Wakeboarding at East Coast Park, Singapore

I'm no waterbaby, but I decided I had to try wakeboarding when the opportunity presented itself last Sunday. We got up bright and early and hopped on the train, ready for a day in the sun! We're all so damn white, we really needed it! Kamil and Arno, two new German exchange students staying in my hall decided to join us.

Much to our surprise, they had a wakeboarding special on at S$5.00 for 30 minutes. Normally wakeboarding is S$35/hr on the weekends, so we were more than pleased at this offer. It isn't wakeboarding in the typical sense because you are not being pulled by a boat. Instead, a mechanical line that pulls you around a small lake, and you must navigate through special booeys if you do not want to sink; if you go off track you risk sinking when the cable is switching towers, because it momentarily looses tension! The first time I made it half way around, then ditched out, the second time I made it 3/4 of the way around, but sank when the cable was switching towers (proof that you must stay on course!). The third time was golden! I figured out how to position myself between the markers, and almost made it around 2 times. Some girl fell right infront of me so I had but had to abandon the line; I did not want to deal with the hassle of a collision just to make it 2 times around!

After wakeboarding, we went for a drink and met a cool English guy named Chris. He was taking a year off life and travelling around the world; it sounded awesome! We then went rollerblading for about 30 mintues, got a goody bag with a free athletic tank top and tons of useless samples and caught some dinner before heading it back to NTU. I definitely want to spend more time exploring the unique areas of Singapore and try out new things. I actually like wakeboarding and rollerblading, and would like to improve my skills a bit. I think flying halfway around the world warrants a bit of experimentation, don't you?

Alright I want to do a bit of work before the lab closes up, so I'll close up for now. Talk soon!

Easter in Saigon!

I've had an interest in Vietnam after watching so many war movies and t.v. shows with my Dad. When I found out I was coming to Singapore, I knew I had to make a point of visiting the country to see what it was really like.

After securing an extra day of leave, Sapna, Jens, Kristin and I decided to get out of Singapore and head to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) over Easter weekend (April 6-9). The flight and VISA cost us a mint at S$313 for the flight and S$70 for the VISA, but upon arrival, prices fall dramatically. If you can, I recommend going for longer than 3.5 days, but that is all we could manage with our work schedules.

After clearing customs, we caught a cab to the 'Red Sun Hostel' in the backpackers area of Saigon. It was awesome! I'd recommend it to anyone. It included breakfast which was a real treat; Vietnamese coffee is to die for!

The first day we basically ate WMF (white man food, for those of you who haven't read my previous posts), drank beer and Vietnamese coffee, and explored the city. I had some tailoring done, which cost me US$112 for 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts. The quality is allright, but they didn't seem to understand that I wanted it 'fitted.' Even after an adjustments it still isn't quite right, so I'll have to find a tailor in Singapore and see what they can do.

The second day we took an organized tour of the Cu Chi tunnels, located about 70 km northwest of Saigon. These tunnels were used by the VC (Viet Cong) forces in their fight against the South Vietnamese and American troops. It was interesting to listen to the presentation because it was from a totally different perspective than we are used to. The Americans were the agressors this time, not the saviours trying to liberate the Vietnamese from communism repression. Vietnamese soldiers, even some women, were given medals for killing the most Americans, or destroying the most tanks. I really felt sorry for the Americans in the room when the tape was playing; they must have been terribly uncomfortale. After the tunnels, the tour bus dropped us off at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. What resonates with me the most about the museum are the pictures illustrating how devestating Napalm and Agent Orange are, not only to the Vietnamese landscape, but more importantly to the people; burns and mutations were not uncommon, and their effects linger to this day.

The third day we took another organized tour down the Mekong River. This was slightly more 'touristy' than the Cu Chi tunnels, but I still had fun. We travelled in many old boats down the river, one of which was paddled by two women, saw a coconut candy factory, had lunch, fruit and tea (all at individual stops!), and of course had the opportunity to buy crafts. I opted to leave the souvenir purchases till the end; I don't want to end up with too much stuff. The highlight of this excursion was holding the python (twice!). I don't typically like snakes, but they assured me it had eaten recently and posed no danger. I guess they were right!

In the evenings we explored the city, visted the markets, drink lots of beer (Saigon beer is great in the heat!), sampled more coffee and tryie out some of the other local delights. Vietnamese spring rolls are a must have. Now a word on the coffee. It comes with a small percolator perched on top of the cup, and tastes slightly of almond. I take mine with condensed milk, which makes it a bit sweeter, but the girls had theirs black. Truly excellent.

I'm going to leave it there guys. Until next time!

Weekend in Bintan, Indonesia: March 31-April 1

What does one do on the weekend when you don't have much time but you still want to get away? You go to Bintan, Indonesia!

Located about 1.5 hours southeast of Singapore by ferry, Bintan is a resort island for Singaporean tourists looking to get away. We intended to leave Singapore bright and early the morning of Saturday March 31st, but like all good students, we slept in and managed to miss the early ferry out. No matter, we still made it in fine form, with enough time to eat at KFC, take out money (after taking too long to decide how much), find a creepy cabby, have him dump us in his brother's 'resort' eat some good food, drink too much beer and make it back to Singapore on Sunday night.

Accommodations were more rustic than any of us were used to, but a good experience nonetheless. Sleeping over the water in an old shack, listening to the ocean at night, and experiencing rainfall in the morning were all worth it. Plus, it wasn't the girls who had the 'luxury' cockroach free, shower equipped bedroom, it was the guys! I was too tired to even offer to switch rooms when I found out they had a cockroach the size of a mouse in their room. What a gentleman. Sorry girls!

Initially we were scared of eating the food they prepared for us, but upon first bite we knew it was solid. For the equivalent of S$4.00 we ate rice, fish, cooked cabbage (delicious), various kinds of tofu (the girls opted for vegetarian fare), cuttle fish (like squid) and a few other delicacies that I can't remember. It was some of the best food I've had here, and I'm happy to inform you that Sapna thoroughly enjoyed every bite of her veggie food. Go Sapna!

All in all, it was a fun but restful weekend away, complete with cheap beer on the beach, sleeping in my first 'shack,' eating delicious food and bargaining with our 'honest' cabby. A word from the wise, never ever under any circumstance pay the cab drivers what they initially offer. You can always bargain the fare down. The rule is to start at half what they offer then barter; we'll nearly always pay more because we're white. We paid S$45 for a return journey but our cab driver's brother said we shouldn't have paid him more than S$17.00, so don't be afraid to haggle!

Here are a few pictures to put a face to what I described above: