Last Day Thoughts

So today is my last day in Singapore, it is Chinese New Year, so many things are closed and it is raining so I thought I'd do a reflections of my initial thoughts.

First, the rain.  It rained at some point everyday except 1 of my 9 days here.  It's not all day, but it's so random it's hard to plan.  Like today, I was getting ready to walk over to the gym and when I was done it started raining, so I'm home.  You can walk around in the rain, I often have- that is why flip flops are a must, but to walk to the gym in the rain- not me.   The rain can be hard or a light drizzle, but seems to be no longer than a half an hour.  Many times if you get on a subway train by the time you get off it's done raining.  Singapore also does an exceptional job with walkways that are covered- probably also good when it's sunny.

How about the temperature?  It's warm, but what comes with rain are clouds so it's not the sunny on the equator tropical hot- or at least not in February.  I've heard the summer is a different story.  I'll keep you updated.  Really it's like a cloudy rainy summer day in DC.  The evenings are really nice, you can sit outside in a t-shirt and be totally comfortable.  I often was cold in San Diego in the evenings and wore more sweatshirts there than DC.  The only bummer is if it is sunny and your walking in a non protected area you will have a sheen of sweat on you in 5 minutes.

People-like everywhere all people are different.  Generally, anyone I have spoken with has been nice.  I've heard there is a "me first" attitude here, but I really haven't experienced it.  Someone may rush towards the empty seat on the subway, but that's really probably not that unusual.  There are seats that say they are for elderly, pregnant, or injured people, I have never seen someone get up to give an elderly person a seat but I imagine that happen in the US too.  If I every experience this I'll be sure to write.

Food- where to begin, I've already expressed some concern about lack of choices, and the unusual items they prepare here.  We did go to a terrific Mediterranean restaurant the other day so there probably are some different ethnic choices beyond Asian out here but I haven't found them.  The hawker stalls (quick food courts inside or out) generally serve various Asian dishes and that's the easiest and cheapest around.  Just stay away from what you don't want to try.  They do have a dish here called carrot cake that is basically a potato type of vegetable with egg- it's really good.  I assume their carrot must be this random potatoey vegetable.  Once we are moved in and have a fully stocked kitchen, we'll be able to make spaghetti or meatloaf.

Overall thoughts on living here.  It will be a challenge, somethings will be really difficult, but like anywhere new you figure it out. You know how you have to get used to where things are at new food store?- it will be like that time 20!  It will also be great to experience something different and learn to appreciate how easy our lives in the US are.  Maybe I'll learn some new foods to enjoy.  Hopefully, we'll travel, and maybe even pick up a few words of Mandarin.

As with all moves there will be times when I just want to go back to where I last was, but eventually you get used to your situation find some friends to hang out with and then before you know it, it's time to move again.

We will survive but I will seriously miss Vienna- that is HOME.

The rain has stopped- half an hour! Off to the gym.

Starbucks

I'm not really even a Starbucks freak but I saw one today and just needed something 100% American.  I got a frappuccino and a decadent chocolate chip cookie.  Desserts are not like we have in the US- chocolate chip cookies and brownies are so normal to me how weird is it to not have them.  The great thing is everything tasted just like it does back home. They have tons of American fast food places here but I've heard they taste just a little different.  I'll eventually be giving them a try.

The food is good here but so much Asian (did I mention even the Irish place had Asian selections).  I never realized how lucky we are to have tons of choices of different types of foods.  I love many different Asian foods, but sometimes you just want a chocolate chip cookie.

photos

I couldn't get my ipad to upload photos to the blog, so I finally decided to use Fred's computer so you could see a few things.
These are two shots from the mall at Marina Bay Sands a huge high rise with a surfboard structure on top.  I will take a photo of that too.  The mall was enormous and included the gondola ride in it.  This is just one side area to the mall.  Next are some photos of monkeys hanging outside our friends house while we were watching the super bowl.  We will be living just behind this house, so we may have some friendly yard pets too.  Well friendly from looking out at them.

