Unlike Canada and most other countries I've visited, it is much cheaper to eat out in Singapore than to prepare your own food at home. However, the average Singaporean doesn't eat at restaurants as we know them. Instead they eat at "Hawker Centres/Stalls." These are basically food centres where tons of private vendors sell their food at prices so cheap you'd almost think you were taking advantage of them. These stalls are not pretty and sometimes they look like they're dirty, but thanks to strict Singaporean health regulations, there is no risk of getting sick. For those who are interested, dictionary.com defines a Hawker as "One who sells goods aggressively, especially by calling out." This isn't how it works here. Everything is very calm and orderly, and nobody harasses you.
Everybody says to reserve your seat with a small packet of kleenex, but I usually just leave my bag at the table; so far nobody has stolen it. Alternatively, you can stand beside a table as they are eating. Seems a bit rude, but what else is there to do when the Hawker Centre is packed to the brim?!
Now on to the food!
I'm fairly easy going when it comes to food (except for smelly cheese), so I get along great in Singapore. The only difficult thing is deciphering what the Indian/Malay/Chinese names actually are! On many occasions, customers have explained dishes to me and helped me choose. How kind! One lady even got my tray for my, put the cutlery on it, gave me some sauces and told me what they were for. I was touched, to say the least!
The first day I was here, I had tandoori chicken, prata and a drink at an Indian stall at NTU for about S$3.50. What a bargain! Tandoori chicken is chicken coated with this red seasoning (don't know what it is exactly) then deep fried; very tasy, and also very fattening. Prata is a typical Indian bread generally served with a curry sauce. I prefer to eat mine with 'Dal' which is made from lentils. It has a bit more texture and is not as runny as the curry. So far, Indian food is probably my favorite, although I'm taking a break from Prata. Eating 4 of those a day is not healthy, but at S$0.60-S$1.00 they are a bargain!
When I need a carboydrate break, I try to eat soup. Soups here are nothing like ours back home. I've had 2 different varieties so far that I really like, and I forget the name of both. How convenient! One tasty dish is pork dumpling soup with home made noodles. I think everybody knows what pork dumplings are; no need to get into that. Home made noodles are also self-explanatory in that they are actually noodles made by hand. Dough is repeatedly pressed through a machine until it's the right thickness, then cut. They're a nice change from the dry pasta we eat at home.
Not surprisingly, McDonald's is the tried and true standby when I feel like familiar food or when the school canteen (school hawker centre) is shut down. It's a dangerous situation because a BigMac meal on campus will set you back about S$4.30 (C$3.50!). A good C$2.00 cheaper than back home! I try to sample the local delites as often as I can, but sometimes I just need a burger and fries.
There are many places along Clark Quay where we can sample many different types of WMF ('white man food'). Clark Quay is very pretty to walk around because it's beside the water, and is lined with bars and restaurants. If you want to be with a bunch of whiteys, it's the place to be. I've sampled some 'Mexican' food there, which was tasty but not so Mexican. I've also went to 'Brewerkz' which makes excellent hamburgers, and a sampling of other WMF.
A little about drinks:
While drinking alcohol in Singapore can be prohibitevly expensive, non-alcoholic drink are quite cheap. One of my favorites is 'Milo,' which tastes like a mix between ovaltine and hot chocolate. It's nice because it is not too strong or too sweet. I was unaware that we can actually get this at home, so pick some up if you'd like try it out! It's made by Nestle and comes in a green tin. You can still get the typical soft drinks here, although the cans are about 20 mL smaller. This will cost you anywhere from S$0.80-S$1.00 depending where you buy them. They have many different kinds of tea and coffee, but they call it 'teh' and 'kopi.' It's confusing when they have 'teh o' 'teh c' 'kopi o' and 'kopi c' on the menu. My understadning is that the o's and c's explain if it is black, or if it has milk and sugar in it. I'm not a big coffee drinker, so I still have to figure that out
I'll post an article sometime with some pictures of what I eat throughout the week.
