Weekend Update

Hello friends and family... greetings from Singapore! I hope that everyone had a great weekend. Sorry this post is a bit delayed – work has really been picking up this week. I’m not sure who all is reading my blog and keeping up with my adventures (besides M&D) so if you feel so inclined, leave a comment at the end of any post – I would love to hear from you, even if it’s just to pop in and say hello! Or if you prefer to read anonymously, that's ok too :)

I’ve been gone from the U.S. for 2 weeks now and have gotten settled into my new temporary home quite nicely. I’ve pretty much embraced everything... except the Asian food. Of course there are some great Asian restaurants, but I’m talking about the hawker centres which are the only options at lunch. Hawker centres are open-air food centres with lots of different stalls selling inexpensive food. I have tried to like this food... I usually go over, walk around, look at the pictures, scan the options usually lined up in pans behind the counter – but when I don’t recognize what something is and when there are dead chickens hanging above my head to dry and when it’s 90 degrees out, and all the smells and the fermented fish paste, ginger, and curry... by the time it hits my mouth, my lips are already puckered back in disgust. Not to mention that they do not have chicken breasts in this country. The women on the project and I joke that there must be lots of chickens running around without breasts because seriously – the only chicken meat we can find is dark meat. No worries though, I have plenty of oatmeal to get me through the work day!

Aaaanyway, onto the weekend happenings.

If you’ve been keeping up with my blog, you know that the weekend before last was mainly devoted to all things super touristy... city tour and heritage tour all over the island, botanic gardens, shopping on Orchard Road, checking out Chinatown, Little India, etc. Not going to lie, this weekend was a little more focused on – ahem – partying. Friday night, a bunch of us went out in Boat Quay.

Boat Quay (again, pronounced “Key”) is basically a very laid-back version of Clark Quay. So if Clark Quay is Dallas than Boat Quay would be... Fort Worth (only within walking distance of course). So we started with drinks at the hotel, headed over to Boat Quay, had a few drinks near the water at a pub, went to a Hindi dance bar (this was a very bizarre experience) and finally ended up at Clark Quay which is my favorite spot – expats everywhere, really cool bars & clubs, just an awesome scene.

Saturday.

Had to work, but only from 10-3. Everyone strolled into the office around 10:30... very relaxed day. I don’t think I did anything productive except order lunch for the group haha (to my credit, I didn’t have much to do anyway). Got back to my hotel and took a lovely nap before dinner/drinks with some colleagues. It just ended up being 3 of us because a lot of people were going to Indonesia on Sunday. I considered it, but many of them were going to play golf and the only other thing to do really was to sit on the beach or sit by the pool, and tanning in the sun is not so much on my to-do list. I would like to go to Bali, but it’s much further (not just a fairy ride away like where the other guys were going). It was tempting for the cool Indonesian stamp in my passport though. So anyway, those that were not going to Indonesia went out pretty hard on Saturday night. We were going to do dinner at SupperClub, but it started down-pouring so instead we skipped dinner and just started drinking at (one of ) the hotel bars (always an excellent choice). It finally stopped pouring, giving us enough time to get to Clark Quay – went to an awesome club called Attica – then from there, went to SupperClub (turns into a super posh club at night), then finished off the night with some live music at a place near the hotel called Chijmes. And no night would be complete without some late late night food so we enjoyed some greasy appetizers before heading home at... well... let’s just say the bars are open well past 2am here. And I have some fun colleagues!


SupperClub



Sunday.

There’s the cutest little Asian girl on my team. She’s probably 80 pounds, originally from Malaysia, works out of the San Francisco Deloitte office, and has an adorable personality. She and I decided to check out this cool mall in the area called Vivocity. We spent the afternoon shopping, and then it pretty much poured rain the rest of the day. Good thing I decided not to do the Night Safari which I was originally thinking I would do Sunday night! So it was monsoon weather for the rest of the evening which was kind of nice because it gave me a chance to just chill – actually I went and sat in the sauna for awhile!

At the mall - I got a "creamy beetroot smoothy." It was actually quite tasty!


My view from my hotel room - monsoon weather

Oh I also got a Singapore cellphone! My number is... shoot, I don’t even know. I have it written down somewhere... so if you get a call from a Singapore number (country code +65), answer it! It’s probably me.

Thirsty Thursday

Went out last night. I decided it was time to break the streak of 10am bedtimes and naturally waking up at 6am. Although I enjoy being fully rested and alert during the workday, sometimes you have to sacrifice a little for a good evening out on the town. Hence my excitement when I got word that some of the team was going to Clark Quay (pronounced "Key") for dinner/drinks/more drinks.

