I knew Singapore would be quite luxurious and the port that would be the most America-like. I only had 1 ½ days there, but I loved it and know I need to come back sometime in my life.
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS:
-We were there on the Chinese New Year (the equivalent of New Year's Day) so the majority of shops and businesses were closed
-Singapore is a "melting pot" and has an extremely diverse group of people, especially compared to the previous countries I have been to. It has 4 official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil
-They have crazy laws such as: no selling/chewing gum, no eating or drinking on public transportation, no jaywalking, and I believe you will be sentenced to death if you are caught with drugs!
-Things are very expensive here because so much is imported. I especially found this out when I ordered a mimosa with breakfast without checking the price and it turned out being $25 (sorry Mom)
DAY 1
I went off with Caroline and Aishwarya and took a taxi straight to the Ritz Carlton hotel. We knew our room would not be ready, but we asked them to hold our bags. The concierge tried finding us a place open for brunch and made reservations for us at a hotel about a 5 minute walk away. We went there and had an amazing meal, and THEY HAD GLUTEN FREE TOAST! This is even rare in America and they had 2 different types, so I just snarfed it all down plus the eggs, bacon, and hash browns and I was in an instant food coma. Before we got our food though, we heard loud drums coming from the lobby of the hotel. I think only on New Year's Day this occurs, but there was a cool dragon dance happening where the dragon kept chucking candy and oranges at people as it danced to the loud drums. Kids loved it and ran around trying to get the candy, and I was definitely entertained.
After breakfast, we went to a huge mall that I think was called Vivo City. We looked around and found wifi and basically hibernated from the heat. It was at least 90 degrees out and very humid and of course I forgot my sunscreen, so that was not a good combination. We decided to leave after a while and went on top of the mall which led to a park where we could see our ship and the place we heard of called Sentosa. We got monorail tickets and went over to Sentosa which was packed with people. There are so many activities to do here such as go to an aquarium, Universal Studios, go to the beach, race down a luge, indoor skydive, and more, but there were lines everywhere so we decided to find a restaurant on the beach to eat at and just hang out. We all ordered our first ever Singapore Slings (and didn't particularly like it) and I instantly ordered nachos right when I saw it on the menu since I haven't had nachos this entire trip so far and I've missed them! I also miss Chipotle. So much. Anyways…
While at this restaurant, we observed all the action happening because of the Lunar New Year. Probably 95% of the people were Indian men. As you can see in picture #5, I am not exaggerating and many of them would just lean on the railing and watch girls that would go in the water. One guy even came up a few feet away from us and took a picture in our face. Pretty similar to China there. We left and Caroline and I both got airbrush tattoos, and the worker told me there usually is not this many Indian men there and it's only for the New Year because they all get a few days off so they choose Singapore as their vacation spot. I found that rather interesting.
We went back to the hotel and showered, then Bryan and Emily showed up. The view from our hotel room was phenomenal. From the bathroom window, you could see a giant ferris wheel right outside. From the main window, you could see a huge festival going on at the marina bay and the famous Marina Bay Sands hotel right next door. Some other people showed up to hang out and enjoy the view, then we all left to go out.
Long story short: the majority of us got separated besides Mark & I, and we were at "Fashion Club" at Clark Quay for at least 4 hours. They were celebrating the New Year and I ran into so many SAS'ers and met so many Singaporeans. Singaporeans I found are all SO friendly, but everyone I talked to did not like living in Singapore which I found very interesting.
DAY 2
We all slept in a bit and went to breakfast at McDonalds, and some of our group got KFC right after. Can you tell we're American? We wanted to go to a fish spa but none of them were open! We went back to our hotel and laid out by the pool for a bit, then Mark and I decided we'd had enough sun so we started heading back towards the ship. To get to the subway that leads to the ship, we have to pass right by/under the Marina Bay Sands hotel. We impulsively decided to buy tickets to go up to the observation deck which had an even more phenomenal view than the Ritz Carlton. Some SAS'ers booked a room at this place somehow and thus had unlimited access to the infinity pool. I wanted to get into that infinity pool so bad but I guess that will have to wait until next time. We took the subway back and wandered around the mall that our ship was docked by and then boarded the ship.
I really wish I had more time in Singapore! It's a small country that is so rich and has so much to do and I would love to go back there someday! That's 4 countries down (not counting the USA when we went to Hawaii) and 6 to go (not including England where we end). Tomorrow we arrive in Myanmar, AKA "Burma", and I don't really know what to expect. I know it is quite an untouched society and will be very different, so I am very much looking forward to tomorrow!
PICTURES
1-The dragon dance
2-Feeling on top of the world with an amazing view of Sentosa which is where many attractions such as Universal Studios is
3-Aishwarya, Caroline and I at Sentosa having lunch at a beach bar
4-My Singapore Sling
5-Our view from the beach bar. There were many Indian men who I discovered came there for the New Year, and these men would just stare at everyone in the water
6-Getting a tattoo on Sentosa (don't worry mom, it's only airbrush. For now)
7-The amazing view from our suite at the Ritz Carlton
8-Sweet Singaporean girls (originally from India) who I met in the bathroom at Clark Quay
9-The beautiful Marina Bay Sands hotel!
10-The famous infinity pool on top of the Marina Bay Sands (I wanted to sneak in so bad)
11-The view from the observatory on top the Marina Bay Sands
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