Keep fit and have fun!
Sean
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Chinese New Year in Hong Kong
Chinese New Year is likely the biggest break I'll have during my time in Singapore, so Sapna and I decided to make good use of it and head somewhere special! Singapore more or less shuts down over Chinese New Year, so it wouldn't be an efficient use of holiday time to stay here. We racked our brains, talked to travel agents and locals, and after much deliberation decided on Hong Kong. At C$450.00 per person it wasn't a bargain flight, but the price was fair considering it was Chinese New Year. We left at 6:55a.m. Friday February 16th and came home Wednesday February 21st at 11:30p.m. This made for a difficult day at work the following morning, at least for me.
After landing, we hopped on the A21 airport express bus from Hong Kong International Airport to Mong Kok MTR station. We stayed at King Wah Hostel just right around the corner (although it still took us a good 20 minutes to find where exactly our hostel was!). Even though the transportation in Hong Kong is EXTREMELY efficient, it is still easy to get lost. The MTR (Subway system) stations can be particularly confusing being as there can be as many as 6 exits out of each station, all leading in different directions. We got lost going back to our hostel nearly everyday! We finally clued in and noted that exit 'B3' out of Mong Kok MTR station will take us to our hostel. Strange how it took us 5 days to realize this...I'm ashamed.
Our hostel looked super sketchy from the outside, especially considering that one of the entrances/exits was in a back alley complete with a rickety old freight elevator. Our room itself was more than adequate. We ordered a 2 bed private hostel with our OWN bathroom and a private air conditioner! I haven't been cool while I slept in over a month! It was heaven. Mong Kock is quite central, so we never had to travel far to get to where we wanted to go.
We hit pretty much everything up in our 6 days in Hong Kong. After a short nap on Friday, we went for dinner at Delaney's, an Irish Pub in TST. In the next days we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History, briefly viewed the Hong Kong Museum of Art, tried to watch the Near Year's parade (didn't see much due to poor location), and watched the New Year's fireworks. After the fireworks, we went to SoHo (which is awesome, and has the worlds longest escalator network snaking up the hill!) for dinner at an Italian place. We checked out Lan Kwai Fong to see the bars and people watch, the Aqua Spirit bar (Hong Kong's sky bar on the 29th floor of a tower, complete with a great view!), Luk Yu in Central for Dim Sum (more for the ambiance than anything else), visited the largest sitting Buddha in the world on LanTau island and of course visited the shopping streets, including Stanley Market. I picked up 2 track jackets to wear when it's chilly, one of those Adidas tank tops that whisks away the sweat for wearing in my room when it's hot, and two pairs of shoes.
Getting custom made clothing is common in Asia. I decided against getting some garments made in Hong Kong because I was only there for 6 days. I need some new pants and a few light shirts, so I may look into it after pay-day. Gotta find a good tailor here in Singapore or head over to Vietnam where a friend assures me they can copy anything I'd like in about a day! It almost sounds like LensCrafters: 'ready in about a day.'
There are a few more interesting stories, but I'll just have to tell you in person because they won't translate well over the internet. Here are two you can ask me about:
1) Cab driver freaking out
2) Butt crack girl in Lan Kwai Fong
Bye for now!
Sean
After landing, we hopped on the A21 airport express bus from Hong Kong International Airport to Mong Kok MTR station. We stayed at King Wah Hostel just right around the corner (although it still took us a good 20 minutes to find where exactly our hostel was!). Even though the transportation in Hong Kong is EXTREMELY efficient, it is still easy to get lost. The MTR (Subway system) stations can be particularly confusing being as there can be as many as 6 exits out of each station, all leading in different directions. We got lost going back to our hostel nearly everyday! We finally clued in and noted that exit 'B3' out of Mong Kok MTR station will take us to our hostel. Strange how it took us 5 days to realize this...I'm ashamed.