Clarke Quay

I went to dinner with a the ladies from our work group and we went to a great area in Singapore called Clarke Quay.  The area looked a lot like San Antonio's river walk.   There were tons of restaurants- real ones not food couts.  We sat down were served and even had napkins.  The one thing that is different here is you do not tip, so consequently there is no drive to be a better server, but you also don't need to rely on your one server to help you.  Any employee walking by will get you a drink or help you out- you just need to ask.  

So Clarke Quay has a river front area where you can take a gondola ride.  It's buildings are brightly colored and it just looks fun!  There is a back area off the river front that has a super high structure that is basically clear and open on the sides but is there designed to protect you from the rain.  You feel like you are outside but don't get wet. Some of the architecture and environmental design here is totally amazing.   Underneath this rain protector are more restaurants with "outside" eating.  The buildings the restaurants are in are 2 story some seem to have real offices above, but others seem to be a facade above. It reminded me of Dinsey where they have the facade along walkways and shopping areas.  

So many restaurants to choose from and all different nationalities.  We ate at the Spanish tapas place that was quite good. 

Can't wait to go back and show Fred and then later the girls.

Tourist day

Today we decided to head downtown to see some tourist spots. The ominous grey clouds lingering above warned us to bring our umbrellas and as we were walking down the street to the subway a huge storm came upon us.  Hiding undercover we waited for it to blow over.   Singapore is know to have a shower typically each day.  Today unfortunately turned out to be rain all day, but we were out and about so we just made some adjustments.

First stop during a quick rain break was to Raffles Hotel. This is a historic hotel like the Hotel Del Coronado or The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.  Also, home to the famous Singapore sling drink. Walking around the grounds, eating, drinking, and shopping on the property are fine, but only guests in the hotel lobby please.

Through rain showers we decided to go to the Marina Sands, this is a building with three separate high rises and then a surf board looking structure on top connecting all three buildings.  It looks amazing.  Attached to this is apparently another mall.   Everywhere you go are malls and food courts.  It really is true when they say Singaporean pastimes are eating and shopping. Most subway stops seem to be attached to a shopping mall with restaurants and a food court.  What I can't decide is if there seems to be more here than the U.S. or is it just they are concentrated at metro stops and not just tons of shopping centers you would just drive to.  And how each mall or basically each subway stop then has food at it seems strange, but there doesn't seem like there are stand alone restaurants you would drive and park at.  Is this the same amount of shopping and eating that I am used to but just concentrated differently for mass transit?  It's different and I not what I'd ever envisioned coming from a suburban car oriented society.

The best part of today was attached to this mall (which was absolutely beautiful) including gondola ride inside was there is also a huge casino.   Now I love to play slot machines and could probably go broke if I wasn't so cheap.   The 2 and 5 cent machines are my ticket, but for those of you who play you know you are really playing 2 cents to $2 on each spin on a 2 cent machine.   There are multiple lines to win on and multiple bet rates so you could really win or lose big even on a 2 cent slot.   I try to set a limit what to lose but it is addicting.   I told Fred I could just come down here and play while the girls are in school, but then I'd need a job to support my habit.

Crowded clean

Our first day in Singapore Fred decided to take me to places I may actually go to on errands.  Saving the touristy stuff for another day.  Onto the metro and it's basically standing room fitting in as many humans as possible.  We end up at the fancy huge mall that seems to be for both locals and tourists.  It's got the high end store and the payless type of store that I was in need of.  My sandles were not quite as comfortable as I thought. After a $4 flip flop purchase it was a non stop walking adventure checking out the area.

The fancy mall was nice but think of a U.S. mall at Christmas packed on just a regular Saturday.  I wish I could figure out how to upload photos on this and share the crowds.

We ate a good lunch at the food opera basically a mall food court but we didn't follow the local rule.  Get a seat leave something on the table then get your food.  We walked around looking for a seat with food.  We will NEVER do that again.  Lesson learned. Oh yea and no napkins provided.  I guess if you have to use your sleeve you won't find napkins as trash on the floor.  The place was immaculate! The entire area is completely clean not one speck of trash to be seen.

