End of a long day

Now that I've been awake almost 24 hours, its time to turn in to bed. The last few hours were spent on the town having drinks at the famous Raffles Hotel, Clarke (or Boat..never did figure out which is which) Quay, and dinner in the hawkers' market. I'm falling asleep at the keyboard so not too many details, besides, lots of Tiger beer (Singapore's own beer) and the Singapore Slinger. Here's a few random pictures of the Singapore River, and the Raffles Hotel, where we had a few drinks.







Here is my first video feed (which is not the best. ) This is the Sri Mariamman Indian temple in Chinatown, Singapore: http://www.youtube.com/v/gWCIaWWw5Yk

A Neighborhood in Singapore: Sembawang

I had a few hours by myself, so I decided to take full advantage of the easy to use subway that Singapore has. I looked at a map, and picked a place far away from everything else that we were likely to visit and jumped on for aride to the other side of the country. That sounds like a long trip, but keep in mind the country of Singapore is only about 15 miles by 20 miles. My exit was an area called Sembawang, on the northern edge of the country. I thought perhaps, I'd be able to walk from the train station to the Straits of Johor and get a glimpse of Malaysia across the way.

On the way there, most of the trip the train was above ground. I was amazed to find that everywhere we went, all the residences are highrise apartment buildings most between 10-20 stories high. Common place were open windows, and clothes-poles jutting out about 8 feet from the buildings with clothing hanging from them. Not a single house! Anywhere. Every area seemed to be the same kind of gigantic apartment buildings. Only in one spot did I see a few blocks of townhouses that seemed to be a little bit higher caliber than the apartments.

I got off at my stop, and started walking North. I also started to get hungry and figured I'd stop at a restaurant and get some food. I walked passed one early on, and thought I'd pass a few and see what they looked like. Bad idea-I walked probably 3-4 miles for about an hour and a half and didn't find another restaurant. I walked up to the Sembawang shipyards (although couldn't see anything besides some structures jutting up beyond the trees.) which placed me probably 3/4 of a mile from the straits, however there weren't any streets that went through. I turned west down Admirality Road, to Woodlands. In this direction I began seeing several large military vehicles, which suddenly made sense when I walked past the front gate of the Singapore Army base (Sembawang Camp). I didn't take a picture, as I was a little nervous about whether or not that is allowed (some countries don't allow it, and I'm not sure about Singapore) However, I can promise you it wasn't all that exciting. So I continued, going in a large horseshoe and back to the MRT, except at the next stop down the line.

In this area I did see a bunch of factories, and such, including a familiar corporation (see the picture) and something that I didn't see anywhere in the downtown area: litter! Woodlands road actually did have a bit of paper and such blowing around, and even an empty 40oz.

As I got closer to the MRT I began to realize how truly HOT and muggy it was. I felt bad for the people that had to sit next to me on the ride back.

Walking down Woodlands, I did see one interesting picture, posted here. I'm not sure what this building was, it looked like they were getting ready for a big festival (Chinese New Year is next week, could be that). However, there was a street and a canal between me and it with no way to cross.

By the time I got back to my hotel, I was hot and thirsty. I stopped for a "Honeydew Ice Blended" from a little stand in the subway tunnel. To my dismay, it was simply honeydew flavored kool-aid type stuff mixed with ice (I was hoping it would have fresh fruit or puree). The odd thing was, that the bottom of the glass, is filled about an inch high with these black blueberry sized balls. I have no idea what they are, but they feel like chewing on eyeballs, but tasted mildly sweet. Anyone know what I just ate???

Checking In/Singapore Chinatown

First off, I just have to say, even though I knew coming here that they do the whole steering-wheel-on-the-right-side thing, I was just struck with this dumb confusion when we got to the car, and I saw the steering wheel for. My first thought was “What’s that for?” Then I realized oh, the driver sits there…. Right…

Beautiful hotel.

