Wow 20 hours in the air is a looong time. But we finally made it to Singapore! And, we had the added bonus of experiencing Japanese toilets - where electronic buttons allow you to powerwash your behind ("SPRAY"), gently splash from below ("BIDET"), or play the sound of a flushing toilet to disguise those noisy moments ("FLUSHING SOUND").
We ended up meeting a couple on the plane (Syy and David) and took a taxi together to our hostel (the Fernloft on River Valley Rd.) at 4am. Singapore is REALLY expensive compared to the other places we will be traveling- so luckily we were able to book a 4-bed dorm room to share with Syy and David. Singapore wasn't that exciting so I'll keep it brief: the best parts were eating in "hawkers stands" where local food comes relatively cheap (about $3.50-$4 per person), getting caught in downpours that put Seattle to shame, and visiting the Singapore Zoo. The Zoo there was THE BEST we have ever been to - it has a completely open layout with nothing more than a knee-high bamboo fence keeping you from getting mowed down by rhinos, pygmie hippos, white tigers, meer kats, and any other animal you could possible think of. And the animals looked so much happier and healthier than the ones we're seen before locked up restricted areas. Anyway, it was awesome.
Also somewhat surprising coming from Singapore (considering the fact that you can get caned for spitting and axed for drug trafikking), is just how nice people were. There was one time when the four of us were walking around downtown and wanted to catch the metro to the zoo - we stopped and asked this old man how the metro system worked and which stop to get off at. He walked us 3 blocks to the metro, took us down to the underground station, and then, when we went to the electronic ticketing machines, he even poked all of the buttons for us and fed coins into the machine for each one of us. Erik and I were pretty shocked - we couldn't imagine someone in Seattle going that far our of their way to help some tourists...
On our final day in Singapore, we said goodbye to Syy and David and exchanged information so that we might be able to meet up with the two of them in Syy's small Thai village (only 24 people) for New Year's.
All in all, Singapore was crazy busy ((it is the most densely populated country in the world) and a real money sucker - kind of like an Asian New York. Not really our style. But we definitely made the best of it. We just can't wait to get to hot weather and beaches in the Philippines!
More to come soon :)
looove
megan and erik
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