Clark Quay is a short walking distance from my hotel, located along the Singapore river. It's basically THE place to go out in Singapore. Here's what the Singapore tourist website had to say about it:

Named after Sir Andrew Clarke, Singapore's second governor, Clarke Quay had been the commercial centre, where an unending stream of lighters would transport their goods upriver to the warehouses. Now present day, you can shop, eat and be entertained by the riverside. Featuring five blocks of restored warehouses, Clarke Quay offers a quirky alternative to mainstream attractions, with second-hand and antique shops and restaurants with an amazing array of food and beverage options. In the evenings, dance clubs and pubs come alive with music from the 1960s to the present.

Let's just say we had dinner and then decided to kick off the rest of the night with a shot of Jager (why not?):

above: me, consulting boss, client, client boss, client (all from U.S. offices)

Already Friday?

Yes, tomorrow is Friday! Wow, quick week. I think we'll be working a little bit on Saturday, but only a shortened day. I have a few things in mind that I want to see/do this weekend including the Night Safari at the zoo!

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A word about Politics...

On one hand, I feel very detached from the U.S. – the news, the markets, the politics... – but on the other hand, it’s kind of crazy because no matter what part of the globe I go to, I always hear about our President, our pop culture, our economy, etc. The crisis is a global one, and even Singapore is talking about it. Whether it's NBC news, BBC news, or any of the newspaper publications sitting on my hotel room doorstep, everyone's talking about Obama.

Obama’s got the whole world in his hands.

No pressure. :)

In other news, I went over to Suntec Mall last night to walk around, do some shopping, and grab some dinner. The mall has some fabulous stores! I didn’t have a lot of time so I’ll have to go back later to really shop. Then again, I haven’t really felt like buying clothes lately – I am saving for my big move across the pond (whenever that may be). Accessories on the other hand are wonderful... I like looking through my jewelry and recalling the story or time/place behind any of my pieces.

And in further news, I am almost done with Eat, Pray, Love.

Yes, it takes me MONTHS to read a novel because 1.) I am an extremely slow reader 2.) I get impatient and can’t spend “hours” reading and 3.) I am busy. Rarely have time to read...
But I only have about 15 pages left and let me just say, that if you haven’t read it, add it to your list!!! Also, fun fact – The author, Elizabeth Gilbert, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, by Time Magazine in 2008. wow!

FOR CORTNEY

Yes, I found some jewelry. Would you expect anything less of me??

I went shopping along Orchard Road, which is known as the Park Avenue of Singapore so natually, I found a couple things...

Pearls. I love love love fresh-water pearls! I added some new ones to the collection:



I also got 2 lovely pashmenas in green as shown below, as well as in black.

Sunday

Morning.

Woke up early and enjoyed another lovely breakfast at the Café Swiss. I then ventured off to check out the Botanic Gardens. The Gardens are not only a botanical institution and a regional park, but a tourist destination as well – and since they had been highly recommended in my guidebook, I decided to check em out...




The park is free to walk around and do whatever, which is why it's also a good park for people watching. I saw people running, walking thier dogs, practicing some sort of meditation, performing martial arts, participating in organized dance, marching in unison... it was interesting. Funny story actually, upon leaving, I saw a group of about a dozen Asian people learning a dance in the park. As I got closer for a better look, I discovered that they were line-dancing in unison to the country song, God Bless Texas. I wish I could have gotten a short video of this, but my camera ran out of juice.

Singapore's national flower is the Orchid so natually, there's an Orchid garden within the park. Entrance for this part of the park is a small fee, but worth it. The flowers were really beautiful...





Afternoon.

I was originally thinking I'd take the cable car to Sentosa for the afternoon, but my feet hurt from my flip flops and I decided I'd do something more low-key. I had heard about a natural health method practiced by the ancient Chinese called foot reflexology and had even seen a place within the Raffles shopping mall that offered it. I googled it though - thinking if I was going to do it, I should head to Chinatown, and sure enough, there were plenty of places that offered it (according to Yahoo web forums anyway). I walked to Chinatown and into some sort of mall...

it was a sight to see. I found plenty of foot reflexology places, but got kind of nervous. There places were definitely no-frills... I'm talking little hole-in-the-wall places with a menu out front of the services offered. I couldn't chicken out though! I hesitently settled on a place that already had a few customers mid-foot-massage... the little Asian ladies that ran the place looked nice. They barely spoke a lick of English though. The smallest Asian lady motioned for me to put my feet in a tub of grainy (scalding) brown water. uhhh... ok maybe this wasn't such a good idea? Sitting up with my feet in the bucket, she did a quick shoulder and neck massage followed by lots of hard chopping on my back. At this point, I started laughing.. and then she started talking to me in Chinese and doing these motions with her hands, and I was so confused that I just smiled and nodded and more laughing. Luckily, the Asian guy next to me could a little translating - she was asking if this was my first time in Singapore, if I'd ever done this type of massage before, how it is very good for the health, etc. She motioned to my face and he said that she was saying I was pretty and that I looked 18 or 19 years old. Ha! I mean my hair was a mop - not sure why I bother straightening it in this humidity - and my skin was greasy from a combination of sun screen and sweat. But hey - it's a complement so I'll take it. Anyway back to the foot reflexology experience. This little Asian lady spent a full hour massaging my feet - pushing (and in some cases pulling) on every area and bone on my feet. It was quite painful at some points! I didn't know how this little lady could have so much power. I left there though with my feet feeling much stronger, healthier, and better. It was pretty cool actually. And only $30 SGD ($20 USD). I noticed when I got back to my hotel that every vein in my feet was sticking out - I took a picture which I will NOT be posting... it's a bit gruesome. My feel are now back to normal now :)

