Singapore: What I will miss

Singapore has some amazing scenery- both natural and man made.  The natural beauty makes me think of a prehistoric jungle.  There is a tree down the street from me that drop leaves that are the size of 3 of my sneakers.  We also have these huge trees that are a multitude of small trunks all clustered together.  I had my friend take a photo of me in front of one so you could see how large the trunk actually is.

 

The tropical, humid weather makes it incredibly green and lush here with unique tropical flowers. I love walking and looking at this amazing scenery.

The man made scenery downtown provides one of the most amazing skylines I have ever seen.  The Marina Bay Sands hotel with the boat/surfboard like structure on top of 3 towers is the picturesque icon in the downtown area.

Just behind this amazing building is a garden area that has these steel "trees" with vegetation growing on them and a suspended walk way around the gardens.  

Finally, occasionally I get to see this turquoise blue bird.  With a little research, I think they might be called Kingfish, but I just think when I see them I'm super lucky since they are so pretty.

The hot humid weather is a bear to deal with day in and day out, but it provides some beautiful natural scenery that makes my sweltering walks more enjoyable.  I will definitely miss this, but I know wherever I am you can find natural beauty if you take a moment to look around and appreciate it.

My neighbor took this video and it gives you a nice sense of peaceful mornings in Sembawang Singapore.

Our final Adventure from Singapore- Austalia

The girls and I headed out on our last trip to explore beyond Singapore.  Being only 8 hours away, Australia was a must do and we decided to make sure we fit it in before moving from this region.  We spent 4 days exploring Sydney.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn at the Rocks, which was the first settled area in Sydney.  Our hotel had a rooftop deck where we could get some great views overlooking the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Opera House.

We decided to splurge and do the Sydney Bridge Climb.  You walk up the bridge arch and at the top cross over to the other side to walk down.  I had actually done this walk before.  In 1999, I had gone to Australia to meet Fred's ship with another spouse and we decided to share all our meals so we could afford the Bridge Climb.  It was a unique experience and the views from the bridge are amazing.  I thought it would be a memorable thing for the girls to do and we can forever have this fantastic photo of the 3 of us.

We spent most of our 4 days touring around the city, including a bus out to Bondi Beach where we enjoyed an afternoon watching surfers withstand the cold water temps. It is winter in Sydney during our summer.  We also made it to the Sydney Fish Market and enjoyed lunch filled with fresh seafood. Seeing sights and shopping seem to always be a highlight of most our trips.  We took advantage of good prices on Ugg boots while in Australia, bringing home boots for each of us.  We had a fun photo session one evening out by the Sydney Opera house.

Following the cooler temperatures in Sydney we next headed up to Cairns for a 3 day stay that included a night on the Green Island Resort located on the Great Barrier Reef.  We had a fantastic day riding out to Green Island.  After arriving we took a snorkeling trip to see the beautiful coral and colorful fish.  I was amazed how clear the water was and how many different colors we saw.  I felt like I was in an aquarium swimming around.  The coral and fish we no more than 6 feet deep at some points.  If only we had brought an underwater camera I could have shared this spectacular sights.

For me seeing the Great Barrier Reef was an amazing experience and I'm so glad we made sure we fit in this final trip before departing South East Asia.  We've had great travel opportunities from Singapore and I now return to the US having been to 10 countries in 2 years.  I never anticipated having an opportunity like this and am grateful I experienced so much more than just Singapore.   

New fruit we had discovered in Singapore

While living in Singapore we tried some different types of fruit.  One of thing I found unusual was when you bought a fruit you'd had eaten before but inside it was a different color.  Luckily they tasted the same even if the color was a surprise.

Yellow Malaysian Watermelon

Pink Malaysian Dragon Fruit

Some of the new fruit we discovered were:

Lychee- little like a grape that you peel with a seed

Starfruit- mild flavor, but a pain to eat

Rose Apple- taste like a combo of a pear and an apple

Passion Fruit- gooey with crunchy seeds-- not a fan

Mangosteen- look like a garlic clove- but somewhat sweet and bland

One thing that surprised me were these white Guavas.  I always had pink Guava juice, so to see these were white inside shocked me- but once again- somewhere there might be pink guava's that produce the juice- or are they coloring it so it looks appealing???

 These large looking limes were actually like a tangerine inside. So this time the inside was what fooled me.

