Things to do in Singapore!

So now that I've arrived and done a quick explore and am somewhat settled in Cambodia, I'll share what I actually did while I was in Singapore over the course of two days.

Terri (the Aussie gal) and I started the day off by going to the Changi prison museum, the WW2 POW camp that the Japanese had during the occupation. I had never heard of this place. Probably because there weren't really any Americans there, it was mainly british and australians. Then we went to the fountain of wealth and wandered around the suntec center for a while. Then we went to Raffles, the birthplace of the Singapore Sling. I didn't have one, I was still feeling a little sick. Was a little disappointed, but I'm sure my stomach appreciated the ginger ale rather than the sweet cocktail. After than we met up with my friend Kim and she took us to the memorial thing for victims of ww2 Japanese occupation, then she took us to the esplanade, which is the huge theater center. From the ground it looks like a duryean fruit, but Carmen told us the next day from an ariel view, it looks like two microphones. Then we went down to the waterfront where the merlion was supposed to be, but it was missing. Then we walked across the helix bridge to Harbor sands or whatever it was called. By this point, I was pretty much in a zombie like state. I had gotten in early in the morning, didn't sleep much on the plane and didn't sleep well at the hotel and was up by 8:30 to make sure I got breakfast. So I was just kind of following in a haze. So then we walked the length of that resort and came back and thank God, Kim decided to catch a taxi to the Hawker center.

Now, the Hawker center.... I didn't take pictures of it because pictures would NOT do it justice! But this place is the most insane, intriguing, amazing food court I've ever had the pleasure of visiting!! There are people that work for the different stalls that literally fight over you to get you a table and be the ones to provide you with food. And there's probably like 50 stalls in this place. This is where I had the sting ray which was really good! Then we made it back home and I passed out after updating whatever stuff I updated online, if I even did any updating. I don't remember!

Then, day two.... was a little more laid back. We started out the day with my mission of finding a post office so I could mail the starbucks mugs to my friends that I had been carrying around all day the previous day. Finished that which took us to the Harbour front and we took the cable car to Saratosa. Now, when I think of cable car, i think of san francisco cable cars... This was more of a ferris wheel type of thing. A little pod moving along a cable from one mountain to a tower to saratosa. I am terrified of heights and being in things like that. This was NOT the most enjoyable part of the day for me. AND i paid for it... like, literally, paid to go on it. Anyways, then we got to Saratosa and met Carmen for lunch and had some Singaporean specialties and caught up and talked and ate before walking back to the other side across the boardwalk. After this we went to China town which was pretty cool and got some foot massages which was promptly followed by us going home to relax. I had a bit of a snooze, we went out searching for food and ended up getting subway and came back to watch lord of the rings. Well, i skipped the movie so i could pack up, post pictures and get stuff ready, because I had to leave at 4am for the airport.

So now I'm in Cambodia and i LOVE it! From the first moment I saw Siem Reap from the airplane window. To riding the tuk tuk from the airport to the hostel in Phnom Penh. It's chaotic, grimy, noisy, eye-openingly real and I've enjoyed every moment of it so far!

So now for the tacky touristy thing of the day, I partook of one of the weird crazy fishie foot things... you know the ones, you've seen them on the news and on travel channels... where the fish eat the dead skin off your feet! It was ticklish at first and creepy and cool all at the same time. I have a picture which will be posted later as my camera is in the room and i'm outside.

That's it for today folks... until next time!

So long Singapore...

That was a very fast two days!!

So here's a quick recap of what happened.

Ended up being roomed with an Aussie lady named Terri who I spent the entire two days with. It was nice to 1. have someone to hang out with and 2. have someone who was already semi acquainted with the city to lead me around. I was in a daze at the end of day one. I definitely hit the ground running and this evening is the first time i've stopped long enough to realize how freakin tired i am!

I met up with two old friends that I met while I was living in Australia. It's been 12 years since I'd seen them last and it was wonderful to catch up and have a local order food and show us around and tell us stuff.

And I did lots and lots of walking and saw a lot for only being here two days. I'm not going to list it out at this point because i'm tired and have to be up and getting to the airport in about 6 hours to head off to Cambodia.

But I will say this, God is faithful and this trip has started out amazingly positive and I can only wait to see what happens next and who I meet next and what amazing things I will see next.

A few pictures for your enjoyments and a glimpse of Singapore!

SINGAPORE!!!!!!

