Day 120: Riding the Movies

This post is terribly, terribly late... Everything in here happened on May 9, but I was forgetful... But as promised, I went to Universal Studios Singapore. At first I was a bit worried I'd get rained out because the morning and early afternoon was gray and drizzly. I ate ramen for lunch at the mall by Sentosa Boardwalk (it had too much miso for my taste, but it was good. It's gonna be hard going back to the instant stuff). When I finished, the rain had stopped. The sun even came out by midafternoon!

I went on most of the rides in the park. The big Battlestar Galactica roller coaster was closed, but I wouldn't have gone on it anyways. The rides are actually kind of cool; they're kind of like watching condensed movies, but in ride form. The Transformers ride had us riding inside of an Autobot while wearing 3D glasses. The car moved and jerked around much like a real car as movie images played in front of us. Of course, I screamed a lot.

I also rode on this park's version of the Disneyland teacups, watched some Shrek shows, saw the Sesame Street gang, and more. There was one attraction that simulated a New York City boat house in the middle of a Category 5 hurricane, and it was hosted by a digital Steven Spielberg, no less. Why? It was to show the magic of movie sound stages. I also got to go on a Jurassic Park river ride (gosh, that movie terrified me as a kid), and I got to cut the line because I was a single rider! I ended up getting wet, but they do warn you about that ahead of time.

After that, I mustered up my courage and went to the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster. I do not do well on fast roller coasters, so I ended up debating on whether to ride it or not. But eventually, I got on and hoped I wouldn't regret my decision.

It starts off slow enough with a little intro and all, but I dreaded the moment when things would pick up. It came before I knew it. We zoomed backward, forward, and all around. And it was completely dark, too. I screamed my lungs out the whole time. When we finally got off, I was shaking a little. But it was worth it, because some high-speed camera took a picture of us at one point. I thought the photo was really funny, because you can see me screaming bloody murder in the back while everyone else looks like they're having a good time. So I bought the photo as a souvenir. Here it is; although since I had to take a picture of the photo with my video camera the quality is kinda grainy.

That's me in the top-left corner. I may look really happy, but trust me, I'm just screaming to keep my insides in place.

Aside from the photo, I got a souvenir T-shirt! That'll be something fun to bring home. The last thing I did in the park was watch the Monster Rock show. A bunch of classic Hollywood monsters got together to sing a bunch of rock'n'roll songs. To be honest, I don't think most of the songs they did qualify as rock'n'roll, but it was still fun to watch.

Speaking of which, I had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. My burger probably had a full day's worth of calories, but it was yummy. I also had this iced tea which was I was told was a mix of ice lemon tea and orange juice, I think. It was good, although it had a funny aftertaste. Yes, I've grown a taste for iced tea. It kind of happens when tea is all around you (though I'm not big on hot tea).

Note: For some reason, I can't put the first video in the series on here, even though I uploaded it to Youtube. I did see that the video was blocked in some countries because of the music that inevitably ended up recorded, but I don't see why that should prevent it from being posted here. I'll put the other two up, and I hope it won't look too awkward.

Day 118: Exams Done!

Geez, has it really been that long since my last post? I couldn't help it; I was busy studying for exams. Well, they're finally all over with. They were brutal, even though I studied hard... I was told there's a big curve for exams, though, and it seems I'm on a pass/fail thing since this is study abroad.

I had my last exam yesterday, but I spent the afternoon cleaning my room in preparation for leaving. Gosh, I can't believe my semester is over. It felt like it went by so quickly, and yet it also seems like a long time. Today, I had lunch with Amy (my student buddy) and she helped vacuum my Space Bags since she won't be here when I check out on Saturday. She's going to Malaysia for a church thing. I had to withdraw a bunch of money so I can hire a taxi to the airport, where I plan to stay the night since my flight is at 6 AM Sunday.

Anyways, I spent the afternoon in Bugis, where I did some shopping around for souvenirs. I bought a Singapore T-shirt to take home. They ran awfully large; I usually wear a medium but I had to buy a small. I was tempted to buy the "Someone I Know Went to Singapore and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt" shirt, but they only ran in smalls, and I didn't want to buy an incorrect size for someone since I can't return it.

For dinner, I had probably the best beef noodle soup I've tried here. The beef and the noodles were tender and tasty, the meatballs were fantastic, and the broth was some of best I've ever had. The stall said something about the broth being made from beef bones and herbs and being left to simmer for four or five hours. Well, I think it paid off. And I normally don't like meatballs, but for some reason I can't get enough of the meatballs I've had here. I think it's the texture; they're firm and not crumbly like Western meatballs.

For dessert, I found a place that was selling chocolate lava cakes and ice cream. It was so yummy! Well worth the money, if I say so myself.

Tomorrow, I think I'll take one final trip to Sentosa Island. I think it's high time I went to Universal Studios Singapore. I still have almost 90 minutes left on the 16 GB memory card I bought for the camera, and I'd like to use it up before I go home.