Our hostel looked super sketchy from the outside, especially considering that one of the entrances/exits was in a back alley complete with a rickety old freight elevator. Our room itself was more than adequate. We ordered a 2 bed private hostel with our OWN bathroom and a private air conditioner! I haven't been cool while I slept in over a month! It was heaven. Mong Kock is quite central, so we never had to travel far to get to where we wanted to go.
We hit pretty much everything up in our 6 days in Hong Kong. After a short nap on Friday, we went for dinner at Delaney's, an Irish Pub in TST. In the next days we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History, briefly viewed the Hong Kong Museum of Art, tried to watch the Near Year's parade (didn't see much due to poor location), and watched the New Year's fireworks. After the fireworks, we went to SoHo (which is awesome, and has the worlds longest escalator network snaking up the hill!) for dinner at an Italian place. We checked out Lan Kwai Fong to see the bars and people watch, the Aqua Spirit bar (Hong Kong's sky bar on the 29th floor of a tower, complete with a great view!), Luk Yu in Central for Dim Sum (more for the ambiance than anything else), visited the largest sitting Buddha in the world on LanTau island and of course visited the shopping streets, including Stanley Market. I picked up 2 track jackets to wear when it's chilly, one of those Adidas tank tops that whisks away the sweat for wearing in my room when it's hot, and two pairs of shoes.
Getting custom made clothing is common in Asia. I decided against getting some garments made in Hong Kong because I was only there for 6 days. I need some new pants and a few light shirts, so I may look into it after pay-day. Gotta find a good tailor here in Singapore or head over to Vietnam where a friend assures me they can copy anything I'd like in about a day! It almost sounds like LensCrafters: 'ready in about a day.'
There are a few more interesting stories, but I'll just have to tell you in person because they won't translate well over the internet. Here are two you can ask me about:
1) Cab driver freaking out
2) Butt crack girl in Lan Kwai Fong
Bye for now!
Sean
Singapore, Pulau Ubin etc.
Hey all,
I'm going to use this entry to quickly update everybody on what's been happening from when I arrived until just before my trip to Hong Kong. It'll be quite general, but what I've been doing is quite general so it all fits together nicely...
I'm going to use this entry to quickly update everybody on what's been happening from when I arrived until just before my trip to Hong Kong. It'll be quite general, but what I've been doing is quite general so it all fits together nicely...
An outline of a typical day in the life of Sean:
1. Get up around 7:00-7:15a.m., get washed up, put on my wet clothes (result of the humidity) and walk to the bus stop with Jens (my German roomate) for about 7:35-7:40a.m.
2. Arrive at 'Boon Lay' MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) station and meet Sapna at about 8a.m. give or take a few minutes. Get onto the train (hopefully with a seat!) then go to 'Outram Park Interchange' MRT station where we change to yet another train for the 3 minute journey to 'Harbour Front Centre' MRT station. This is where I work.
3. Sapna gets her daily Cappuccino from Swiss Bake then we head upstairs, I pour some cereal, toast some toast and eat breakfast. For those wondering, the office has a fridge, so I can keep milk cold.
4. Start work about 9a.m., and go until about 1:00p.m. then head downstairs for lunch at one of the food courts. Food here is generally cheap at the hawker centers so it's not too expensive. I'll do another entry later strictly on food.
5. Head out from work about 6:15p.m. then re-trace my routing back to my dorm. I usually eat supper on campus so I can see the other exchange student.
6. Walk home!,
7. If I need to send some e-mails or upload pictures, I'll either use Jens' computer while he's at the gym, or duck into the computer lab in my hall. The lab is air conditioned so I like being in there when it's hot outside.
8. Bed time!
Weekends are less structured, praise Jesus. We may go out Friday night, sleep in Saturday morning, do some shopping and other errands on Saturday, go out Saturday night (if we didn't on Friday), then leave Sunday as a free day. I like having one day of the week where I can lay in bed all day if I really want to, or get up and do something. I still have to check out the night zoo, which sounds like something fun to do on a Sunday night. We'll see.
