SINGAPOREEEEE!!!!

I made it to Singapore!!! And all my luggage made it too, and my laptop still works, and life is good. The 7 hour layover in Thailand wasn't as bad as I expected - I got some dried fruit, got WiFi, and napped on an airport bench between 3:30 and 5:30 AM. An older Asian airline stewardess was sitting near me for most of my nap time, and kept giving me sympathetic looks every time I adjusted my awkward fetal position. I was very surprised by how busy the airport was even in the wee hours - there were a LOT of people out and about, and most of the food stands were open. I had a danish with a HOT DOG in the middle (see photo)!!! AHHHHHH!!! Haha I love traveling =)

The flight went by pretty quickly, which was lucky because I got a little queasy towards the end. I think it was probably 5 consecutive airline meals that finally got to me; they were tasty, but definitely a bit heavy. When I arrived, my luggage took forever to appear but appear it did, and James was waiting outside the gate to greet me. It was perfect! The back of my customs card said that death will be dealt to all drug traffickers - so all you drug traffickers reading this blog, beware! Luckily they didn't find my secret stash of Bubblemint gum, or my hands would've been cut off.

James took me to check in at my hostel, and then we headed straight for Orchard Park. It's basically a 1+ mile street chock full of international and local shops (think huge brand names and local styles all mixed together with fast food and really nice restaurants - bizarre indeed!). We tried lots of new foods: laksa (spicy seafood soup), mile (chocolate drink), kaya (delicious marmalade-like spread), Singapore coffee (condensed milk rather than sugar/cream), and a dish of sliced veggies with a spicy peanut sauce on top. SO TASTY. We couldn't find any durian, but it's just as well since they aren't allowed on the subway:



We also went to the top of the Swissotel, one of the tallest buildings in Singapore, which gives a 360 view of the city from a bar at the top. We're going to go back and actually get drinks some night, since the view is great when you can see all the lights. Here's a daytime shot:


I'm severely jetlagged but have decided to not think about it and push through. The hostel is really nice - wifi, breakfast, towel, and a locker all included in the very reasonable price! And a nice location. There's dimsum nearby and the metro is pretty close. James also says he has an extra phone that I can use while here... so we'll see if that works out, because that would be AMAZING. 4 of the kids from IDEA are around Singapore now, so we're going to get Chili Crab on Friday and Tong Win said he could give me a tour of the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus sometime.

More photos from around Little India, where my hostel is located:


I met one of the girls in my room and she said she's going to a club tonight, so I may join if I can rally and wake up a bit. Tomorrow James and I are going to Sentosa, a small island/theme-park just south of Singapore. Should be fun! There's a cable car that gives a great view, or a really cheap bus, so we may take the cable car in one direction and then just bus the other way. Oof. Must rest!