Day 99: Busy Busy

Gosh, it's been two weeks since my last post. I couldn't help it; I was busy working on lab reports and homework. I haven't been able to get out much as a result. But I was able to try some new foods. I had fried chicken that was pressure cooked so that even the bones were edible. That was quite interesting. I had some kind of fish called a garoupa, which may just be Singapore's spelling of grouper. And today I tried fried giant squid.

I HAD planned on taking a trip to Vietnam, but I threw that out the window when I didn't do as well on a quiz as I would have liked. With exams starting in a little over a week, I decided to make use of the dead week to get extra help and study. Unfortunately, this means I wasted a fairly significant chunk of money... I feel a little guilty about that, but I consider it a small price to pay compared to what would happen if I screws up on my finals. I mean, final exams here make up more than half your total grade.

It probably worked out for the best, anyway. My monthly gift arrived, and the last thing I want is to be keeled over with pain while in an unfamiliar place. Well, maybe I'll try to slip in one more trip to Malaysia before I head home.

Day 86: Birds of a Feather

My Saturday plans were once again ruined by rain. To be specific, it was the worst thunderstorm I've seen since coming here. Lots of rain, lots of lightning, and the hallways which have openings to outside got all wet. Fortunately, Sunday was nice and sunny, so I visited the Jurong Bird Park. They've got thousands of different birds there, from penguins to parrots to pigeons, and some of the exhibits even let you feed the birds for a small fee.

There are also a couple of bird shows, and I watched two of them. I wanted to attend the lunch with parrots, but it completely full... People probably reserve it long in advance. But the other shows were good. I drained the video camera's batteries dry filming all the exhibits, so I was trying badly to conserve power and only got a few of the shows' highlights. One of them featured parrots and hornbills soaring through the sky, a cockatoo that took (and returned) money from a volunteer, and a talkative yellow-naped Amazon that can sing songs in three languages. The other show focused on birds of prey and featured hawks, owls, and a bunch of vultures.

Both me and the camera were dead by the end of the day -- there was less than a minute left of battery power by the time I went home, and I started with a full charge. So there is a LOT of footage to look at!

Day 79: The Sun and the Sea

I went to the beach, as I promise. It was a great day to do it, too! While there were some clouds, it cleared up by midafternoon. There's nothing like white sand, blue skies, and crystal water! My nose was as red as Rudolph's by the end of the day, but the rest of me escaped sunburn. I also got footage of Sentosa Boardwalk on my way over there.

Later on, I paid some money to have my picture taken with a python. The man was nice enough to take a bunch of photos with several poses, and he even gave me a discount! He used my video camera to do it, so all of them are digital. Here's one of them.

Don't worry, my life was not in any danger! The snake was probably well-fed and had no need to constrict me. I bet my mom will flip out when she sees this, though!

When I was done with pictures, I traveled to Underwater World Singapore, where I got to view plenty of fish, rays and sharks. I also got to watch a dolphin and fur seal show! It was a lot of fun! Afterwards, I experienced a spa treatment called fish reflexology. You put your feet into a tank filled with dozens of Turkish doctor fish, and they eat off your dead skin cells. It doesn't hurt, but it sure as heck tickles! I had to use all of my willpower to not burst out laughing and kicking. I wanted to get my money's worth, and scaring the poor fish wouldn't help. Did it do any good? I don't know, but since I only paid $S6 for it (it was discounted because I had an Underwater World Singapore ticket), it's okay either way.

Day 78: An Orchard of Malls

Today I went wandering around Orchard Road, which is basically lined with all sorts of shopping malls, at least from what I've seen. Why I keep going to these malls and shopping centers when I never buy anything except food? I never even go into most of the stores. Although they are mostly clothing and accessory shops with overpriced products... Well, it's exercise, I suppose. I actually was planning on visiting one of the beaches on Sentosa Island today, but the skies looked gray, and there was rain in the forecast. It's a good thing I decided to cancel those plans, because on my way home it started raining. It looks like it'll be sunny tomorrow, though, so I'll try then!

Day 71: A Day Downtown

This is a pretty late entry, but I have homework to blame. I spent a Saturday wandering around Marina Bay and experiencing tourist attractions. I got tons and tons of footage, mostly from the Singapore Flyer. For those of you unaware, the Singapore Flyer is the world's largest Ferris wheel. I figured I'd be committing some sort of crime if I didn't ride it at least once while I was here. They even have meals and wine tasting in the Singapore Flyer, though I imagine you have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

There's plenty of views of the city from way high up since I got to go to the top floor of an outlook on the Marina Bay Sands resort If you recall my previous videos, that's the building with a boat-like structure on top. And I got to go on top of the boat to film the city. Since this happened during the day and I rode the Flyer at night, that means you get to see views of the city from high up in both cases! I also wandered around more shopping malls, watched a movie, and got to see a special light show. I was late to the light show because I got a bit mixed up while riding the MRT.