Is hot and HUMID!! It's 80 degrees and its 1AM and i'm dripping with sweat.... ahhh tropical climates. But boy was it a nice change of pace to get off the plane and be warm instead of freezing!

So yes, I've made it safely. And my handy dandy altoid flashlight came to be very useful tonight. I got to the hostel room and there's already someone here asleep. So, me being the polite person I am, did my best to make as little noise as possible and not turn on the main light. Thank you Jeff!!

I haven't seen much of the city, just whatever i saw in the taxi from the airport to where i'm staying and it's dark... but it's clean and it looks really neat!

And there's a first time for everything... i got sick on the flight. Like I actually had to use the barf bag they give you! :( Hopefully it was just nerves or fatigue or the peanuts because it'd really suck to have this be a regular occurrence. This happened on the 4 hour flight to Singapore form Hong Kong. Although I started feeling ill towards the end of the first flight and thought I was going to lose it, but managed to keep it together. On the flip side though, Cathay Pacific is a really nice airline. I was quite surprised. It's the first time airplane food has actually smelled appetizing and I used the roll to mop up all the gravy and sweet potato mash in my tray.

I know this post is all over the place. I need sleep... like real sleep in a bed! But before I sign off for the night.....

The neatest thing so far.... I know it's early....
Despite all my fear, anxiety, apprehension and all the other negative feelings I was having as my departure got closer. The moment I sat in that window seat and was watching the bay area disappear from my sight, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be!

Good night!

Here goes nothin!

What a frightfully amazing opportunity to pursue a lifelong dream! I am truly blessed!

I think the crews of Freedom and Independence say it best.....

WOW... tomorrow... REALLY!?!

I CAN NOT believe I have less than 24 hours before I leave.

The house is clean. With the exception of my razor handle, I'm completely packed! I went to the salon today and got a mani/pedi and got my eyebrows waxed. All the emails I need have been printed. All my stuff here at home is packed up and ready to be taken to my mom's house for storage until I come home. A list of stuff has been written out for my brother. My car's been cleaned out and the important paperwork sorted out in the glove box.

I think everything is done!

The only thing left to do is to hang out with Jack, and boy does he know something is going on!!

This is no place for a Hobbit

Last night I was watching the third movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There were a couple scenes where Merry and Pippin (yes, I'm a nerd and actually know their names) wanted to fight in the battles with everyone else and everyone kept telling them that the war was no place for a Hobbit. I started to realize similarities between the Hobbits and myself.

For the most part, everyone I know has been supportive and encouraging. But I do definitely come across people who question why I'm going out to travel the world alone. And even friends who may not think my choice of destinations is the wisest for a single female traveler. Whether or not it's intentional, sometimes I feel like the Hobbit with everyone around me saying, "that's no place for a Hobbit".

At the end of the day, the Hobbits had their way and fought in the battles and persevered and survived and ended up better Hobbits for it. I'm sure the same will happen with me.

7 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Until I leave for Singapore!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!

Months ago I thought this day would never get here. And now it's right around the corner!
EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!

So over the course of the next few days, I need to finish packing, get a couple sets of passport photos taken for visas I'll have to get during the course of my trip and mop my kitchen floor. Not a bad to do list if you ask me.

Changes to the Itinerary

As my departure gets closer, certain parts of the trip are getting more detailed, finalized and some things are even changing. I might have mentioned this before, or maybe I've just told so many friends I think I put it in the blog. I've decided to cut out Egypt with all the recent unrest there. I was already pretty apprehensive about going there alone and now with all the political stuff going on. I think one of the smartest and strongest defenses for a single traveler is your gut. And in this case, I think I need to follow my gut. So Egypt's out... I can go there another time. I also decided to cut out Western Europe, this would be France, Spain, Portugal and Morrocco. The low end of the budget for these places is the highest point of my budget. I don't want to be somewhere that's so expensive to simply be in that I can't enjoy actually being there.

These changes give me a little more than a month of time that I had planned that I would have needed to either extend my duration in other places or time to go other places. After watching "An Idiot Abroad" on the Syfy channel, I decided I'd like to go to Jordan and see Petra, so I think I'm going to go there before heading into Israel. And then the month that I would have spent in Western Europe will be spent in Hong Kong and China.

Letting go....