Bars, nightlife, etc.:
I'm not usually a bar-star but I've decided that I can't always just go home after work and go to bed (although many days that's precisely what I want to do!). So far I've been to 2 live music lounges, which were great. The first one is called Wala Wala in Holland village, which is a neat little area (don't know much about it though). The second is called Timbre. Both really good times. Bars in Singapore are typically very expensive, so you have to get there early enough for the 1 for 1 specials (what we call 2 for 1). This way you can get 2 beer or 2 drinks for about S$14.00 instead of just one! Alcohol is notoriously expensive here, so in order to get any value for your money, these are the way to go. If I wanted to get trashed I'd just drink before I leave, but that's never my intention! What's the obsession with being totally drunk?!
We've been trying to go to the New Asia Bar which is a sky bar at the top of SunTec towers. The floor slopes down 20degrees so that you get a better view of the city, so it sounds really cool! Each time we try to go there our plans change, so hopefully it pans out soon.
Pulau Ubin:
Pulau Ubin is a small Singaporean island not far from the 'mainland.' We took a trip there a few week-ends ago to go biking. It is less developed than Singapore, which you can see from the picture below. It was an interesting experience, plus the first time in ages that I'd ridden a bicycle. It's true that you never forget! Along the way we stopped off for a coconut juice, which is basically a coconut with the top chopped off. I had to ask for ice to put in mine to make it cold (not sure if it's supposed to be eaten natural or not, but I prefer cold drinks). I don't really like them that much, but you have to try everything at least once, right?
I'm going to close it off for now, see ya
Sean
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Arriving into Singapore
I arrived into Singapore Changi airport on Tuesday, January 16th, at about 11:40 p.m. This airport is the picture of efficiency: In the space of about 25 minutes I was off the plane, through customs, placed a phone call to my friend who had my room key, retrieved my bags and exchanged some money at the American Express currency exchange place. Pretty good 'eh?! For those of you who know me, you'll be surprised to hear that I DIDN'T get any photos of the airport to post here. Rest assured, those will come next week when I return from my Chinese New Year vacation in Hong Kong!
I got in one of the many cabs waiting outside of arrivals and made my way to 'Hall 7,' my new home for the next 8 months (unfortunately public transport stops around 11:30p.m. or so). The airport and the University campus (NTU) are literally on opposite ends of the island, so on top of being a long cab journey, there are also a plethora of additional charges after 11:30p.m. I've taken the liberty of outlining them for you below:
Kind of amazing how they've segmented 11:30-12:00. Needless to say, I had to pay an extra 50% of the fare, so that trip cost me a good S$40 or about C$32. That's not bad considering what you'd pay back in Canada for a trip the same length, but still shoddy considering the train and bus would cost about S$3.00.
After the cabbie dropped me off, I just chilled on the front steps of the residence and watched the 'Hall 7 Cheerleading Team' practice their routine while I was waiting for my friend to walk across campus to deliver my key. Now it's important to remember that by this time it was nearly 1:00a.m. Cheerleading at 1:00 in the morning?! What have I got myself into?! I've even caught them having *gasp* chess tournaments at 11:00p.m. as I'm coming home! There is simply no justification for such behaviour on a University campus; I may have to report them to the authorities! Okay, I'll stop poking fun now. I'm just used to students being slightly more 'naughty'. In their defence, winning the inter hall games (why they have a cheerleading team) guarantees them a better residence the next year, and I'm sure there is some cool perk to playing chess, I just haven't figured it out quite yet....
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted, went and signed my hall forms, paid some student fees at the Student Services Centre and then went to the "Immigration and Checkpoints Authority" to pick up my student pass (two green cards I have to carry with me all the time, as they are my official identification here). They normally take 2 days, but I giggled and fluttered my eyelashed and the man agreed to have it done my 2:00 that afternoon (okay, hell would freeze over before I ever did anything like that, but it sure sounds fun doesn't it!?). The real deal is that I needed the student pass to go to work the next day, and I told him that I had already arrived into Singapore quite late (which is the absolute truth, scouts honour) so they whipped it up real quick.