My one regret is that I spent quite a bit of money to do all this stuff. I probably dropped $S100+ for my tickets, food, etc. My credit card is getting use, but I hope I'm not leaving Mom and Dad with too big of a bill.

Day 68: Feeling the Blues

One thing about living abroad is that I no longer have access to my usual products. This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. It can be good because it forces you to try new things, but it can be bad when the new products don't work as well as your usual ones.

Today was a case in point where the latter is true. I had a severe case of cramps that left me bedridden and squirming in pain for several hours. It was a very good thing I didn't have class, or else it would've been almost impossible for me to focus. Normally, I manage the pain by popping about three Aleve in the morning, but they don't sell Aleve over here, and due to drug restrictions I couldn't bring any in. So I have to buy the local brand of pain medicine, which is only minimally effective on the monstrous cramps I can get.

And I was planning on going out today... It really sucked. I was afraid something like this would happen every month, what with me being female and all, and my suspicions were pretty much on the mark. But there's nothing I can do except endure it. The worst of it passes after a day or two, anyways.

Day 66: Return of Rain

Ever since I arrived here in Singapore, I could count the number of times it rained on one hand. And the few times it did rain, it was a brief event. Well, that's gone out the window. Yesterday, it stormed on and off all afternoon. And now, it's raining again even as I type. I think it's pretty safe to say the drought is over, at least for the time being. I finally have reason to pull out that raincoat Mom bought me!

Day 64: Safari Zone

Several weeks ago, I saw a flyer for a trip to the River Safari at the Singapore Zoo for only $S10, which less than half the cost of normal admission. Naturally, I signed up right away. I got to see fish and creatures from all over the world, from familiar faces from back home in the U.S. to the enormous river monsters of the Amazon. I even got a glimpse of two giant panda, but they were both asleep. Oh well, what're you gonna do?

I waited in a long line for some expensive food at one of the restaurants, but I had to wolf it down so I could make it in time for our scheduled boat trip. It wasn't anything too special. Everyone was put into small boats and cruised down a set path that let us see multiple Amazonian animals. No one told me that it was practically a theme park ride... You can hear my screams on camera.

It was a fun trip, nonetheless, and I got a ton of cool footage. I hope I didn't go overboard gawking at the arapaimas. I couldn't help myself! I knew they were big because I fished them up in Animal Crossing, but seeing them in real life is a while different story!

Day 57: Hiking and Biking

I traveled with the NUS Outdoor Activities Club to a neighboring island named Pulau Ubin for a biking trip. There were also several occasions where we got off the bikes and hiked to various areas only accessible on foot. I really enjoyed all the sights, even though I was completely exhausted by the end of the day. We saw tons of scenery, forests, wild animals, and the ocean of course. We went up and down numerous hills and on both dirt and paved roads I'm still sore as I type this... Ow... You people are lucky enough that I filmed so you can see all of the scenery without doing any of the work! Then again, video footage can't top seeing it person. So I still win, ha ha!

Day 50: Hot Botanic Gardens

I decided to do a little sightseeing around Singapore and visited the Botanic Gardens. Who'd have thought such a huge natural area could be found smack in the middle of a metropolitan city? It's a really pretty place, and I got a fair bit of footage, but gosh, it was so warm on that day! I was sweating buckets. I really shouldn't be complaining since everyone back home is freezing their butts off, but heat wears me out, y'know? I wasn't able to go through the whole place as a result, but I think I went around about one-third to one-half of it.

I had lunch around one in the afternoon, then I headed home. I did get a bit more footage on my way back. And this video doesn't just have plants, I was able to film some native birds, too! There's not a whole lot 'cause they flew away, but it's something.

Day 49: Back in Singapore

I made it back to my Singapore residence, safe and sound. I had to hire a taxi to get to the bus station so I could go home, but it was pretty cheap, only about 30 RM. And considering I got 127 RM in exchange for $S50, that's saying something. I did get a bit of footage of the town while riding the taxi, though. Again, I'm kicking myself for not doing more research on the hotels...

The bus ride home took longer because we had to stop at several places to drop people off. We left at 2:00 PM and I reached my stop at about 7:30 PM. I knew taking the train home would take at least another half-hour, so I bought some soup at City Plaza. It had prawns and noodles and some sort of green leaf vegetable I couldn't identify, and it was pretty good. After that, I headed home. Maybe this trip did turn out to be a bust, but at least I learned from it.

Day 48: Mistake

I've made a terrible mistake. I found out that the hotel I'm staying at is basically out in the boonies. The nearest public attraction not associated with the resort is 5 kilometers away, and there's no easy means of public transportation around here. And I decided against the bike trails as there's no way in hell I was gonna go into potentially mosquito-infested Malaysian woods without insect repellent. So I just hung around the hotel all day. I went to the pool for a while, but none of the slides were running when I went. They turned them on several hours later when I went to have dinner. Boy, was I upset.