Off to another nearby mall that  I'm dubbing the expat gift and whole foods mall.  Inside was way less crcowded and not filled with the local crowd.  There were touristy shops that sell Asian items to send home.  There were really beautiful but horribly expensive stores from England.  The best yet was the whole food type of grocery store downstairs with the most expensive produce I have ever seen.  $38 for a small bunch of cherries. Yikes

Back to our area of town and the local crowd.  Since we live in houses it's more suburban at the northern end of Singapore.  As with any area, distance from the city means less expensive so we live near huge condo complexes that might be govt subsidized but are still very pretty.  Just not the condos with gyms and pools featured on househunters international. The mall at our subway stop includes a local grocery which is not overly priced for local items.  However, I found $9 Ben and Jerry's ice cream there.   There is a food court that has lots to choose from including pig organ soup -icky won't be trying that.

I'm not quite sure what my opinion is of Singapore yet but it's not exactly what I expected.....

First Flight

So I'm in Singapore visiting Fred and decided to go ahead and start our Singapore Adventure Blog.

I haven't done anything yet but travel and try to sleep so I'll write about the 21 flight hours.

The international flights offer many great benefits over domestic flights like a hundred movies and shows to watch AND free beer and wine.  So I was quite thrilled to get on the plane and find so many movies to choose from.   I haven't seen a movie of my choosing in years so here I have 14 hours of movie bliss.   I decide to first watch The Decendants now I think George Clooney was up for an Oscar for this movie last year so I am quite a bit behind in my movie viewing.

After The Decendenats I knew what I really wanted to watch - Argo.  I couldn't believe my good luck that I'd get a chance to see an Oscar nominated movie before the Oscars.  So, it's a historically based movie so I know the outcome but I was totally compelled by it hoping they would make it out of Iran.  It definitely deserves an Oscar nod when you are so worried about something you already know.

After a serious drama I opted for Katy Perry's concert documentary.  Just what I needed and it actually wasn't too bad of a movie.  Fred had taken the girls over the summer to see the movie in the theater and they all said it was better than expected.  I agree a fun enjoyable show.

I continued enjoying this movie and tv watching along with meals and drinks handed right to me and then trash just whisked away until about halfway into this first flight. I'm now 7 hours into my flight and beginning to feel a little bored and crowed even with my walks around the plane after each movie.   My butt is starting to hurt and I've still got 7 hours and then an another entire flight.  I try sleeping and pass the time by with more tv and more eating even though I have barely moved to even make myself hungry.

Finally it's time to land in Japan.   I'm thinking about asking the guy in my row if he is familiar with this airport when he asks me.  He's heading to the Philippines and need to get bags and recheck them for his next flight. I understand I need to go though security again so with just an hour I'm a little nervous.  We part ways and realize it's each man for himself to make our next flights.  As I enter the terminal I see the gate guide, I look at it and it's all Japanesse!  WHAT!!!   (later I learned it chnges to English if you wait a minute - I was too impatient).  I decide to get though security and figure out where to go afterwards.  Luck was on my side and a United employee comes through my security line offering help. Yes Please. We'll I'm in Singapore so I made my second flight.

But, ugh more sitting my poor butt.  I decide to sleep this flight away, but that darn noisy card offering free food and drink wakes me.  I'm telling myself you do not need food pass on it, but it might be nice to have the cookie later if I get hungry, so I take the food and the wine to get me back to sleep.  Of course
I eat the food and I am now stuffed.  And what does the altitude do to your feet they're swollen and smashed in loose fitting shoes.  Please let me just sleep this flight away.

Finally I wake we are getting ready to land and I'm home free.  Fred meets me at the airport and I'm here now just 7 hours till daylight.  I try to sleep but decide to write this instead

Hope to write about Singapore once I see it!