Well I survived yesterday’s long day of travel and
successfully made it to Singapore. We
had a 4 hour flight followed by a six hour flight with a connection in Delhi,
India. Our first flight left at
midnight, which means the airplane seat was my bed for the night. Needless to say, I only got about 3 hours of
sleep. We arrived in Singapore around
6:00 in the evening. I was tired,
hungry, and grumpy! Thankfully this
should be one of the worst travel days we have.
Singapore is a tropical climate so it was pouring when we got off the plane. The weather cleared up for us just in time to get some dinner, but it was still super muggy outside. After dinner at an Asian Cuisine restaurant, I had the best donut I have ever had at a small bakery. I even bought an extra for a snack the next day. Late last night we Skyped in with the accreditation team from BSU’s Architecture Graduate program. Every six years the college has to be evaluated to earn their accreditation. That is happening this semester, so the team was interested in talking with us students on World Tour.
Today we visited Gardens by the Bay; it is a fairly new garden in Singapore with an awesome landscape and building integration. Next we went to the Marina Waterfront. It was beautiful, but we did not stay long because it started raining again. Our next stop was Chinatown of Singapore where we visited a Buddhist temple. This was a very odd experience; I still do not know how I feel about it. I was definitely interesting to see, but very different to see everyone worshipping a Buddha statue. We ate lunch in Little India. I tried the roasted duck rice and was a little skeptical about it, but Dan insisted that it would be tasty. It was tasty but it still had bones in it so I did not handle that very well!
We got to return to the hotel for the afternoon because later on was our night safari. A group of us were going to send stuff home but the post office was closed. It was the last day of the Chinese New Year Celebration. I returned to the hotel bummed and discovered that my Moroccan Bowls package was rattling. I opened the packaging and sure enough, broken! The large bowl is cracked in about 3 or 4 places, and a small cup is shattered! I was so mad and upset that I decided just to take a nap. 2 and a half hours later, my roommate came back and thankfully it woke me up, or I would have missed the Night Safari.
The Night Safari at the Singapore zoo was pretty cool. I have seen most of the animals on the safari before, but the fact that it was a safari made it unforgettable! After the safari Dan, Devin, and I walked from the hotel down to the Marina on a quest for food and a great view. We were starving so we got ice cream first because it was quick. We then walked down to the marina, where there was amazing local food for cheap! At the marina was a huge festival celebrating the Chinese New Year. Food, performances, shops, and rides dominated the Marina. We sat in some bleachers up above and took it all in while we ate and drank. Even though I didn’t have the best start to the day, I had a pretty great ending. This morning I woke up to ants snacking all over my extra doughnut; I lost an earring and noticed it halfway through the day; I found out my bowls from Morocco were broken; and I still have not been able to send my stuff home. As I recall all of this, I realize my problems could be much worse, so I will be happy and leave it at that.
Singapore is a tropical climate so it was pouring when we got off the plane. The weather cleared up for us just in time to get some dinner, but it was still super muggy outside. After dinner at an Asian Cuisine restaurant, I had the best donut I have ever had at a small bakery. I even bought an extra for a snack the next day. Late last night we Skyped in with the accreditation team from BSU’s Architecture Graduate program. Every six years the college has to be evaluated to earn their accreditation. That is happening this semester, so the team was interested in talking with us students on World Tour.
Today we visited Gardens by the Bay; it is a fairly new garden in Singapore with an awesome landscape and building integration. Next we went to the Marina Waterfront. It was beautiful, but we did not stay long because it started raining again. Our next stop was Chinatown of Singapore where we visited a Buddhist temple. This was a very odd experience; I still do not know how I feel about it. I was definitely interesting to see, but very different to see everyone worshipping a Buddha statue. We ate lunch in Little India. I tried the roasted duck rice and was a little skeptical about it, but Dan insisted that it would be tasty. It was tasty but it still had bones in it so I did not handle that very well!
We got to return to the hotel for the afternoon because later on was our night safari. A group of us were going to send stuff home but the post office was closed. It was the last day of the Chinese New Year Celebration. I returned to the hotel bummed and discovered that my Moroccan Bowls package was rattling. I opened the packaging and sure enough, broken! The large bowl is cracked in about 3 or 4 places, and a small cup is shattered! I was so mad and upset that I decided just to take a nap. 2 and a half hours later, my roommate came back and thankfully it woke me up, or I would have missed the Night Safari.
The Night Safari at the Singapore zoo was pretty cool. I have seen most of the animals on the safari before, but the fact that it was a safari made it unforgettable! After the safari Dan, Devin, and I walked from the hotel down to the Marina on a quest for food and a great view. We were starving so we got ice cream first because it was quick. We then walked down to the marina, where there was amazing local food for cheap! At the marina was a huge festival celebrating the Chinese New Year. Food, performances, shops, and rides dominated the Marina. We sat in some bleachers up above and took it all in while we ate and drank. Even though I didn’t have the best start to the day, I had a pretty great ending. This morning I woke up to ants snacking all over my extra doughnut; I lost an earring and noticed it halfway through the day; I found out my bowls from Morocco were broken; and I still have not been able to send my stuff home. As I recall all of this, I realize my problems could be much worse, so I will be happy and leave it at that.
Singapore has been fantastic! There is such rapid growth of vegetation, I
could be in the center of the city and still be surrounded by trees and
flowers, but beauty comes at a price. In
Singapore you could be fined for chewing gum, j-walking, eating or drinking in
public, and littering just to name a few.
It is another modern city with beautiful skylines day or night. This is one of the places I would love to
come back and spend more time in. I have
not had internet for a while, and it is really starting to take its toll. I miss everyone so much, but it is already
day 41 of 103, so I need to enjoy it before this amazing trip slips away!
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