The good news is that my room is comfortable. I've got a queen-sized bed, chairs, a sofa, a decent bathroom, and air conditioning. I've been watching a fair bit of National Geographic since it's pretty much the only channel I get that's in English. And there's only about 10 channels...

Well, this is a learning experience, and I learned to do more research before you book, and don't book at the last minute!

Day 47: Arrival in Malaysia

This week is recess week, which is basically my spring break. So I booked a three day trip to Malacca in Malaysia. It was my first time doing so, but everything seems to have worked out okay. I rode a bus here from Singapore. It was a four hour journey, but that was no big deal since I'm used to being in a car for ten hours when riding to Iowa State University.

The hotel I'm staying at is called the Bayou Lagoon Park Resort, and I managed to get a decent room price. It's nothing fancy, but it's not bad, either. I even have my own balcony! There's also a water park here (though it's nothing extravagant), some bike paths, and there's a zoo within a few kilometers.

Check-in wasn't until 3 PM, but my bus arrived at Malacca Sentral Bus Station (yes, that's how it's spelled) at 1 PM, so I just hung around there until it was closer to check-in time, and then I chartered a taxi. There are English-speakers around here, which is nice, but most of the street signs and advertisements are only in Malay. While riding in the taxi, I was surprised to find that some of the stoplights have timers that show how much time will pass until they change. That's actually a pretty neat idea, at least in my opinion.

I mostly hung around the hotel area because I didn't want to end up hopelessly lost somewhere so late in the afternoon. There's some places to eat right in my hotel, so dinner was covered.

There's not much footage today, but hopefully that will be rectified tomorrow. Some of this is from when I was riding the bus, and some of it is from around my hotel area. It isn't the nicest-looking place, but remember, this is Malaysia, not Singapore.

Day 43: History Lesson

I went to the Eurasian Heritage Center with Amy (my student buddy) and a bunch of other students. Naturally, while there we learned about the Eurasian history of Singapore. There were all sorts of facts and items scattered about, but the parts that intrigued me the most involved World War II. You see, Singapore was bombed like Pearl Harbor and occupied by the Japanese for three and a half years. And most of these Japanese folks really weren't nice, especially to the Eurasians. I took 25 straight minutes of footage just for the WWII stuff because I found it so fascinating. (That particular video had to be split in two so I could upload it.) If I went too fast for you to read, I apologize, but I didn't want to get left behind by the group. Just pause the video if you want to read the stuff.

Before we ate our lunch, we got to watch and participate in a Eurasian dance. I'm not really a dancer, so I just filmed the whole thing. And of course our lunch had curry and other spicy food in it... I just ate the rice and bought some cup noodles when I got back to my residence. Sometimes having a sensitive tongue really blows...

Day 36: Making a Splash

This is a bit late again thanks to exhaustion, homework, and the fact that my internet connection has been a bit iffy. But anyways, I spent a Saturday visiting Sentosa Island, where Universal Studios Singapore and many other attractions are located. Sentosa Island is just a bit to the south of Singapore, and its connected to the city by boardwalk and monorail. I found out that among the attractions are the Adventure Cove Waterpark and the S.E.A. Aquarium, and I'd be cheating myself if I didn't visit those places at least once. Of course, there's also Universal Studios Singapore, but I think I'll go there another day.

I took the monorail, which was a small fee, but I knew I'd be doing a lot of walking once I got there. There's a big plaza not far from the station, and its filled with all sorts of shops and restaurants. The famous Universal Studio's Globe is there, too. I filmed around for a while, then I went to the Malaysian Street Food place for lunch. I ordered char kway teow from one of the stalls there. I'm pretty sure it's the same stuff I had the day I got my student pass. The spiciness left my throat burning afterward (like many dishes here, there are chilis in it), but it was yummy.

With my belly full, I decided to work off my lunch by visiting the aquarium. After all, there's that rule where you have to wait 30 minutes after eating before you swim. Now, the S.E.A. Aquarium is actually the largest aquarium in the world according the Guiness Book of World Records! Before you even get to go inside the aquarium, there's this cool museum that features all these things that sailors in southeast Asia would come across. There were racks filled with pirate weapons, trade goods, treasure recovered from shipwrecks, and lots more!

Then I got to the aquarium itself, and I was as giddy as a schoolgirl. I was awed by all of the beautiful, colorful fish and sea life. I filmed almost every tank in the place at least a little bit, so there is a lot of footage. The sharks and the dolphins were my favorites, but everything in the aquarium was amazing.

