About a month or so ago, Desiree mentioned something about her visiting her future sister-in-law (Kima) in Singapore one weekend. That sounds like fun, right? Good for her! But then she talked to me about it and she didn’t want to travel alone. Okay…. I could help with that. So I did!!! We were able to stay with Kima and her husband and kids while we were there. All I had to do was buy a plane ticket. Honestly, I don’t know the next time I’ll be on this side of the globe. I have dreams of traveling, but who knows what my future holds so why not experience every little thing I can while I’m over here! That’s my motto. Dr. Cheng let me take off work on Friday and Monday and that’s all it took. I bought my ticket and we were going to Singapore.
We left Friday morning and it just took a quick two and a half hour flight to Guangzhou and then a four hour flight to arrive in Singapore. The flights were pretty uneventful except we had to take a bus for like fifteen minutes to the furthest plane away from our departure gate and then I saw an entire airplane engine sitting directly next to the one we were about to board. I have this weird fear that nothing undergoes any sort of maintenance in China. Or if it’s supposed to be, no one is actually doing it. That’s probably a bad thing to think and obviously I’m just paranoid so we’re all good! Once we arrived in Singapore, we were starving. First thing we see in the airport is Quiznos. I don’t eat any kind of sandwich at home but after almost 3 months of Chinese food, I ate it and it was the bomb. Call me crazy, but I’ve been craving ranch dressing for weeks now. I cannot wait to eat a salad at home. After we ate, we grabbed a taxi which was easy because ALMOST EVERYONE IN SINGAPORE SPEAKS ENGLISH. I was so happy I could cry. We headed to Kima’s apartment but freaked out the entire time because they drive on the opposite side of the road and it’s the strangest feeling ever. By the time we arrived, it was later in the evening so we just hung out with the family and watched TV. It was so nice to just chill and sit on a soft couch. My apartment has a wooden bench as a couch so……it really felt awesome to be somewhere that actually felt homey! Plus the family was adorable and absolutely as nice as could be. Kima and her husband Walter have a 7 year old daughter names Caitlyn and a 2 year old boy named Zachary. They were perfect! So we went to be early and prepared to start our adventure the next morning. Desiree and I slept in Caitlyn’s room in her bunk bed. I took the top and my feet hung over the edge but it was the best I think I’ve ever slept. Her mattress was like a cloud compared to mine in Chongqing. I love Singapore.
So we had two days to see everything we possibly could in Singapore. We started by taking the subway (it’s awesome and so clean and not crowded and beautiful) to a place where we could get on one of those hop-on-hop-off buses. A lot of the places it stopped were like hotels and stuff but we got off at Little India first and checked it out. There were a ton of clothing stores and restaurants! We ate naan with some super friendly Australians and then headed outside.
In order to use the bathroom you had to pay 10 cents. It was so funny. We went in and there were girls from some part of Europe and they were freaking out because there was no toilet paper provided. You could buy some from the guy outside but Desiree and I thought it was hilarious because in China, you always have to carry your own toilet paper wherever you go. It’s so weird that it’s like normal for us now. We’re professionals. Not that you’d want to be a professional in anything like that. We were just pumped that the toilets were actual western style toilets and it was clean. Okay, enough about bathrooms. Back onto the bus we went.
The local Cricket Club.
We ended up at the fanciest mall I’ve ever seen. I felt like I needed to be wearing a prom dress just to walk through it. Unfortunately, Desiree and I sat of the top of the bus in the sun and almost 90 degree weather. I’m actually embarrassed how much I was sweating. Every single expensive brand you can think of was here. I mean, they had a freaking river running through the mall and you could have a man paddle you on it in a boat. WHAT. But we walked around for a little bit and found the food court that was actually still pretty nice. We ate quesadillas and they were awesome. Oh, I forgot to mention that for breakfast, Walter went out and got us McDonald’s PANCAKES. I forgot what those even were. He is a saint and they were delicious.
After the mall we headed over to the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel which is actually connected to the mall. We didn’t go to the top but it was still incredible to see and stand next to the massive building. Then we walked right next door to Gardens by the Bay which is kind of just like what it sounds. Think Krohn’s Conservatory (if you're from Cincinnati) but a huge outside portion with two huge greenhouse type things and it just so happens to be right next to the bay.
There were these giant tree structures spread throughout the area and you could actually go up one and walk on a bridge so you can overlook the area. So of course we did that.
*tourist pic*
Pretty neat stuff.
So then we went to check out one of the greenhouses. It was called Cloud Forest and was basically a giant mountain structure with pathways going through it and around it a few stories high. Lots of waterfalls, rivers, and plants were spread throughout.
You can’t tell from this picture but the waterfall is actually seven floors high. It was huuuge.
Afterwards we headed back to the apartment to meet back up with Kima and go to a night safari! Desiree and I grabbed some food first and somehow I still managed to get white rice when I ordered. I can’t escape it. But Singapore is so diverse that you can find literally any kind of food you want and it’s incredible.
So Caitlyn, Kima, Desiree, and I took a taxi to the zoo (taxi or subway is just how everyone travels, not a lot of people have cars). I was honestly pretty excited, who doesn’t love going to the zoo?!
