tough life in Singapore

hey! :) I am in an Internet cafe beside our hostel updating the blog. Because of the time change, I had booked a hostel for the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of September (we are twelve hours ahead of Ottawa time) but as it turned out, he arrived on the evening of the 22nd and I arrived the night of the 23rd. So, I booked a hostel bed for nothing and when I went to pay this morning for an additional night, there was no more room (the Singapore Grand Prix will be taking place this weekend) so we ended up having to go to another hostel for tonight. We were planning on taking an overnight train to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia but weren't sure when to take the train, but the new hostel has no more beds available tomorrow night so it looks like it will be tomorrow night!

Yesterday, my first full day in Singapore, was spent walking around. A lot. We decided that we would get a guest pass to a gym so we visited one on Orchard Road, what is called one of the most desirable neighbours to live in...so the first gym we visited wanted something like $40 singapore dollars a day to use the gym, the equivalent of $30 something, so we went to another gym instead to get a two day guest pass. We visited California Fitness and worked out. They have a bunch of classes so I decided to take a stretching class, since I spent almost a whole day on a plane. I figured stretching would be good! It was entertaining, and it felt good to stretch. Afterwards Jason and I visited the botanic gardens. WOW! The plants and flowers are incredible, especially the orchid garden (I am really thankful for the ISIC card...it cost me $1 to get in, and Jason had to pay $5). We took tons of pictures...Jason will hopefully update the photo site soon. We spent all day walking around....I was exhausted near the end.

Today we went to the gym (I took a body pump class...when i was in Ottawa, I was a member of goodlife fitness, a gym that offers a wide variety of classes, including one called body pump, a weight training class). I figured, hey, when will I get the chance again to work out in an awesome gym in Singapore doing a class that I enjoy? and yes, in case you are thinking, I was the only white person in the class ;) Afterwards we headed out to Sentosa, a beautiful island not far from an incredible mall. Before heading to Sentosa, Jason and I went to a food court for lunch. The food was awesome. i tried Indonesian food for the first time. Very tasty! From there, we went to Sentosa on the monorail. It was really hot in the afternoon - when you get outside, the heat hits you like a slap in the face. Because Singapore is a major trading post, we could see tons of huge transport ships in the back from all over the world. We spent the whole day walking around beautiful beaches. At one point we crossed a bridge that took us to the southern most part of continental Asia. I need a new word instead of using WOW...and it's only been three days since I have been across the ocean!

Singapore is fairly inexpensive compared to Canada, but I am sure that travellers who have been to other Asian countries would say that it's expensive. Today Jason bought me a green sundress and a beautiful flower lei. I think the total was something like $6 Canadian. I almost wish that I would have brought another suitcase just for the goodies that I want to bring back...

So, off to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow night...

So, I hope all is well. Feel free to write comments!

M and J :)