Now that I was done filming all sorts of sea creatures, it was time to make a splash for myself at the waterpark! I had to rent a locker since there was no one with me to look after my stuff, but I still had a blast. I ended up tackling one of the most popular rides first. I didn't know what I was getting into, but based on the line I was sure it would be worth the wait. Unlike most water rides, there's a long conveyor belt that hauls you and your raft up to the ride entrance. It was only after coming to the first major drop and seeing a great big hill right in front of me that I discovered that the ride wasn't a water slide, but a water coaster! Up and down I went, screaming my head off all the while. I'm normally not one for roller coasters, but this water coaster wasn't too fast or too steep for me to handle. I ended up having a blast!

There were also racing slides, inner tube slides, a wave pool, a kiddie area, and several white sand beaches. There were no "wedgie slides", though, which is good for me because I'm too scared to ride those. I hit basically every major ride in the park, and near the end of the day I found that there's a giant tank that guests can snorkel in! It's only for a few minutes, but it was still fun to do and was worth the wait.

When I dried off, I agonized over what to have for dinner. While I pondered, I toured the area in and around the main plaza. I eventually decided on Chili's, although I didn't realized until I sat down at a table that the prices at Chili's were only slightly lower than at the Hard Rock Cafe. And I ended up eating too much and got a stomachache. I shouldn't have ordered those soft pretzels; they were a lot bigger than I thought they would be.

I ended my day with a trip to Hershey's Chocolate World! Although I didn't buy anything, it was fun to look at all the sweets and souvenirs they had. And they had the biggest bottles of Hershey's Syrup I had ever seen! While I was filming around, I noticed there was a sign that said, "No Photography". There was no such sign against filming, and no one stopped me, but I think it'd be best to keep that footage to myself out of respect.

So while I ended up dealing with a stomachache for an evening, I really enjoyed my trip. I'll have to go back and see what else Sentosa Island has to offer!

Day 29: Marina Barrage

I'm a few days late in posting this, but I was occupied with other things. I visited Marina Barrage at Marina Bay with my student buddy and some friends for a picnic. Marina Barrage manages the Marina Reservoir, which gathers water from the Marina catchment (man, I'm using the word Marina a lot, aren't I?). We actually talked about it briefly in my Water Resources Engineering class. But anyways, Marina Barrage isn't just to provide drinking water and flood control -- it's also a recreational site. The main building has a giant green roof that doubles as a park, and many people come here to relax. The large, open area combined with steady winds make it a perfect place for kite flying.

The skies were grave when I arrived in Marina Bay, and my prediction of rain was right on the mark. Well, it was actually only a bit of drizzle, but it was enough to make us have our picnic under the roof. We had all sorts of goodies, like egg mayo sandwiches (similar to egg salad), fried fishballs, chicken nuggets, potato chips, Jell-O jigglers, and iced tea. There was more than that, but I don't remember what everything was called. The rain did let up after a while, so I trekked around and gathered footage. The views of the bay were great, and the Singapore Flyer and other landmarks were in full view.

I spent a fair amount of time just relaxing on the green roof and watching the kites fly. There were all sorts of different kites, from traditional shapes to Angry Birds to the Minions from Despicable me to butterflies. Come to think of it, the Minions are really popular over here. I keep seeing Minion merchandise and stuff all over the place, and my student buddy said the lines at McDonalds were out the door when they featured Despicable Me toys.

Back to kites, some of them were really large and fancy. Some of them were so big that that they made a sound similar to a motor as they whipped through the sky. You can hear it pretty clearly in the footage I took. I also spotted a bunch of kites that were caught in trees. Gotta be careful while flying!

My phone also rang while I was filming, and I had a complete brain fart because I thought the ringtone was coming from the camera. I felt like a huge idiot afterwards.

Day 26: The ICA

I had to stop by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority of Singapore (ICA) in order to pick up my student pass. The place reminded me of the Secretary of State back home, since you have to get a queue number and wait to be called to one of the desks. And the place was JAMMED! I think the number of people was pretty constant for the whole time I was there...and I was there for quite a while. It was a little hard to ignore all the screaming, crying kids who were stuck there with their parents, but managed. My 3DS helped me tune out the people and pass the time.

Then I had lunch at a nearby marketplace. I had some signature Singapore street food. I don't remember what it was called, but it consisted of fried noodles, eggs, and prawns mixed in a sauce I found mildly spicy. Someone less sensitive probably wouldn't have found it spicy at all... Anyways, it was pretty good.

To be honest, it wasn't exactly something I wanted to do on a day I had no class, but I need the student pass. I can't just use the visitor's pass the whole time I'm here; it's illegal. Oh well, it's done and over with.

Day 21: Frozen New Year

No, it didn't actually anywhere near cold enough for ice to form (temperatures stayed in the 80s), but I DID get to see Frozen, like I said I would. I really liked it; it was a really cute movie, and while it was flawed I still agree that it's one of Disney's stronger works. While I guessed some of the plot points, there were others that took me by complete surprise.

