Singapore

The adventure continues to be amazing! I have enjoyed very much traveling thru SE Asia and everyone needs to make a trip over. I have done things that are so far out of my comfort zone and hope to remember everything perfectly when I am an old lady. Well, maybe I could forget a few of the smells! My ipad will not upload photos anymore so I will try and add some but not sure when. Here is an update from my Singapore trip! Hope you enjoy!

2/9 - We were up early for our flight to Singapore. Although we planned to have a chill evening, things might have gotten a little crazy! After going through customs and getting our bags, we were asked to send our bags through the X-ray machine before leaving. Jordan and I were both asked to take out our pocket knifes. Jordan's larger knife was okay to carry through but my smaller but switch blade knife (knife that opens with a press of the button) was not. I was like no big deal, you can have the knife. The security guard was like no we have to do a police report and you will be questioned. He asked for my passport and I had to follow another security guard. They told Jordan I would be about 30 minutes and she need to wait in the common area. Off I went with the security guard to the police station. They filled out a ton of paper work and finally two police officers came in. One questioned me on all my background/general information and why I was carrying this knife. I was like I used it to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and to maybe cut a rope or something. He just laughed. So I had to sign a paper saying that I understood they would not be pressing charges at this time but if commit another crime, I could be taken to court. I had to sign a few more and then I was released to leave about 45 minutes later. Never a dull moment in my life! We checked into our hostel located pretty close to the train system but it was raining. We walked to the local food market but it was mostly closed. That evening, we ordered pizza to the dorm and went to bed early.

2/10 - My Uncle Anthony's and Aunt Diane's friend, Robert, lives in Singapore and picked us up for lunch. We had great American food and I ate every last bit! He also drove us around town since it was raining. And we spotted the H&M!! The streets are lined with beautiful greenery and everything is so clean.

That evening, Robert, Jordan and I went on the Night Safari at the zoo. We spent about 4 hours looking at all the animals. The zoo is very open concept and the deers could walk right up to you if they wanted. On the way home, Robert stopped at his favorite food court. We got to try some local foods and they were really good! They have 24 hour food courts around town. I have caught a little cold along the way so not feeling 100%.

2/11 - We walked around Little India and had lunch. It was a bit spicy for my taste. Then, we walked around China Town but most things were closed due to the Chinese New Year. They had millions of lanterns lining the streets. It was really cool to see. Then, we headed to Orchard Street with all the shopping malls. I did a little damage at H&M but not much...don't want to carry anything else in my bag! We then headed to Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the hotel with the big boat on top!). It was very impressive. We had a $30 glass of wine on the top and watched the sunset behind the Singapore skyline. On the deck in front of the hotel, we watched a really good light, water and fire show. They did a great job with it. Not a bad way to end the evening!

2/12 - We were total bums as it was raining. We finally went out to the Gardens behind the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. They spent over $1 billion dollars on these gardens. Pretty Crazy! They were very nice. Jordan and I were both in totally goofy moods which is a good thing for the rest of the day was a little crazy. We headed back to the hostel and picked up our bags to head to the airport. We arrived early at the airport thinking we could check in early and hang out in the huge airport. But we could not, so we just had dinner. Around 10 pm, we could check in but we were stopped at the check in counter. You must have a ticket showing you are leaving the Philippines within 21 days of your entrance. Well, we did not have one. We ended up buying to tickets to Brunei (small county in Southeast Asia). I was having all sorts of problems booking my ticket and the counter was going to make me pay like $40 more if I didn't book thru the Internet. Anyways, just a little stressful! We made it thru check in and the ticket agent had saved up two seats at the front of the plane together....so nice! We had McDonalds in the airport and border the plane at about 1 am.