Got to my room and was a little confused, there was a whole panel of switches, none of which seemed to do anything. The lights were off, except a dim spotlight. There was a spot that said key card, so I thought, OK, I’ll swipe my key card. Then I pressed the buttons, still nothing. I started pushing a bunch of the buttons, and then all of a sudden the spot light went off. Hmmm., now I’m in the dark completely. Now I had to open the door to get some light in, so I could see what I was doing. Great, now everyone can watch the dumb American that can’t figure out how to turn on a light. OK, figured it out. You need to LEAVE the card in the slot, and then you can turn on the all the lights.

OK, I’m set. So I go to check out the bathroom…and I can’t find the lightswitch there. Wandered around in the dark in there, looking under the multiple robes….After several minutes, I got the bright idea – check outside the bathroom door. Yep there it is.

So after check in, we met Julie for breakfast. I ate a bunch of stuff, of which I have no idea what it was. I had some green drink that was fruit juice. They had one sitting next to the carafe, which looked like a green pomegranate, but it tasted just like quava. (Anyone know? Please post.)

Walking around outside, I definitely noticed what everyone else who has been here has told me. It is immaculately clean! They have signs up in pedway tunnels that instead of wet floor say “cleaning in progress”. They have people driving around on sidewalk sweepers, similar to street sweepers.

Kelli and I traveled on the MRT (their subway) to Chinatown. Lots of cool stuff we went through a market that kind of reminded me of Pike Place in Seattle, where you kind of feel like you can’t find your way out.

After leaving the market, we stumbled into a Buddhist temple called the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. Immediately someone rushed up to Kelli to cover her with a shawl (as she is wearing a sleeveless shirt.) This place was pretty unbelieveable. A giant gold buddah in front, with hundreds of smaller buddhas, each in a different position around them.

After some time in Chinatown, Kelli and I returned to the hotel, had a couple drinks, and she went back to her room for a nap, and I’m going back on the town to do some more sightseeing.

The Longest Flight

Up until this point in my life, the longest flight I’ve ever been on was probably about 5 hours. (I was on a 9 hour flight when I was 4….but I don’t remember that to well.)

Today I exceeded that by more than a factor of 3. Los Angeles to Singapore. Scheduled to be 18 hours and 20 minutes, we made it in just about 17 hours. All of this in Business Class on an airline that is renown for being the best airline to fly, due to all its amenities.

As soon as we boarded the plane, a large team of flight attendants, the men dressed in sports jackets and ties, and the women, in traditional looking asian, tight, floor length, patterned dresses, each made up looking like a china doll, swarmed about to cater to our every need. Within seconds of sitting we were offered a selection of champagne, apple bliss (apple juice with lemon), or orange juice. You can bet which one we chose.

Once we sat in the seats, Kelli (my coworker – for those of you not from Trustmark) and I were like two kids that had to push all the buttons: Seven different position adjusting buttons, plus a back massager. Let room was incredibleWhen sitting you’ve got about 20 inches of space between your knees and the seat in front of you. Quite nice.

From this point until we went to sleep we were being offered snacks, foods, drinks, etc. My meal (chosen ahead of time) was chilean sea bass. Yummy! This was accompanied by a wine list, and a list of specialty drinks including, of course, a Singapore Sling. Yummy!! (ok it’s a bit of a fru-fru drink… but it went down nice.) For desert, Haggen Daaz ice cream with berry compote. Yummy!!!

Now was the tough part. The sun had already set in LA when we had boarded. My body told me it was 10:00pm, however in Singapore it was only noon. To try and get my body on schedule, I needed to stay up as late as possible. Each seat had its own TV with on demand movies, TV shows, and various games. I even found a “learn a language” game that offered about 25 different languages to learn. This gave me a chance to review my Arabic (which I aced in the game!) I got bored with this, and channel surfed for a half hour. Then I decided to try to get involved in a movie to keep me awake: Resident Evil. (I have to say this was a dumb movie.) When that finished it was about 4:00pm Singapore time, and I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed my sleeping pill and turned in.

