Grand Prix in Singapore

hey! I just thought I would update the blog while I am waiting for Jason to get cleaned up. I really should start writing down what we did, because it seems like it's all a blur...and it's only been 4 days since I have been in Singapore. We were able to find another hostel to stay at last night. Although they charged twice the price of the other two hostels (we were paying about $15 CDN a night, and this place wanted a little over $30 CDN), it was worth it. The place was clean, instead of having 10+ beds in a room, there were 6, there was an actual curtain so the sun didn't blind me at 7 in the morning, and best of all, there was an elevator in the hostel so we didn't have to lug our heavy suitcases up tons of stairs (here is the only advantage of having a backpack). Today is our last full day in Singapore - we leave on an overnight train for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, tonight. It leaves at 10 pm and arrives just after 6 am.

Yesterday we spent part of the day walking around Chinatown (after it stopped raining...the rain here is pretty intense sometimes. Thankfully it has been really warm!) and then we went to the site of the first ever Grand Prix race, the first for Singapore and the first at night. We ended up meeting some dude who was selling tickets for the practice run, so we went out to the Grand Prix last night. It was awesome! I took a picture of Jason beside one of the drivers (by the way, most of the drivers look really young. I guess you would have to be to willingly put yourself though the adrenaline rush of driving that fast for that long). Thank goodness for earplugs though. Eek! The cars go soooooo fast, and there is about 20 of them on the track at one time. Afterwards we headed out to a club to see these two French dudes dance (we met them two days ago when we went to Sentosa...more proof that I am often in French-language situations) but the bouncers were being dumb about letting Jason in because he was wearing sandals so we didn't stay. I guess that was for the best anyways because we were both exhausted.

In case you're wondering what a native Singaporean looks like, it would be like if i asked you what a real Canadian looks like. Because Singapore is a major trading post, it seems as though they have borrowed a lot from a lot of different cultures and made it their own. Some people from Singapore look like they are from a more Chinese background, while others look like they are from Thailand or Malaysia. Most people speak English, so it has been a great introduction to the Asian continent without having to encounter too many language barriers. Yesterday Jason and I were eating food outside (the first meal we have been disappointed with...overall the food has been great) and some older guy came up to us saying something or other that we couldn't understand (no idea what he wanted. I think he was after our coke cans). When he said thank you, he said it in Japanese and Mandarin. Somehow random phrases from my Mandarin class 5 years ago came back...so I answered "you're welcome" in Mandarin and then he starts chatting it up in Mandarin. I think he lost me after the first word. I only remembered near the end how to say "I don't know", but it was great to feel like I could say something!

Anyways, I am going to pack up my bags so more to come from Malaysia or Thailand!

M and J :)