Anyways, I ended up going to yet another shopping mall in order to watch the movie. Turns out movies in Singapore work a lot differently than in the U.S. You can't arrive at the last minute to buy your ticket (I found that out the hard way...) and you're assigned a seat, like when you watch a Broadway performance. The previews were mostly Singapore advertisements, and they were generally in English, Chinese, or both. Oh yeah, and the movie itself had Chinese subtitles.

Since I missed the 4:55 PM showing of the movie due to the aforementioned issue, I spent time exploring the mall instead. Most of the shops were closed for the Lunar New Year, but I found a HUGE arcade and a game store! Oh, I wish I brought my video camera, but all I got were some lousy-quality pictures I took with my 3DS. I'll put them here anyway for you to see, but they're not very good...

It was cool to see all the Japanese games before they're released in the U.S. (or, in some cases, they were never released in the U.S.). It also seems they sell North American 3DS games, but they're pretty pricey at around S$60-S$70. I think I'll just wait until I get back home to worry about new 3DS games.

Day 20: Ghost Town University

Today is the eve of the Lunar New Year. It was almost scary how deserted campus was. Most businesses closed early in the afternoon, some classes were canceled, and the classes that were being held had poor attendance. I think I mentioned this before, but the Lunar New Year is like Christmas for the Chinese. A large portion of the population in Singapore is Chinese, so most students ditched class so they could go home early and celebrate the new year with their families. It was strange seeing the halls of the engineering buildings almost completely empty, especially since I'm used to seeing students walking or sitting around everywhere. It reminded me of a ghost town, hence the title of this entry.

Also as a result of the Lunar New Year, I have no class tomorrow. I think I'm gonna go and try to see Frozen; I don't think the movie theaters will be closed. As for tonight... I might go out and try to see some fireworks. Yep, just like in the U.S., they launch fireworks in celebration of the new year. I'm certain Chinatown's going to be even more crowded than when I went last week, but maybe I can find a spot somewhere.

Day 15: Enter the Dragonboat

My third week in Singapore started with me getting up earlier than usual so I could ride on a dragon boat, which was something I signed up for shortly after arriving here. Dragon boats are long, narrow vessels that are paddled by many people at once. They are the basis of the ancient sport of dragon boat racing, which originated in China thousands of years ago. Dragon boat racing requires strength of body and strength of mind, but above all, teamwork is key to success. We learned that dragon boats typically have a drummer in front to help the paddlers keep rhythm, but since we didn't have anything like that, we used our voices. We learned all the basics of dragon boat racing while splashing ourselves and the other half of our group in another dragon boat. At the end, our two boats had a short race, and my team won! It was a lot of work paddling, but also a lot of fun. I may be sore tomorrow, but I doubt I'll regret doing this.

I was thoroughly soaked after that excursion, so I changed into a spare set of clothes before I made my way back. I stopped for lunch in a mall near the MRT station, and while there I spotted a little shop called 320 Below. It's an ice cream store unlike any I've ever seen: they make the ice cream right in front of you using liquid nitrogen! The name of the shop comes from the boiling point of nitrogen: -320°F. As a science buff, I wasn't about to walk away without sampling a little. I ordered the Belgian Dark Chocolate, and while it was kind of pricey (S$5 for a small cup), it was good. The nitrogen starts evaporating as soon as it comes out of the faucet, so it doesn't actually get incorporated into the ice cream. The whole point of it is to flash-freeze the ice cream so it's as fresh and smooth as possible when you receive it. It's a really neat idea, and I'd love to see something like that in the U.S.

Day 14: Japanese Cultural Night!

I was walking back from class when several Japanese-themed displays in UTown caught my eye. Now, I've noticed them selling things before, but now they had some actual cultural stuff. So I decided to participate in some of the activities they were holding. I bought a Japanese fortune, and to my surprise it said dai-kichi, or "great blessing". That apparently means really good luck, but I have my doubts because I'm notoriously unlucky. I don't put too much stock into fortunes, though; I just find them fun.

The real kicker, though, was I found that there would be a Japanese Cultural Night back at the university. I attended it and brought my camera along so I could film the whole thing. I had to break it up into chunks because the account I use to upload these videos has a 15 minute cap, but oh, well. Be warned that there is a lot of cheesiness, music, and audience commentary.

The instrument used in the following two videos is called the koto, a traditional Japanese string instrument. The KotoKottoN Ensemble, which performs in these videos, use the standard thirteen-string and the seventeen-string bass koto in their performs. Their name comes from the koto and kotton, the Japanese onomantopoeic expression for "moving along". I found most of this info in the playbook.

The next part of the performance is a Japanese rendition of Silent Night, or at the very least Japanese lyrics sung to the tune of Silent Night. I was really impressed.

Next, the NUS Nihon Buyo Club performed performed some traditional Japanese dance moves. I thought the music was a little odd, but it was still fun to watch.

There's a couple more songs in this next part. The first is mournful, while the second sounds like J-Pop.

