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.