Singapore, Singapore

A  panorama of the Merlion spraying into the Singapore River

Yesterday was SUCH an eventful, adventurous day.  It started with my meeting with the Westwood Secondary staff (see post below ;)) and ended with a literal race through the heart of Singapore to catch the last train home (more on that later).

Feeling independent, I decided to venture on my own yesterday after my successful, but very short meeting.  The plan was to all meet back at the hostel at 5 for Elise's birthday, so I had about 6 hours to kill.  I got dressed, went over to Jurong Point and ate lunch and then hopped on the first train going east.  The Singapore MRT system is as follows:

The blue circle is where our hostel is, and I decided to go to Chinatown... meaning I'd take the green line to Outram Park and then the purple line 1 stop north to Chinatown.  The train was SO convenient, cost me only $2, and was so easy to follow. The trains come really frequently, about every 6-8 minutes, and they're really crowded - It's a great way to get around the country.

 Chinatown, Singapore

 All decorated for the Chinese New Year, Jan. 31st!

which is my last night here!! :D 

Anyway, so I'm walking through Chinatown, by myself, shopping for little souvenirs, etc. and after about 30 min I turn to my right and there's Rae and Katie!! What are the chances that our two separate unplanned adventures turned into not only both going to Chinatown, but being on the same corner of the same street, at the same time! So unreal... but great, because then I got to spend the rest of the day with them.  We continued to shop until we fish pedicure place!! We decided that we had to do it, so we went up stairs, met the nicest (and semi-creepy) mother-son owners, and stepped into the tanks! The first 5 minutes were crazy - we were laughing uncontrollably and didn't really like it - but after a while, it started feeling really nice and we decided (or rather, the creepy son decided) that we were going to do the full 30 minutes!! It was so much fun, and an experience I'll never forget. 

Rae, Katie and I at "Dr. Fish"

My toes!!! 

We learned all there is to know about the science behind this as well (of course;)) - the fish are a type of carp, Garra rufa,  that don't eat the dead skin or calluses on your feet (a common misconception), but instead scrape away at your skin to get the fungus and bacteria that is underneath that layer of dead skin - very comforting.  With this also comes stimulation of the blood vessels in your feet, which enhances your circulation!  Nonetheless, it felt amazing, and the results after the fact were great - such soft feet! And, we met a teacher from Australia who was getting his feet scraped too! Small world we live in! 

After our pedicure, we took the train back home, stopped at Jurong Point (our favorite mall) to grab a few things, and then headed back to the hostel to meet up with Kathryn and Elise for her birthday.  We laid down for a little, recouped, and got ready for a night out on the town! 

We decided to go to downtown Singapore, eat dinner, and ride the Singapore flyer, claiming to be the "World's Largest Observation Wheel." We got back on the train, this time taking the green line all the way to Raffles Place and walking from there.  

We got tourist-suckered in to eating at this nice restaurant right on the water (darn), that with our meal included two free drinks.  We had to try the Singapore Sling, per all of the recommendations we'd received, so we did, and toasted the night to Elise's 28th!!

Dinner was great, and afterwards, we made our way towards to Singapore flyer, that we could see from quite a distance (see picture #1 in this post... can you see it?)

After a trek across the city (and a lot of pictures along the way), we FINALLY made it, and were so excited to get on.  The experience in itself getting to the pod was amazing, and reminded us all of Space Mountain.  And the view - from the height of a 42 story building, was unreal - photos don't do it justice. 

As great as the Flyer was, it also lasted over 30 min, which made us worried about getting back to the MRT station in time... so, we decided to sprint.  As soon as we got off we ran to the Promenade station (the yellow line), made it in plenty of time, but planned out our root to go from the yellow, to the purple, back to the green and home.  With careful navigation and a nice workout, we made it back to Boon Lay station, just in time to see Jurong Point closing down for the night, grab some waters from 7-11, and head home.  With that I think we all fell asleep within minutes... it was a really great night! 

Today we're on our way to Sentosa Island to do the aquarium, and to celebrate the New Year at the Siloso Beach Party... :) more tomorrow!! Happy 2014 from Singpore!