I have some stuff going on in my life, that I'm not going to get into at this moment. Regardless, I've reached a point where I've realized I need to let go of the situation; and let it take whatever course it's going to take. This is a hard enough accomplishment by itself, let alone the fact that I have control issues makes it a billion times harder. All I can do is stand helplessly to the side and hope for the best. The upside of it is, I'm about to set off on this trip, which will be a welcome distraction. And letting go is allowing me to pursue things that have recently come up that I wouldn't have felt the freedom to pursue if I was still holding on. I just hope everything doesn't hurt to much in the whole process.

Guess who's sticking around....

For another 9 days! Here I was already to be leaving in a week. And something came up that absolutely HAS to be dealt with before I leave. So I had to reschedule my flight. Now I am leaving same time of day on Friday, February 25.

A little freaked out when this all came to light earlier today. But I believe everything has it's purpose, including a slight delay in my trip.

Volunteering

I just sent out three emails regarding possibilities for volunteering while I'm traveling. Two to some people I was referred to in India and one to an organization I've known about for years in Romania. I'm excited about the possibility of getting in to the real part of the country. Getting my hands dirty with the "unlovely" parts of the places I'll be going. And it also helps calm my spirit, knowing I have the possibility of meeting other people who are like minded. It's like an instant friendship. Which I already know I will love while I'm out on my own on this adventure.

Also, I've been thinking about making some severe modifications to my itinerary. I'm supposed to go to Egypt around the second half of July. While the travel agent assured me that everything will probably be calm by then, we also agreed we'd see how things look when it's time to book that ticket. Either way, I've been really apprehensive about going to Egypt alone. Now with all the unrest there, I'm thinking I'm going to just cut it out all together. We'll see what happens, but for the moment this is how I'm leaning. Even though I would LOVE to see the pyramids. The other major alteration I'm considering is cutting out Western Europe. This would include France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. My budget for the day is the low end of the travel books budget scale. And I'm using the "shoestring" budget books. So I think I'd rather wait when I've settled somewhere and am working and go to each on on their own trip for two weeks when I have more money to spend per day. Rather than have my lodging eat up 2/3 of my daily budget and not be able to enjoy and experience the country. This change would allow me to spend more time in Eastern Europe which could possibly result in more time working in Romania with the street kids there.

Marina, California

I went down to the Monterey area today to visit some friends. I made a point of stopping by the beach on the way home to take a few pictures. My old camera has an 18-55 lens. The new camera came with the same lens as well as a 55-200 lens. This is the lens currently on my camera. I discovered it's an adjustment from the other lens. I won't go into boring photography reasons, instead I'll just put a few pictures that were the result of my quick stop. I didn't stay for the full sunset, I wanted to get as much of the drive done while it was still light as possible.

Countdown mode

Only 12 more days before I leave.

Absolutely everything that I need has been bought or ordered and is on it's way. I got the luggage I wanted and have officially started packing. My apartment is looking much cleaner and less cluttered as things make their way into the bag. But I think Jack is onto me and isn't going to be very pleased about it as the bag gets fuller. It kinda breaks my heart! :( I wish I could pack him and take him with me.

2 weeks!

I leave in two weeks... I can't believe it!!

Anyways, now that the ticket for the first part has actually been bought, I've been in the process of lining up other things. I got my flight from Singapore to Cambodia booked, and then the transportation thru Cambodia and to Thailand will be by bus/boat. So that'll be taken care of while I'm there. While I'd like be totally spur of the moment and fly by the seat of my pants, I can't start the trip that way, I'll have a meltdown not knowing what's happening. So I've booked all the accommodations for myself in Singapore and Cambodia. I'm waiting for an email regarding reservations for the place I'd like to stay in Battambang Cambodia. Other than that, I'm set for almost the whole first month. I'm waiting a little bit before booking my accommodations for Thailand because I'm not sure how long it'll take me on the bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok and I don't want to reserve the wrong dates. And hopefully by that point I'll be feeling a little more comfortable and confident and can start flying by the seat of my pants.

I decided to ignore my plan for cheap lodging in Singapore. I was going to go for a cheaper more budget option for my first place I was staying. But with the way I've been feeling lately, I decided to splurge and spend like $30/night on my place in Singapore instead of like $20. It'll be my first stop and I keep fluctuating between excitement and fear about this trip. So I thought it might be smart for me to ease into this and have a nice, semi removed place to stay. It's still a hostel, but it's a higher end hostel. I'm actually really looking forward to staying here. It looks nice and relaxing and perfect for me to start my trip with. I'll be staying at the Hangout @ Mt. Emily. I read reviews about it being up on top of a hill and stuff, but I've been walking daily with a friend and we've been walking up hills... steep hills. So I'll be set!