Okay kids, you're getting off easy tonight. I'm tired, so I'm going back to my room to get all hot and sweaty; it's super humid here and I don't have A/C in my dorm.
Cheerio and much love to you all!
I got in one of the many cabs waiting outside of arrivals and made my way to 'Hall 7,' my new home for the next 8 months (unfortunately public transport stops around 11:30p.m. or so). The airport and the University campus (NTU) are literally on opposite ends of the island, so on top of being a long cab journey, there are also a plethora of additional charges after 11:30p.m. I've taken the liberty of outlining them for you below:
11.30pm to 11.44pm --> 10% of metered taxi fare
11.45pm to 11.59pm --> 20% of metered taxi fare
12 midnight to 12.59am --> 35% of metered taxi fare
1.00am to 6.00am --> 50% of metered taxi fare
11.45pm to 11.59pm --> 20% of metered taxi fare
12 midnight to 12.59am --> 35% of metered taxi fare
1.00am to 6.00am --> 50% of metered taxi fare
Kind of amazing how they've segmented 11:30-12:00. Needless to say, I had to pay an extra 50% of the fare, so that trip cost me a good S$40 or about C$32. That's not bad considering what you'd pay back in Canada for a trip the same length, but still shoddy considering the train and bus would cost about S$3.00.
After the cabbie dropped me off, I just chilled on the front steps of the residence and watched the 'Hall 7 Cheerleading Team' practice their routine while I was waiting for my friend to walk across campus to deliver my key. Now it's important to remember that by this time it was nearly 1:00a.m. Cheerleading at 1:00 in the morning?! What have I got myself into?! I've even caught them having *gasp* chess tournaments at 11:00p.m. as I'm coming home! There is simply no justification for such behaviour on a University campus; I may have to report them to the authorities! Okay, I'll stop poking fun now. I'm just used to students being slightly more 'naughty'. In their defence, winning the inter hall games (why they have a cheerleading team) guarantees them a better residence the next year, and I'm sure there is some cool perk to playing chess, I just haven't figured it out quite yet....
The next day I got up earlier than I wanted, went and signed my hall forms, paid some student fees at the Student Services Centre and then went to the "Immigration and Checkpoints Authority" to pick up my student pass (two green cards I have to carry with me all the time, as they are my official identification here). They normally take 2 days, but I giggled and fluttered my eyelashed and the man agreed to have it done my 2:00 that afternoon (okay, hell would freeze over before I ever did anything like that, but it sure sounds fun doesn't it!?). The real deal is that I needed the student pass to go to work the next day, and I told him that I had already arrived into Singapore quite late (which is the absolute truth, scouts honour) so they whipped it up real quick.
Okay kids, you're getting off easy tonight. I'm tired, so I'm going back to my room to get all hot and sweaty; it's super humid here and I don't have A/C in my dorm.
Cheerio and much love to you all!
This is a picture of the covered walkways all around campus, so you don't get soaked (as bad) when the torrential rains decide to dump upon us without notice.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Goin' to Seattle
This is the first post on my new Blog, Singarich. It will be one of my communication tools while I am in Singapore so that I can recount my experiences here to all of you. My University has also commissioned me to be an 'Ambassador Abroad' during my stay, so this fulfills part of my requirements for this as well! Double whammy if I do say so myself.
Okay, here goes:
I left Edmonton January 16th, 2007 on the 13h05 Alaska Airlines flight en route to Seattle, Washington. Unlike most other students, I chose to fly through Seattle because my mommie was gracious enough to give me the flight coupon she wasn't going to use, so I got to fly to Seattle for FREE. The next day I connected with United Airlines flight which I purchased from Travel Cuts USA. The only reason I say where I bough it (most of you probably couldn't care less) is because I got a steal of a deal at 950USD including a 4 day stop-over in Tokyo on my way home. Needless to so, I am quite happy with the price, but at the same time am somewhat peeved that the price is a good 30-40% cheaper than what we'd pay in Canada. Mais comme les Francais disent, c'est la vie....