Friday & Saturday

Editors note: this will probably be a long post so feel free to scan and/or just look at the pictures... I did a lot over the weekend. I'm having fun in Singapore (!), although I do miss a few things back home (1. my friends 2. my bed :) ) Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Friday.

Got back from work and headed out to explore for the first time since landing early Thursday morning. I decided on Bugis Street as my first stop since it was relatively within walking distance to the hotel. A lot of people on the team went out of town for the weekend to either India or Malaysia so I was pretty much on my own, but Singapore is a safe city so I wasn’t too worried. I think India is about a 4 hour flight from Singapore, depending where you fly to in India so a lot of the Indian guys (and girls) on the team from the U.S. were taking advantage of the close proximity and the work-free weekend to visit family.

So anyway, armed with my map of the city, I headed toward Bugis Street which holds the reputation as the largest street shopping location in Singapore with over 600 stores offering a wide variety of fashion, accessories, gifts, souvenirs, and food/drinks. Ten million people walk through Bugis Street annually! On my walk over, I stopped in some neat open-air shops which after the fact, I found out were called Bugis Junction - a more upscale Bugis Street. I browsed the shoes and apparel and walked away with 2 pashminas for around $15 USD (for both). They claim to be 100% cashmere... not sure if that’s true or not, but they will be nice for the office since the A.C. is always on full-blast. I finally made it to Bugis Street and it was different than I had pictured. There were people everywhere and tons of little stalls selling trinkets and well, to put it bluntly, junk. It kind of reminded me of the shopping in Mexico. It was a neat cultural experience though – also lots of authentic Asian food - all of which I was scared to try - the fresh fruit and juices looked good though. Here are some pics-
Bugis Junction:

Underground Bugis Street:



Got a little lost walking back to the hotel.
Ended the night sitting outside at a restaurant/cafe sipping a cocktail and having a bite to eat (still jet-lagged... crashed around 9pm)


Saturday.

Decided to do the touristy thing and bought a hop-on hop-off double-decker tour bus pass.

I figured this would allow me to see a lot of the city, learn a bit about the history, help me learn my way around, and give me an idea of the places I wanted to go back to. Here were some highlights:
The Singapore Flyer – the largest Ferris Wheel in the world, even larger than the London Eye. It's a 360 degree panaramic view of the island and surroundings - you can even see Indonesia and Malaysia. Beijing is currently building a Ferris Wheel slightly larger though to surpass this one.

Raffles Hotel – the oldest and most prestigious hotel on the island

Boat Quay (pronouced: "Key")

Clark Quay:

Largest Mosque:

Most of the residents in the island live in buildings like below, which is government subsidized living. Since there is a limited amount of space on the island, homes are built up rather than out... and in order for someone to live in one of these places, they must (a) have around 100k and (b) be married.

Little India:

Old police station and living quarters. There are 911 colorful windows to signify 9-1-1 (no longer in use)

St. Andrew’s Cathedral – it’s been hit by lightning not once, not twice, but three times.

The Merlion is Singapore’s tourism symbol – half-fish, half-lion. The fish body comes from Singapore’s ancient name back when it was a fishing village. The lion head represents Singapore's original name, Singapura - meaning "lion city" in Sanskrit and Malay.

Esplanade, a massive theater costing 600 million to build. It was designed to be extremely green-friendly.

Singapore Library – really cool architecture

Chinatown

on the bus... after an Asian couple motioned for me to take a picture with them. I think I stick out in this country...

I decided to "hop off" the bus at Orchard Road. Orchard Road is a famous shopping street in Singapore with all the high-end names. Actually, Singapore has shopping on pretty much every road and every corner. There's even a 24 hour shopping center in Little India. There are shopping malls connected to more shopping malls - but I was told the best shopping was off Orchard Road. I grabbed a Starbucks (yes, there are Starbucks everywhere here!) and walked down to Takashamaya.

Spent a few hours shopping... left once my feet stared hurting... but had to wait out a big tropical rain storm first.

...will post Sunday later on tonight!

