Wednesday, March 22 - My first night in Singapore!

Doesn't this look yummy? The sting ray was supposed to come covered in chili sauce, but I decided that probably wouldn't be quite to my liking. Upon tasting the sauce (which they put on the side for me), I realized what a wise idea that had been. That was some hot chili!! The kailan greens are my favorite vegetable here, and you can find them at just about every Chinese or Thai restaurant.
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9:40AM

The bus I'm on has just departed, and I'm on my way to Singapore! I have a five-hour bus ride ahead of me. I'd better start looking at my Lonely Planet guide to see what I want to do and how to get around this place!

10:45AM

We just had our "light meal" for the trip - curried chicken, pickled curried vegetables, bihun goreng (fried skinny noodles), and some bits of scrambled egg (to mix into the noodles). There was also chili sauce, but I only tasted it - too spicy! You might think that's a very strange meal for breakfast, but I've actually come to like it! I do miss cereal sometimes though...

This is my bed! I brought my buddy Roger with me. This is the fourth country he's been in! :) Okay, seriously though, the room here is nice and very clean. Kind of small, but it is only S$25 a night!
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The terrain through here (outside of the city!) is really lovely. We've been riding through forests of palm trees! The road is really bumpy - makes journaling a real source of amusement. :)  My writing is so wobbly!  *giggle*

4:30PM

I made it to the YMCA with no difficulties, and I've met one of my rommates. Her name is Catriona, and she's Irish, though she's been living in New Zealand for the last couple years and working as a mental-health nurse. She's been fun to talk to already! There's another gal, Naomi, who we're going to eat with tonight. I may end up spending a bit of time with her while I'm here; she'll be here another couple days, but Catriona will be leaving tomorrow morning - 4AM!! That's too bad, since I think we would've had a lot of fun together. I'm sure dinner will be fun though.

It's hard to capture how vast these palm forests are. They just go on and on! And how cool is that anyway - forests made up of palm trees!
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Catriona told me some of the places she's been here - Little India, Chinatown, Sentosa Island - and they all sounded nice to see, so I'll have to make sure I leave room for them. I wrote down a lot of things I can do, but they're all pretty touristy - not very cultural. I should try to do something multicultural while I'm here. Shouldn't be an average tourist!

12:45AM

What a late first night! I went to dinner with Naomi and Catriona. The place was called the Newton Food Centre, and it was about four MRT stops away - we probably should have taken the train. We walked over an hour to the food court, but there were definitely lots of choices - I bet there were at least fifty vendors!

Helloooo Singapore!! This is the view from the bridge that spans the gap between Malaysia and Singapore.
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I started my meal with dessert (hey, life is uncertain!). I had guava ice kacang ("kah-chahng"), which is a shaved-ice dessert topped (in this case) with guava, and beneath the ice are buried red beans, atap seeds, sweet corn, and a black jelly. Strange, but tasty and refreshing! I also had kailan greens in oyster sauce and - for the first time ever - sting ray! The fish was tender, but it doesn't flake like salmon does. Instead it pulls apart in strings. But it wasn't bad, just different (like most things here!). Working around the bones took a little getting used to, though! I don't really like the thought of eating sting ray - they're such beautiful creatures!

Here I am with my lovely roommates Catriona and Naomi at the Newton Food Centre. It was such a hike to this place, and we were so hungry by the time we arrived! But it was well worth it - we had good food and a great time!
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Catriona had a noodle dish, and Naomi had murtabak, which looked like roti canai stuffed with beef, I think. Then we got satay (very similar to kebabs) and also this stuff they call "carrot cake," but it's actually a noodle dish. It was pretty salty and kind of spicy, not to mention it was a really big portion! Then Naomi got mango ice kacang. We were all so full!! Thankfully, we took the MRT back. It was pretty late by the time we finished dinner, and I don't think any of us could have walked an hour back to the dorm!

When we got back, our other roommate was in the room. Her name is Marsha, and she's from the Philippines and looking for IT work. Apparently living in the Philippines is pretty expensive for how much money you can make there. Plus she said the government is fairly corrupt. Then it turns out that Naomi is a teacher assistant (like me!) in Tokyo and is working with toddlers at a Montessori school. She's half Japanese and is actually from Canada - Vancouver, she said.

It's so funny - three of us visiting a country that none of us is from, and then all of us living outside of our home country! Even Marsha is wanting to leave her country... It was fun talking to each other, discussing our native countries and some of the things we've experienced in our various travels.

Time to get to bed...I'll never get up in time to do anything tomorrow! I think I'll visit Little India and the Botanical Gardens. Maybe the Chinese theme park too... We'll see what there's time for. I have plenty of hours to fill!