Tyler and Paige picked me up at SeaTac airport. I conned them into driving down from Vancouver to spend some quality time with me (and be my chauffer). We went for dinner at P.F. Chang's and Paige got all pissy (love you Paiger!) because we didn't get straws with our drinks. I pointed out that nobody else had straws in their water and that maybe American's don't use straws, just like they don't eat gravy with their fries (which is plain crazy talk if you ask me, but who am I to judge?). In fact Americans do use straws, and I actually have no idea why we got the shaft at P.F. Chang's!
After dinner, we went strolling around downtown for a bit, and spend some time at Nordstrom Rack and at Abercrombie & Fitch (like we don't already have A&F in Canada.....). Thankfully nobody fingered us OR threw money at us with the ever-so-welcoming 'Get the FUCK out of our goddamned country' like last time we were in Seattle (I do apologize for the cursive language). I was quite pleased.
Tyler and Paige took off early because Ty had to work the next day, so I went back to my hostel (the Green Tortois right-smack downtown, which I highly recommend). I didn't feel like busting loose and going bar hopping by myself (because that's lame) so I got myself together and walked to the movie theatre and bought the next available ticket for 'Babel'. It was an intersting flick, complete with disturbing scenes of a young deaf Japanese girl's vagina (don't ask, just see the movie please). It is a film composed of 4 different story lines that are all connected in some way or another. It is not a 'feel good after you leave the cinema' type of movie.
The next morning, I got up early-ish, packed my things and went downstairs to see what kind of free breakfast was on offer. To my astonishment, I was greeted by fresh fruit, cottage cheese, and two waffle makers! This wasn't half bad after all! I made myself a small cinnamon waffle with some cottage cheese and fruit, then decided that I'd better have another (regular) one just incase they didn't feed me much on the airplane ('cause you never know with airlines these days...) After the second delicious waffle, I walked into the kitchen to deposit my dishes in the sink. And what was I greeted by? Eggs and toast, with peanut butter and jam. Well, CRAP! Out came the frying pan and the toaster and down went my third breakfast in the space of about 20 minutes. It's funny how I HAD to eat a bit of everyything 'just because I paid for it.' Crazy...
After checking out, I walked out of the hostel to catch the bus to the airport. A bunch of cabbies saw my luggage and motioned for me to get in, but they must have bumped their heads because there was no way I was going to pay $25USD when the bus costs $1.50. Silly men. Where's the common sense?
After checking in, I caught the train to the other terminal, sat around for a while, then decided I had better eat again before boarding the plane to Tokyo (just incase!). For those of you who are interested, we ate about 2 hours after take-off, and again I HAD to eat it 'just because I paid for it.' So that's like what....5 meals in the space of 4 hours?
Here's a tip for all you guys out there: If you notice the plane has some empty seats (as my Tokyo to Singapore flight had) just COUGH your lungs out and the scary woman next to you will call the flight attendant over, start blabbering away in Chinese, and simply DEMAND another seat! You can then lift up the arm rest, scrunched yourself into a ball and have a nice little nap. :)
This is officially too long now, so I'm going to stop talking
Yours in travells,
Sean
1) Welcome to Canada
2) Alaska Airlines CRJ
3) Hostel room at Green Toirtoise
4) Hallway at Green Tortoise
5) Flight monitor - going to Tokyo!
6) My UA Boeing 777
7) My seat - nobody beside me!
