Exploring Singapore

This week went by REALLY quickly. It's already Sunday and i'm just sitting down to blog. UGH I wish i were able to keep up better. i'm quitting on capitilization by the way for this post. ok i'm trying to remember what the heck i was doing all week. remember last post i was telling about the little outdoor restaurant that was being renovated? well exactly one week later and it's open for business again. and it looks GREAT! can you beleive that turnaround time?? way to get things done singapore!!

some random thoughts. it's very difficult to get napkins at restaurants and no paper towels in the restrooms. they just don't offer them at restaurants (nicer ones they will give you one). why? who knows. my personal opinion is that it reduces trash and potential litter. some people carry little packages of tissues to use as napkins. usually i just pat my hands dry on my clothes after washing my hands and while eating i just try really hard not to get my hands/face dirty. another thought, i posted awhile ago about face whitening cream. i think lighter skin is considered more attractive to asians. i'm concluding this based on the plethora of skin whitening creams in the store and the comments of my co-worker judith. she is chinese, beautiful, but she is always complaining that her skin is dark. and her skin is NOT dark. its much much lighter than mine, not that i would consider my skin dark, more olive colored i guess. plus the aversion to sunlight and using umbrellas on sunny days. YET.. i never see anyone wearing sunglasses. which i thought was a bit strange considering it is quite bright here when it's sunny yet no sunglasses.

speaking of my coworker judith.. she is so awesome. she should be a character in a sitcom. she works in the offshore group but she sits on the other side of my cube. she does some sort of coordination/purchasing for the offshore ops. she is hysterical, i can't even describe it but she has a thick accent and she says the funniest things and she talks talks talks SO fast i can barely keep up. i ask her what is your boyfriend like? she says "he's chatty"i said oh my god how do you guys have a conversation and we both just laughed for awhile.

ok so back to last weekend. on saturday morning i got up and walked (not joking) one kilometer from my apartment and i was in the jungle. there is a large nature preserve right near my apartment. after walking 5 minutes into the reserve and i felt like i was in a completely different country. i can't even believe that 5 minutes ago all i could see where high rises everywhere. the reserve is so lush and tropical. i saw tons of little monkeys and types of foliage and flowers i had never seen before. i went on about a 4 hour hike through the reserve which included a tree top walk, which is a big suspension bridge built high at the tree top level so you can see all over the reserve. it was a little shaky, but i know the redundancy on that thing and probably every other cable could break before it would fall. there were only a few other people on the bridge so i just walked really slowly and took it all in. the bridge is about the halfway point so on my way back i got caught in a huge rainstorm... at first it was refreshing because i was SO hot and sweaty from the humidity. but then, i was just soaked through and my glasses were foggy hahaha.

when i got back i took a quick shower and went to the National Museum of Singapore. i took a bus downtown without too much problem. i spent about 2.5 hours in the museum just learning about the history of singapore. it was founded by the british in the later 1800's to be a strategic trading point for the dutch east india company. and by 'founded' i mean the british arrived, took over everything from the native malay people, and made them move to special areas. it is stated that sir stanford raffles (a brit) founded and developed singapore, and there are a lot of things here that are named after him (streets, universities, hotels). there is a big statue of him downtown. it seems like there is a lot of adoration for him but i wonder how much of that is real and how much is government propaganda. once the british came they turned the place into a major trade stop for ships, organized the island into neighborhoods and made plans and maps of the city. then in WWII it became a strategic military position until the british lost a major battle and island was taken over by the japanese. the island was defended heavily from the south, but the japanese came through the malaysian mainland (from the north) where defenses were weak and took the island.

after meandering around the museum i went to little india for dinner. it was INSANITY there. again, i felt like i was in a completely different country. 99% of the people there were indian, all the women were traditionally dressed (Thank goodness i was wearing pants and not shorts that day). there was barely room to walk and motor scooters zooming around everywhere. there are just tons of shops, most of them are gold jewelry shops hahaha. the rest are full of clothes, electronics, food, with restaurants interspersed in all that. i went into a restaurant but i couldnt read anything, so i just ordered naan, which is the only thing i know the name of in indian, and it turned out to be the best naan i've ever had. it came with three different but really good dipping sauces. naan is kind of like a flat bread with things inside of it. everyone else was eating with thier hands so i did the same.

after dinner i went over to sim lim plaza, which is 5 stories of electronics. there are probably about 200 stores in there, all selling computers, cameras, tv's, and accessories. i needed to get a bag to carry my laptop in because as of now i've been carrying in a bag that's not padded and that's not really safe. so i looked in every accessory store, for about 1.5 hours, and FINALLY i found the perfect bag at the price i wanted to pay. its a convertible bag, can be used as a backpack, handbag, or shoulder bag, and has a mesh pocket for a water bottle. so it's perfect for carrying my laptop and my gym clothes which pretty much is all i need. i'm so happy!!!! after i left sim lim i met up with renee and we saw the movie 2012.. which the special effects were awesome, but seriously, i was getting rediculous how many times they JUST escaped death. the acting was kinda bad, but overall it was an OK movie and we enjoyed the popcorn.

on Sunday i got up early and went to my spinning class. when i got back i started to organize my things for my scrapbook. when i was in san diego in july i got a really good travel scrapbook thing so i'm looking forward to putting it all together. then i went to the MRT and went down to the Singapore Art Museum. They had some really amazing exhibits from local artists that were chosen from a big competition. i spent a few hours there poking around. then i went down to the esplanade which is a huge performance arts complex right on the water (looks like a durian). i got a quick dinner and picked up the tickets i pre-bought for a show. while i waiting i bought some cd's of local artists. the guy was awesome he helped me for about 30 minutes going through all the cd's and telling me about each one and comparing to more mainstream artists.

The show started at 730. it was two orchestras playing music about different cities around the world. it was a wind orchestra with some strings. the first orchestra played for about 30 mins, then the second orchestra played for 30 minutes, then they all came onstage and played 2 songs together. the concert was FANTASTIC, and i thought, you know i could never see something like this in ventura. i appreciate ventura for its small-town feeling, but i really miss the exposure to more world-class venues. side note...the first orchestra had an oboe player that looked JUST like the kid from the movie UP.