The Food

Since Singapore is one of Asia’s premier financial areas, it’s no surprise that there are plenty of choices when it comes to food. My hotel, Swissotel Stamford, is connected to the Fairmont and has no joke about 15 different restaurants and bars between the two serving pretty much any type of cuisine from local Singaporean food to European, all the way to Western American and everything in between.

Conversely, the client’s campus is a short cab ride outside the heart of the city and the on-site cafeteria is strictly traditional Asian fare. There are about 8 different lines to get food from, but it all looks the same to me... mystery meat, noodles, vegetables, rice, everything covered in all sorts of different sauces, usually spicy (lots of curry)... a mix of Indian, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Chinese for the most part. Really the only Asian food I eat on a semi-regular basis in the U.S. is like Pei Wei or P.F. Changs which is hardly Asian since it’s so Americanized. Haha. So I’m checking out my options and trying to ask the Asian ladies behind the counters if there is any chicken in typical Laura fashion (I can be an adventurous eater, but not at lunchtime). They don’t so much understand my American accent so I begin pointing at the pictures. Luckily there are lots of pictures! The first few stations only have fish soup and some fried claw thingies. Finally found some chicken, but after checking out the picture, I decided I may be better off just going to the fruit stand. For this one, a photo was absolutely necessary (click to enlarge):


Mmm Black Fungus. How lovely. Haha. So I am still getting used to the authentic Asian food here in Singapore. In the meantime, I am enjoying all the fresh fruit! I have eaten all of these today: pineapple, lychee, papaya, apples, dragon fruit, star fruit, guava, kiwi, watermelon, oranges, and cantaloupe. You can buy them ready-to-eat in clear plastic baggies - they’ve already been cored and/or peeled. Yum.

Happy Friday everyone! We don’t have to work this weekend (YAY)!!!

Singapore.

View from my hotel balcony - to the right


View from balcony - to the left


lovely self-portrait lol

Went to dinner/drinks at New Asia on the 70th floor of my hotel. It was a very posh and trendy bar and lounge. The watermelon martini was delish! Here are some pictures of the view:

Blonde Moment

Got into Singapore early this morning around 12:30am local time. No issues with the flight – I flew Japan Airlines from Tokyo to Singapore and was in economy this time, but I scoped out an empty row in the back of the aircraft, popped another sleeping pill, and slept most of the way again. Going through customs was no problem – got another stamp in my passport (!), picked up my luggage and jumped in a taxi. The weather was hot and humid even in the middle of the night. Hotel is really really nice. I got up to my room though and I couldn’t figure out how to turn the lights on. I seriously fumbled around in the dark pressing buttons for about 10 minutes until I called the operator.
Hi Miss Bailey what can we do for you
Um I can’t get any of my lights to turn on…
Oh ok, we’ll send an engineer up there immediately.
Thanks.
So the engineer comes up, sticks my room key in a slot near the door, and shazam, all the lights magically come on. Wow I felt so dumb. Let’s blame it on my jet-lag. How was I supposed to know this? Anyway, slept for a couple more hours (I think) until waking around 5:30am. Hit up the breakfast at one of the MANY restaurants at my hotel and WOW, I am so impressed. It’s a ginormous breakfast buffet… kind of reminded me of a cruise with all the options, and everything was super fresh. Fresh squeezed OJ, lots of fresh fruit (exotic types like papaya and starfruit), even a real honeycomb that you could scrape fresh honey off of for cereal or yogurt. Some unique foods too that I will maybe try later like chicken porridge. Now I know porridge means oatmeal, but chicken + oatmeal together? Hmm. Anyway, had my coffee & some food and headed down to the lobby around 8am to meet other team members and jump in a cab to the office. I shared a cab with 2 guys from the U.S., a Deloitte manager out of the L.A. office who’s actually from Australia, and a client manager out of the San Francisco office who’s actually from right outside London. The Deloitte guy was telling me how he refers to Singapore as “Asia for beginners.” I found this kind of funny, but I can see why now… it’s clean, safe, pretty much everyone speaks English, plenty of cuisine choices, not too crowded with tourists, and no crazy bicyclists that’ll run you over if you don’t watch out.

Ok gotta run. More later including some pictures that I took of the view from my hotel. Need to get some work done tho.

14 down, 8 to go

Hola everyone! Or shall I say konnichiha! I've made it to Tokyo. I’ve got a 3 hour lay-over until my flight to Singapore so I thought I’d check in. The 14 hour flight over wasn't too bad. I slept most of the way. Thank goodness for business class seats! I sat next to a nice man that was probably the most cultured person I’ve ever met. Every city I mentioned that I enjoyed visiting, he said he had lived there at some period in his life... I mean, Singapore, China, London, New York, you name it. He also gave me some contacts in Singapore. Anyway, I killed some time on my lay-over and took a couple pics. enjoy.

Um hi, which one is the flight to Singapore??


Checking out the shops. I didn't have any yen, but it was fun to look :)