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...

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