Okay, here goes:
I left Edmonton January 16th, 2007 on the 13h05 Alaska Airlines flight en route to Seattle, Washington. Unlike most other students, I chose to fly through Seattle because my mommie was gracious enough to give me the flight coupon she wasn't going to use, so I got to fly to Seattle for FREE. The next day I connected with United Airlines flight which I purchased from Travel Cuts USA. The only reason I say where I bough it (most of you probably couldn't care less) is because I got a steal of a deal at 950USD including a 4 day stop-over in Tokyo on my way home. Needless to so, I am quite happy with the price, but at the same time am somewhat peeved that the price is a good 30-40% cheaper than what we'd pay in Canada. Mais comme les Francais disent, c'est la vie....
Tyler and Paige picked me up at SeaTac airport. I conned them into driving down from Vancouver to spend some quality time with me (and be my chauffer). We went for dinner at P.F. Chang's and Paige got all pissy (love you Paiger!) because we didn't get straws with our drinks. I pointed out that nobody else had straws in their water and that maybe American's don't use straws, just like they don't eat gravy with their fries (which is plain crazy talk if you ask me, but who am I to judge?). In fact Americans do use straws, and I actually have no idea why we got the shaft at P.F. Chang's!
After dinner, we went strolling around downtown for a bit, and spend some time at Nordstrom Rack and at Abercrombie & Fitch (like we don't already have A&F in Canada.....). Thankfully nobody fingered us OR threw money at us with the ever-so-welcoming 'Get the FUCK out of our goddamned country' like last time we were in Seattle (I do apologize for the cursive language). I was quite pleased.
Tyler and Paige took off early because Ty had to work the next day, so I went back to my hostel (the Green Tortois right-smack downtown, which I highly recommend). I didn't feel like busting loose and going bar hopping by myself (because that's lame) so I got myself together and walked to the movie theatre and bought the next available ticket for 'Babel'. It was an intersting flick, complete with disturbing scenes of a young deaf Japanese girl's vagina (don't ask, just see the movie please). It is a film composed of 4 different story lines that are all connected in some way or another. It is not a 'feel good after you leave the cinema' type of movie.
The next morning, I got up early-ish, packed my things and went downstairs to see what kind of free breakfast was on offer. To my astonishment, I was greeted by fresh fruit, cottage cheese, and two waffle makers! This wasn't half bad after all! I made myself a small cinnamon waffle with some cottage cheese and fruit, then decided that I'd better have another (regular) one just incase they didn't feed me much on the airplane ('cause you never know with airlines these days...) After the second delicious waffle, I walked into the kitchen to deposit my dishes in the sink. And what was I greeted by? Eggs and toast, with peanut butter and jam. Well, CRAP! Out came the frying pan and the toaster and down went my third breakfast in the space of about 20 minutes. It's funny how I HAD to eat a bit of everyything 'just because I paid for it.' Crazy...
After checking out, I walked out of the hostel to catch the bus to the airport. A bunch of cabbies saw my luggage and motioned for me to get in, but they must have bumped their heads because there was no way I was going to pay $25USD when the bus costs $1.50. Silly men. Where's the common sense?
After checking in, I caught the train to the other terminal, sat around for a while, then decided I had better eat again before boarding the plane to Tokyo (just incase!). For those of you who are interested, we ate about 2 hours after take-off, and again I HAD to eat it 'just because I paid for it.' So that's like what....5 meals in the space of 4 hours?
Here's a tip for all you guys out there: If you notice the plane has some empty seats (as my Tokyo to Singapore flight had) just COUGH your lungs out and the scary woman next to you will call the flight attendant over, start blabbering away in Chinese, and simply DEMAND another seat! You can then lift up the arm rest, scrunched yourself into a ball and have a nice little nap. :)
This is officially too long now, so I'm going to stop talking
Yours in travells,
Sean
1) Welcome to Canada
2) Alaska Airlines CRJ
3) Hostel room at Green Toirtoise
4) Hallway at Green Tortoise
5) Flight monitor - going to Tokyo!
6) My UA Boeing 777
7) My seat - nobody beside me!
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