The seats folded down completely flat and where long enough even for me to lay out completely stretched out. (Their designed so your feet end up underneath/inside the seat in front of you.) The first 10 hours of the flight were non-stop very turbulent. This didn’t help trying to sleep. But all in all I was pretty rested by about 2:30am Singapore time. At this point the breakfast team woke me up by dropping a rolled up napkin on my head. (Followed by profuse apologies) I figured it was a good time to wake up, and was quickly served a “complete” breakfast of various fruit with some sort of creamy stuff in the middle, croissants, yogurt, followed by the main breakfast course of which I chose beef in black bean sauce on noodles. (there was a choice of 4 breakfast entrees.) Once breakfast was done, it was just about time to land. Certainly a flight unlike any others.

Escaped by Minutes

Well after all the intricate details of a trip to 5 different countries were planned out, mapped out, timelines drawn, itineraries reviewed, it all came down to a question of how mother nature would look down upon me. As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men….(actually I’m not quite sure what they say about that,…but they say something...).

As Natalie drove me to the airport, I sat listening to the ominous weather forecast . Winter storm warning, effective 12:00 noon. My flight was at 3:00pm. Plummeting temperatures, and treacherous driving conditions. It seemed certain that my flight would be cancelled. 1:00pm, and the sky still looked the same as it had at 10:00 in the morning, temperature still 45 degrees.

I arrived at the airport, to see lines streatching from one end of the United Airlines counters to the other. I had hoped to try to get an earlier flight anywhere out of Chicago that could connect up to where I was going. Now I just hoped to get through security in time for my flight. CANCELLED was blinking all across the monitors for various flights. Scanning over them I searched and searched for Los Angeles, Los Angeles, Los Angeles……..ON TIME!!!! So far so good.

In the mass confusion, I followed a UA rep who indicated I should come to a different line. After 20 minutes in that line I got up to the kiosk, entered my info, and was told to pick up the courtesy phone. Once I did that, they told me I was in the wrong line. So then I had to jump to another 20 minute line. Now I figured if the weather didn't get me the lines would.

However, from that point, things went smoothly and I ended up at the gate a half hour before boarding was supposed to begin. Flight is still on time! and still the storm hadn't hit.

At 25 to they promptly started boarding the plane.....we pull away from the gate...wait, they stop the plane....

Outside my window, I can see a luggage cart pull up and start loading in luggage. Phew. My next biggest fear was that my luggage would get lost. So I kept an eye out for it but didn't see it. So hopefully when I get to Singapore it will be there for me. For a couple minutes I looked down at the inflight magazine, and looked up again to see buckets of rain pelting the side of the plane. I was convinced theyd turn us around and bring us back. But they didnt! Within minutes we were airborne, and had a smooth flight all the way to Los Angeles where I'm sitting now, sipping a Thai beer in the Star Alliance lounge, a foretaste of what I'll be drinking in another week.

So onward to flight #2 of 11. Talk to you soon.

Getting Ready

Well, I've got 6 days until I leave, and I feel like I've still got a hundred things to do before I leave. The last couple months have been filled with preparations for the trip:

• 5 different shots to keep me healthy: flu, typhoid, DPT, hepatitis, tetanus
• Prescriptions for Cipro in case of any infection, malaria medication, and sleeping pills for the plain ride
• 100% deet bug spray to keep away the 'skeeters, disinfecting hand gel, and a vast array of digestive system aids, in case things get ugly,
• Booked and coordinated 11 different flights, meanwhile almost losing my seat on the flight from Singapore to Delhi
• Ordered and received my passport, Indian Visa, and spending money in 5 different currencies (Singapore dollars, Indian Rupees, Thai Bhat, Omani Rials, and UAE Dirhams)
• Registered with the various embassies and informed my credit cards, bank, and cell phone company that I will be using their services in other countries
• Researched extensively the 3 countries I'll be travelling alone
• Brushed up on my Arabic (even though English is spoken prevalently in Oman and Dubai) to do whatever I can to avoid looking like an arrogant American

So I'm looking forward to doing, instead of planning. Not to mention I can't wait for the 60-90 degree weather after the sub-zero temperatures we've been dealing with around here. So check back one week from today, and I should hopefully have my first post online from my first day in Singapore.