We didn't stay very long at all, as it was more of watching a freak show than anything else, but I had such a mixture of emotions! On one hand, part of me wanted to laugh, and on the other, I wanted to cry - it was so strange. But yes, an education. We left and I felt glad that I had seen it, and yet relieved that I was leaving... the world is a strange place and I don't ever want to be naive enough to think that
this kind of stuff is out there, even if it is disturbing and way out of my personal comfort zone.
All in all, though, Singapore was fantastic and really we are jealous of anyone that gets to live there, despite of how expensive it is for literally almost everything! If we had gotten to stay longer we would have taken the 2 hour flight over to Bali - how awesome is that? - or possibly gone to KL which would have been really cool, too.. oh well, for next time, I guess?
We did love getting to hang out with people that we knew though - between Curt's coworkers and all of the dinners, and Ben and Heather and Heather's girlfriends, we had such a great time! Seeing Iron Man 2 was just so awesome, and we even got to watch a movie and Ben and Heather's place while enjoying some caipirosca's - umm, YUM!
In the airport on our way home we were sad to leave,though... I got to "pet" some koi fish, we enjoyed the butterfly garden, and got free foot massages for the two hours before our flight after some Burger King and Mrs. Fields cookies... yep, we were definitely sad to leave such a paradise!
Here are a few favorite pictures from our time there!
