As I'm writing this post there is less than two hours ten minutes (yikes!) left until 2014 ends and 2015 starts. I've now spent a month visiting my girlfriend (yep o_O) in Singapore, and I have only a little under a week to go before I return home. My original plan was to update this blog a bit more often than I have done, but it didn't really work out like that. Oh well...
Adjusting to the climate in Singapore was not easy, but it was doable, much thanks to the presence of air condition almost everywhere, from malls and restaurants to public transport and people's homes. Even so, I've never been so sweaty from moving around so little in my entire life. Maybe except for staying in my apartment in Montreal during summer when the sucky air condition there didn't manage to bring the temperature under 28 degrees during day-time. Heh.
Speaking of climate... I expected it to rain almost every day after what I had read about Singapore ahead of my trip, but there was a surprising lack of rain in the first few weeks. It picked up a bit after that, but still, it hasn't been too bad. More cloudy (and less sunny) than I expected too, but I'm not complaining about that!
Adjusting to the climate in Singapore was not easy, but it was doable, much thanks to the presence of air condition almost everywhere, from malls and restaurants to public transport and people's homes. Even so, I've never been so sweaty from moving around so little in my entire life. Maybe except for staying in my apartment in Montreal during summer when the sucky air condition there didn't manage to bring the temperature under 28 degrees during day-time. Heh.
Speaking of climate... I expected it to rain almost every day after what I had read about Singapore ahead of my trip, but there was a surprising lack of rain in the first few weeks. It picked up a bit after that, but still, it hasn't been too bad. More cloudy (and less sunny) than I expected too, but I'm not complaining about that!
Since I got here I've been trying out many new foods (grilled stingray, various local food that I don't remember the name of, stir fried kang kong, Vietnamese 'pho' beef noodle soup, various other types of noodles, durian ice cream, KFC chicken and some new types of McD burgers *cough*) and new drinks (bubble tea of various flavors, jolly shandy, sugarcane juice, yuzu juice, guava juice and more tea than I had seen so far in my life before I came here), and with one or two exceptions only (so far) my stomach has responded favourably to these, even without having to resort to eating the cocktails of bacteria that travelers usually eat to avoid upset tummies when abroad.
I have also eaten at many different restaurants, like for instance at Brewerkz at Clarke Quay (a popular historical riverside quay in Singapore which is crowded with nightclubs, bars and restaurants of all kinds), at The Kelong Seafood Restaurant in Bintan (in Indonesia), at a dessert heaven of a restaurant called Antoinette and at... ehh... IKEA and McDonald's.
I have also eaten at many different restaurants, like for instance at Brewerkz at Clarke Quay (a popular historical riverside quay in Singapore which is crowded with nightclubs, bars and restaurants of all kinds), at The Kelong Seafood Restaurant in Bintan (in Indonesia), at a dessert heaven of a restaurant called Antoinette and at... ehh... IKEA and McDonald's.
I have of course done a little bit of sightseeing while I've been here. One of the places I've visited was ION Sky, the observation deck on the 55th and 56th floors of the Orchard Residences building, where I took a bunch of random pictures of the great view of Singapore. I've strolled along the Clarke Quay area and had a look at the nightlife there, briefly visited Chinatown, walked around the Geylang neighborhood looking for a restaurant that turned out no longer be there, and have taken trains in all sorts of directions, resulting in visits to many of Singapore's huge malls (with their lovely air condition).
On December 6th we went to Anime Festival Asia 2014, and roamed the exhibition hall there for a bit while we successfully (though just barely) navigated through the huge crowds of teens, cosplayers and anime-lovers who also stalked the place, before we attended a concert with many of the top "anisong" artists. It was so-so, and my knees and back took a hit from standing around for a long time in a crowded space, but it was an interesting experience overall.
I've also had two "extra"-vacations during my Singapore-vacation. One consisted of spending a couple of days at a beach resort (Mayang Sari) in Indonesia. It was less than an hour away from Singapore by ferry (similar to 'hurtigbåten' in Norway), and I had a great time there; very chill and stress-free environment. Bathed in the ocean for the first time in many years o_O, and took lots of nifty 'No Flash' pictures at night, of the moon and stars and clouds and shitz. Had the entire beach (which seemed to be only used by resort guests) to ourselves, both at day and at night.
Also went on a firefly safari on a river one of the evenings (after first visiting an almost deserted tourist marketplace, where many of the store clerks were just lounging around outside because there were no tourists heh. It was almost pitch black during the firefly safari, and we could barely see the contours of trees along the riverbank from our seats in the speedboat. The pilot of the speedboat kept flashing a flashlight against the riverbank, either to direct our view towards fireflies or to see where the shore was himself. I'm not sure which. Heh. Anyway, we saw the fireflies (and got to hold them), and made it safely back to dry land afterwards.
Also went on a firefly safari on a river one of the evenings (after first visiting an almost deserted tourist marketplace, where many of the store clerks were just lounging around outside because there were no tourists heh. It was almost pitch black during the firefly safari, and we could barely see the contours of trees along the riverbank from our seats in the speedboat. The pilot of the speedboat kept flashing a flashlight against the riverbank, either to direct our view towards fireflies or to see where the shore was himself. I'm not sure which. Heh. Anyway, we saw the fireflies (and got to hold them), and made it safely back to dry land afterwards.
The second "vacation" took place at Sentosa island in Singapore, which included a 1-night stay at a very fancy looking hotel (Mövenpick Heritage Hotel Sentosa) with a private 'onsen/jacuzzi' in the room(!). One of the best hotel experiences I've had, ever. We also took a trip to the Sentosa S.E.A. Aquarium where we stayed for so long taking photos that we eventually got gently herded out by staff who wanted to close up and go home for the evening. Hundreds of photos were taken of sharks, fish, jellyfish, squids, sea horses, sea dragons and other various sea creatures. Afterwards we explored more of the island, and took photos outside until late in the evening.
On the 24th of December we dressed up and went to Sjømannskirken in Singapore to feast on traditional Norwegian (and Swedish) Christmas food. It was alright, but not quite like the home-cooked version, and some of the food we ate there was possibly also the cause of some stomach trouble later that evening...
Other than that I've visited the Singapore Flyer (second tallest observation wheel in the world?), Orchard Road (shopping street) and Gardens at the Bay (a large park in Singapore with some very interesting man-made trees!), have watched 2.5 seasons of The Simpsons, plus some Futurama, some movies (including The Hobbit, at the cinema), spent time lazing around doing nothing at all - and played the the mobile game 'Get Rich' a lot. Heh.
Now the last day of 2014 is almost over, and in about five days this fantastic visit to Singapore will sadly come to an end, and I'll head back towards Norway; a trip that by the way will take me close to 30 hours from start to finish. Bleh!
More pictures to follow below.
More pictures to follow below.
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