So Caitlyn, Kima, Desiree, and I took a taxi to the zoo (taxi or subway is just how everyone travels, not a lot of people have cars). I was honestly pretty excited, who doesn’t love going to the zoo?!
I knew it was going to be awesome since the first thing we saw when we walked in was dudes twirling sticks on fire. I don’t even know what to call them, fire twirlers? Anyways, it was amazing and they swallowed fire and all of this sweet stuff.
Now, given that this is a night safari the pictures I took are all terrible. But I saw sooooo many animals that I’d never even heard of before. It was so interesting. Also, this zoo had the most active animals I’d ever seen in my life. Cincinnati Zoo’s animals are usually all sleeping or hiding so it was a nice change. Oh wait, I also have to tell you a funny thing that happened. The trails are pretty dark and so I was leading the group and as I walk around a corner, I see something gigantic and white come out of nowhere. I gasp and duck, Desiree stepped back, and Kima left Caitlyn and took off running. It was just a giant pelican flapping its wings so everything was fine, but I was laughing so hard I cried. We kept giving Kima a hard time for leaving her daughter and booking it out of there. SO FUNNY. But after we walked around, we took a safari car around another part of the zoo and were actually in open areas with animals right next to the car. I loved it. It was a fun night!
Now, given that this is a night safari the pictures I took are all terrible. But I saw sooooo many animals that I’d never even heard of before. It was so interesting. Also, this zoo had the most active animals I’d ever seen in my life. Cincinnati Zoo’s animals are usually all sleeping or hiding so it was a nice change. Oh wait, I also have to tell you a funny thing that happened. The trails are pretty dark and so I was leading the group and as I walk around a corner, I see something gigantic and white come out of nowhere. I gasp and duck, Desiree stepped back, and Kima left Caitlyn and took off running. It was just a giant pelican flapping its wings so everything was fine, but I was laughing so hard I cried. We kept giving Kima a hard time for leaving her daughter and booking it out of there. SO FUNNY. But after we walked around, we took a safari car around another part of the zoo and were actually in open areas with animals right next to the car. I loved it. It was a fun night!
The next morning (after I had slept like a baby in that seriously wonderful bed), we headed to Sentosa Island for the day! We wanted to see a beach while we were there. It was Easter Sunday so Kima and the family were busy but Desiree and I took the subway to these cable cars that take you over to the island. I’ve never been in a cable car so I was ecstatic! Desiree, on the other hand was freaking out. She hates heights. Between the pathways in the trees the day before and the cable cars, I’m thinking she had enough heights for a while. The view was beautiful though! I just kept thinking, I can't make it to church this year, but I'll never forget this Easter.
Then we get there and I held a snake for some unknown reason.
The island had an awesome beach!!! It was absolutely gorgeous.
They had every beach activity you could think of, kayaks, paddle boards, banana boats, and even this water powered rocket backpack thing. This guy was doing it and it was absolutely hysterical. It had to be harder than you’d think because he was seriously struggling.
We walked around for a while and then grabbed something to eat. We ate kaya toast which is a very well-known snack in Singapore and Malaysia. It’s just toast with this coconut jam type stuff and butter on it. Almost always served with coffee or tea. Over eighty degrees outside and we were drinking hot coffee at the beach.
Then we crossed this bridge to get to this tiny island. Which is actually pretty cool because it is the southernmost point of continental Asia. Well, I thought that was cool at least!
I was so fascinated because when you look out off the coast in the distance, all you see are cargo ships. Just hundreds of cargo ships. It was neat but really different from anything I’ve ever seen from the beach.
The bad part about Sentosa Island was that I kind of sliced my foot open on the boardwalk and ended up at the hospital later that night. But I was fine! Just wanted to take care of it before I went back to the horrid hospitals in China. I cut it, accidentally bled all over, panicked, cried, then a first aid dude helped, but as soon as he said hospital I was like nahhhhhh, I’ll be fine! So he patched it up and I limped around the island for a while longer. We had two days in Singapore, I was absolutely not wasting the day by making us leave Sentosa. I had my foot re-bandaged later in the day and then I made it back to the apartment. We ended up going to the hospital at like 10 or 11 and it was pretty quick. Just cleaned out my foot, closed it up, and gave me some pain killers and antibiotics. No big deal!
I was only sad because the only reason I cut my foot was because I walked a little bit further out on the boardwalk to get a picture. As if I didn’t already have enough. Pretty picture but so not worth that hospital bill. I'm so stupid.
We kept exploring the island and ended up at this absolutely huge statue. So Singapore’s big symbol is a Merlion. They are everywhere! The “mer” means sea since it was originally a fishing town and then Singapore’s old name was Singapura which means “lion city.” So there you have it, the Merlion!
Before we left we rode these cart things from the top half of the island to the bottom.It was awesome, and then we took a ski lift type thing back to the top so we could get back on the cable cars and head home.
After the hospital visit, we came home and crashed. We took a taxi to the airport before six the next morning and then headed back to Chongqing for the final week and a half before we came back to the states. I absolutely adored Singapore. It was an incredible experience and I'm so happy I had the opportunity to go. I have a few other places I need to get to first (Bali/Machu Picchu/Santorini), but maybe one day I'll see it again. Who knows!