And here's the ending and the final curtain call!

Day 13: An Evening in Chinatown

I traveled to Chinatown with my international student buddies for dinner and touring. I don't have much footage because I forgot to charge my camera and its battery was dying, but I still think I did a decent job. First, we had Vietnamese cuisine at a restaurant called "Yummy Viet", I think the name was. My student and buddy got caught in a traffic jam while riding the bus to Chinatown, so we got there late and we were very hungry. One of the students let me eat her beef pho noodles while she ordered something else. The broth was sweeter than what I'm used to, but I enjoyed the dish. The beef was tender and tasty, unlike another soup I've eaten that had beef that resembled shoe leather in both taste and toughness.

Afterwards, we toured around Chinatown. We passed by numerous bars (though we didn't drink) and explored the night market. Gosh, that place was packed! There were so many people that I was bumping into someone else constantly. Even so, it was fun to see all the stuff people had for sale. Chinatown was also lit up like Christmas Eve because the Lunar New Year is next week. There were tons of horse decorations and lanterns that lit up the streets. For the Chinese, the Lunar New Year basically is Christmas, so that makes sense.

We stopped for dessert at a tiny little restaurant that specializes in local desserts. We got to try dessert soup, yam pudding, and some sort of jelly cake. I didn't like any of those, but I did like what I ordered: mango snow ice. Snow ice is made by freezing milk and other ingredients and then slicing the blocks into thin shavings. It kind of reminded me of a smoothie or slushie, but colder, and you eat it with a spoon. Mine also had chunks of mango on top. The dessert basically solidified mango as one of my new favorite fruits.

Once dessert was done, we headed back. I kind of wish I could have filmed more, but that was my own fault.

Day 12: Getting Lost

I went to Jurong East to check out the shopping malls at the suggestion of my student buddy. There's apparently three big malls there, I toured two of them. The only things I bought were my lunch and some badges, but it was fun to look around. One of the stores, called Comic Connection or something like that, was even selling some cute Pokemon plushies and other anime merchandise. But the plushies were so expensive... None of them were very big, and the smallest were about S$17. The larger ones were about S$30. They had Pikachu, a bunch of starter Pokemon, Keldeo, and all the Eeveelutions except Espeon and Sylveon. No Clefairy, unfortunately... They probably don't even make Clefairy plushies though. I was tempted to buy the Keldeo or a Snivy or Turtwig, but the price drove me off.

Anyway, on my way back home I made the mistake of trying to find my way home from the Dover station instead of going to the Kent Ridge station and riding a shuttle from there. I got so terribly lost that I was wandering around for well over an hour. I eventually did find my way back with the help of a map, but I was completely exhausted when I finally reached my room. I was so tired that I'm actually writing this the morning after that little adventure. I suppose getting lost is only natural when you're in a new and unfamiliar place, but it was not fun.

Day 8: Little India

I went to Little India with the same group of international students from the other day. Boy, it was a long day. First, we visited a Hindu temple which was practically covered from head to toe with carvings of dozens of Hindu gods. We had to remove our shoes before we could enter. I think it's because shoes are considered dirty in many Eastern cultures, and the temple is a sacred place that shouldn't be sullied by the dirt outside. Anyways, I saw little Hindu children with shaved heads running about and playing, and the adults were performs prayers, rituals, and offerings. One of these offerings involved brushing your hand incredibly close to a flame. I get nervous around heat and fire, so I'd never be able to do that.

Next, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought some coconuts. These don't look anything like the ones you buy in the U.S. They're large, green, and smooth. The people at the stand use giant knives to cut a hole in the top of the coconut and then give you some straws to drink the milk inside. Despite the name, coconut milk (at least in these coconuts) is clear. I didn't like it; I found it too sweet. After you're done drinking the milk, the people at the stand with break the coconut apart so you can eat the flesh. I liked the flesh of the coconut more than the milk, but I found it a bit slimy.

We walked around for a little while, stopped by a mall for a bit, and then visited a mosque. A new member of our group, a young man from Pakistan, explained how the mosque works. We couldn't go inside, but I was able to fit my camera through the gate bars and see a bit of what was going on. There were only men in there; women are not obligated to pray at a mosque. Like at the Hindu temple, people have to take off their shoes before they can go inside. Next stop was lunch. We went to an Indian restaurant in order to try some traditional Indian fare. Now, in Indian homes you eat everything (even rice) with your fingers, but we had some plastic utensils to use. The only thing we ordered that I liked was the bread, especially the garlic naan bread. Everything else was too spicy for me.

With lunch down, we next headed to a marketplace. There were all sorts of things here, from clothes to fruit to meat. There was a "wet market" here, which is kind of like a farmer's market, but meat and fish are sold instead of fruits and vegetables. There's ice to keep everything cold, hence the name "wet market". The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would never allow something like that in the U.S., so it was interesting to see. It was pretty smelly from all the fish, though. While here, we tasted some local fruits. There was a type of mango that looks a lot like the Magost Berries from Pokemon. It tasted a lot like peach to me, so I liked it. I wasn't too fond of the other two fruits we tasted.

