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.