Safe and sound in Singapore

Hi! :) I made it to Singapore last night around midnight local time. I left Vancouver on Monday around noon. My last full day in Vancouver was great. Magali and I spent the afternoon bikeriding near the water. Finally I was able to get some great pictures! The sun came out after two days of cloudy weather. In the evening a few of us (including my old friend Jonathan and his lovely wife Sima) met up for dinner. Overall it was a great end to a great weekend!

The flight to Singapore was surprisingly great. I flew on Singapore Airlines and couldn't get over the quality of service. We got served two meals on the flight to Seoul, and then another one on the way to Singapore. The flight to Seoul was 10 hours, then an hour to board another plane, then 6 hours to Singapore. To put it into perspective, it would be like if you went to bed, got up, and then spent a whole day at work. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of movies, and we were always getting little gifties from the flight attendants (I got three hot towels. The first time I was thinking, what is this and what do I do with it? It reminded me of that scene in The Wedding Singer where the main dude flies first class to Las Vegas and doesn't know what to do with the hot towel when he receives it). So, overall, a good flight. Jason met me at the airport and brought me a beautiful, incredibly lovely smelling lei (which was really sweet, and really appreciated, since I spent 24 hours in the same clothes. I think the fragrant flowers masked my not so fresh smell). We left the airport, dropped my stuff off at the hostel (called The Inn Crowd, in little India) and toured around drinking Tiger beer, a local beer that tastes exactly like Molson Canadian.

I didn't sleep much on the plane, and I am pretty sure that I didn't sleep last night either (I am cursing the fact that I didn't bring my sleeping pills to help me get on local time). It didn't help that some jerk had his alarm on in our room and wasn't waking up from it. Surprisingly it's 7:40 am local time and I am awake. Jason and I made breakfast at the hostel and are just about ready to start our day. It looks like a nice storm is brewing, so that may throw a monkey wrench into our plans of walking around outside.

By the way, it's always fun to get back into hostel living. In this hostel, you can't wear your shoes in the rooms or in the showers, which makes it a little fun for taking a shower knowing that the person who was in it before you may not having the same standards of hygiene as you do. Also, we are staying in a coed dorm room with about ten other beds. The bathrooms are also coed. Yup, you may be the type that prefers a hotel room instead. I love this getting back to basics lifestyle. Travelling this way is also a great way to find out what kind of person you are (and what kind of person you travel with). Thankfully Jason and I are pretty easy-going with this kind of thing and don't get too grossed out, although it's definitely not for everyone!

By the way, in Singapore, you get fines for chewing gum and spitting. good thing I found that out before I arrived ;)

Sorry this message is all over the place...I just wanted to let you know that I arrived and that everything is great! The weather is pretty muggy, but I can't complain too much...it's great to be warm after spending all weekend wearing the same sweater and waterproof windbreaker in Vancouver.

Anyways, I will hopefully update this is with a slightly easier to read message next time!