The last major place we visited was selling some Indian sweets and other things. Here, I bought a pashmina shawl and a new bag because my purse is a bit too small to hold a water bottle (which is basically a necessity in Singapore). Pashmina is known as cashmere in the states, and the shawl I got was apparently handmade by the seller's father. Of course, there's always the chance I was duped, but the shawl was just so beautiful and so soft that I was completely won over. I figured I could wear it if I got cold in class.

It was a long and tiring day, but I had a good time. I'm looking forward to more trips in the future!

Day 7: One New Year in Asia

I went to the One New Year in Asia party with my student buddy. That place was crowded beyond all belief. It eventually got too suffocating for me to stick around, so I didn't stay that long. But there were a number of fun activities that I got to participate in or watch, such as a traditional lion dance and a Mandarin orange eating contest. I got the latter on film.

I also got to try out calligraphy. I thought mine looked sloppy, but my student buddy and one of her Chinese friends said I did a good job. My student buddy volunteered to film me doing the calligraphy.

We did a few more things before we headed back. My student buddy had Korean food at one of the restaurants in UTown. Even though I had already eaten, her ginseng chicken smelled good enough to make me a little hungry again. After that, we all went home. I know it's not all that much, but being in dense crowds for long periods makes me kinda claustrophobic. I have to get out and have some space after a while. It's just something I have to deal with.

Day 6: Dinner at Holland Village

I'm posting this the morning after because I got home so late last night that I promptly fell into bed, but it should still be Thursday over in the U.S. by the time this goes up.

Anyways, I went to dinner at Holland Village with my student buddy, one of her friends, and a bunch of other international students. In total, our group consisted of two German girls, a Vietnamese girl, a Japanese girl, a young man from the Netherlands, two Singapore natives, and myself. We used the MRT (Magnetic Rail Train) to get to Holland Village, and we went to a Western restaurant there because it was the only place we could sit down and talk. The food was yummy, and they did cute things with the presentation like forming a heart out of the cream in hot chocolate or putting an egg mayo sandwich in a basket. And then some person got this HUGE drink for his birthday. I have no idea what it was, but I probably wouldn't be able to drink that much in a whole day.

After dinner, we explored Holland Village a bit more. We went to the Each a Cup drink stand and got tea and smoothies. I spent ages debating what to get because I didn't even know what most of the stuff was. Eventually, the lady running the stand recommended the mango passion smoothie, so I ordered that. It was actually really good, which is saying something because I don't like most fruit. I usually find fruit to be too sweet or too tart, but the smoothie struck a perfect balance between the two.

After that, we took the MRT back to UTown. I forgot to film the station on the way there, so I did it on the way back. And when I got to UTown, it was all lit up with pretty lights that I hadn't seen before, so I filmed those, too.

It was past eleven by the time I got back to my room, but I had a good time. We have another trip planned for Saturday: our group's headed for Little India! And today (Friday) I'm going to the One New Year in Asia party. It sounds like a fun-filled weekend!

Day 5: Things I've Learned So Far

Having lived here for a few days now, there are many things that I've noticed and learned. Most of them are minor, but I still find them useful to know.

1) A ceiling fan and an open window are enough to keep me comfortable for now.

2) A boy today told me that the weather these past mornings has been "cold". So apparently, cold weather for Singaporeans is approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So why are their air conditioners cranked up so much...?

3) If possible, sit down while riding a shuttle or bus. If not possible, hang on tightly to a pole.

4) Pretty much everyone speaks English, but not everyone understands you.

5) Anything labeled "curry" is too spicy for me to eat.

6) Expect rice or rice noodles at nearly every meal. Also expect some sort of soup to be offered with most of your meals.

7) Public bathrooms have at least one stall equipped with a handheld sprayer to um, cleanse yourself after you do your business.

8) Hot water in my floor's bathroom runs out quickly. My showers have to be pretty quick.

9) Most women's antiperspirant claims to whiten your underarms. I have no idea why you would want to do that, but this is a foreign country.

10) Many dining areas do not have napkins. Not a good thing when you're trying to eat noodles and get broth or sauce all over your chin

11) Red bean soup is really sweet. I found sweet beans to be kind of hard to believe, but they're real!

12) There are no drinking fountains in UTown or on campus. Instead, there are water coolers. Bring a water bottle when you go out.

13) If you don't know where something is, Google search it.

14) Don't knock something until you try it, even if it sounds weird.

15) Most signs and labels are written in English and at least one other language (Mandarin, Malay, etc.).

16) There are very few insects (at least around campus and where I'm staying) in spite of the warm weather. Great for people who hate bugs!

I think that's about all... If there's more, I can add 'em later.