The last fruit to touch base on is the Durian.  This fruit is a delicacy in SE Asia, but to me it smells like sweaty socks and rotten onions.  Fred and the girls tried it as ice cream and then Fred got it in a cream puff.  Let's just say, based on the smell of his breath I never tried it.  Will I regret it after we are gone and I no longer have access to it??- doubt it.  You'd have to pay me to try this stinky fruit.

Bali Birthday Bash

Singapore has quick and cheap flights to many different countries in the region, so why not just go to Bali for your birthday with your best-ies.  Two ladies in our community were coming up on milestone birthdays- 30 & 40 so they decided to do a celebratory Bali birthday trip.  For $400 you can go for 4 days and 3 nights staying in a private villa.

Birthday Girls

We had a 5 room villa with private pool and personal assistants to clean and cook.  What more can a girl ask for...

Hanging out in our private pool

Maybe shopping, a hike up a volcano, and massages?

Think I fell asleep during my foot massage.

A few scenic tourist stops were thrown in

We had an amazing diner at a place called Fins.  You walked down a cliff for 50 steps then ride an "inclinator" down the mountain, and finally finished another 50 steps to end at the beach for a great meal and s'mores making.

 

We had a terrific get away that included all sorts of fun and some of the best shopping bargains.  Some of the things we purchased for $5 we later found on ebay for $100.  Wow wished I had just brought a few empty suitcases.

Found a San Diego sign that will be perfect for our upcoming move.  Look at this loot!  Yikes how are we gonna fit it in our suitcases?

So glad I had the opportunity to get away with these ladies enjoy the highlight (albeit ending up sick) -- a sunrise hike up a volcano.  My vision for what I expected was not properly thought out because at 1AM, as we were getting ready I was putting on sun screen?- Hmmm I forgot it was a sunrise hike- that means hiking in the dark.  It was pitch black out as we scaled the the mountain and unfortunately spitting rain, so we ended up buying $5 ponchos (massive rip off- but what's a girl to do)?  Our guides were terrific and boiled us eggs in the volcano and made us banana sandwiches for breakfast.  As light finally began to fill the sky, rain and clouds kept us for seeing the spectacular sunrise, however it was still beautiful.  Once it was light enough we got to see the center of the crater and smell the steam slipping out through cracks.  After the night turned into morning and we began our decent back down, the sun poked out a bit, and I was glad I had put on that sunscreen 6 hours ago!

Waiting for sunrise

Having my cup of hot tea

Suns Up- but where.  With our guides.

At the crater edge

Official sign-- Made it to the top of Batur 1717KM high

Heading back down--now at least it was daylight

Back on level ground.

Driving Annoyances

After living here almost 2 years, I've come to accept some totally annoying issues with driving in Singapore.   I'd like to share with you a few of them so you can get a feel for driving here.

1) CONSTANT road construction.  This country is always growing, so hence the need to redo roads, build and stuff.  So routinely roads will suddenly swerve to avoid a new building going up.

2) Cars that park in a driving lane.-- You say WHAT?  Yes, they really just stop their car in the road and run into a store/restaurant or even attend church.  Near us we constantly were having cars park on the road outside a popular restaurant- so Friday and Saturday night the lane was blocked.  Finally, the government hung parking cameras, so now if you park on the road you'll get a ticket.

3) Number 2 leads me to a pet peeve #3- Parking garages.  EVERYWHERE you go you must park in a garage (unless you pull a #2).  Just to go to the bank, food store, fast food-- whatever they are all in malls with parking garages.  No quick errands.

4) Speeding and red light cameras everywhere.  The benefit is they at least let you know you are entering a speed camera zone.  One of my friends even has a GPS system that alerts her she's entering a speed zone, just in case she missed the sign.

5) Pet peeve #5 is when a main travel lane also be a turning lane.  So if you are behind a car that decides to turn from your lane you must wait until they get the arrow to turn before you can continue straight along in your lane.  Ugh-- this happens constantly so you have to be prepared and get out of that lane beforehand and if there is too much traffic to change lanes, your stuck!

 




6) Sticking your car butt out.  For some reason people here can't seem to get their entire car into the turning lane, so the rear end is sticking out into the lane that continues straight.  Once again causing a back up and people trying to get around them.

7) Annoying signs that brainwash people.  Speeding Kills!