Last Week Abroad

So, although this message is late, I figured I need to post on what I did the last week while I was abroad, if for nothing else than so that I don't forget it myself haha.

Thursday, August 13th was my last day of work. The group I had lunch with at Singapore Polytechnic took me out to a great lunch, where I got to have (for the last time sadly) one of my favorite dishes called coffee pork ribs. Afterwards, I took the rest of the afternoon to get a little bit of last minute souvenir shopping and packing for our upcoming trip done. That night, the host families and internship companies were invited to an appreciation dinner at Affandi's office (our internship coordinator). The food was great and we watched a slideshow of our pictures so far and took lots of pictures.

Friday we left by coach to drive into Malaysia. After passing through customs and immigration, we headed to Malacca for some shopping, dinner, and a small boat ride down a river. Afterwards, we drove the rest of the way to Kuala Lumpur.

Saturday, we did lots of sightseeing things - saw the president's house, the national monument, took pictures in front of the Petronas Twin Towers, and visited some government buildings and mosques. On Sunday, we went back to the Petronas Twin Towers, where we were able to walk across the sky bridge (tickets are really hard to get but our tour guide Zoul thankfully had connections). We then drove to Genting Highland and took a cable car up to the top of a mountain where we stayed at the First World Hotel with the world's biggest hotel lobby. We had dinner and did a little gambling in one of the casinos there, and I ended up ahead so it was a good night. Monday wasn't too exciting - we drove back to KL, where we flew to Bali, Indonesia. We pretty much had dinner, went to the hotel, walked around the streets a little, and called it a night.

On Tuesday, we had our entire day mapped out - tour of the city, went to the beach, visited some temples, and of course, took more pictures. By the end of the day, we were all exhausted, but it was neat to get to drive around and get a feel for Indonesia and how the people there live. We also got to do more souvenir shopping and had authentic Indonesian food for dinner (not my favorite).

Wednesday we had completely free until dinner that evening. We got up early, had breakfast, and headed to the beach. Karly, Megan, Allyssa and I took 2 hour surf lessons from some Indonesians who lived on the beach, and we had a blast! It took awhile, but I was finally able to stand up on the surfboard and get to enjoy it a little, after over an hour of falling and getting beat up by the waves. We then enjoyed the beach some more while we could before walking back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We were first taken to a coffee factory, where we were able to taste Indonesian coffee and buy some if we liked (which, of course, I did), and then we went to a sunset dinner on Jimbaran Bay, where we proceeded to take tons of pictures, watched the sunset, and then had a great seafood dinner on the beach, complete with fish, crab, prawn (shrimp), and some kind of mussel, along with some green vegetables (cabbage?) and, of course, rice.

Early Thursday morning, we flew back to Singapore, where I took a nap and then did some last minute shopping with Meredith in Chinatown. Then it was back to packing before saying bye to my host family. I didn't go to sleep because we had to be at the airport at 3 am for our 5 am flight out. Finally, after 30+ hours of travelling, I made it back to Dallas safe and sound.

All in all, I had an amazing experience travelling overseas. It definitely makes me want to travel to other parts of the world - if only it didn't take such a toll on my bank account. Soon enough :).

Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand!

I should warn you ahead of time: this message is really long, but we had a jam-packed weekend so I have a lot to update you on!

On Friday, our group flew to Bangkok, Thailand. Saturday morning we went to the Sriracha Tiger Zoo. We watched a tiger show, crocodile show, pig race, and took pictures with orangutans and tigers. We then went to Nong Nooch Village where we walked around the botanical garden, watched the Thai Cultural Show, and then immediately went over to see the elephant show. That one was hilarious – we watched elephants playing soccer, basketball, riding tricycles, and even painting! After our authentic Thai dinner, we went to the Alcazar Cabaret Show, where Thai “lady-boys” performed in various acts. Thailand is one of the top places in the world for plastic surgery, so all of the acts were centered around women that were originally born men…you can hardly tell at all, a lot of them were really pretty! After the show we just walked around a little more and then headed to bed.

On Sunday, we left Pattaya for Bangkok and stopped on the way at the world’s largest jewelry store where we took a tour and then walked around and shopped. Then, we went to Elephant Village Pattaya and got to go on an elephant ride!!!!! I have a lot of pictures from that – it was an absolute blast! Afterwards we went to Platinum Mall to kill some time before heading out for dinner. All of the places we ate were authentic Thai restaurants and they were delicious! After dinner we headed to the Pat Pong Night Bazaar, where I spent most of my money shopping and bargaining down prices as low as I could get. To get back to the hotel, we had to get one of the Thailand taxis called a “tuk-tuk” – an open 3-wheeled motorized scooter with a giant seat for 3 people (or 4 if you cram haha) that drives on the roads with all the other cars and mopeds. That was quite the experience and thankfully we were able to make it back safely to the hotel. 

Monday morning (after our 5 am wake-up call – yuck!) we drove 2 hours to the Floating Market. It was so much fun! We sat in these long skinny boats and after riding a little ways down a river, we came to the market area where Thai people were selling their goods right from their boats along the sides of the river. I also was able to bargain here to get some good souvenirs. They sell everything from souvenirs to clothes and food – pretty much anything you can think of. Afterwards, we had lunch and then drove back to the airport to fly back to Singapore.

Today after work, a few of us met up and went on the Singapore Flyer – a huge ferris wheel that takes you on a 30 minute ride and is one of the touristy things you have to do when you visit Singapore. I got some good pictures and enjoyed it. I only have 2 more days of work and full days to spend in Singapore, so we’re going to be trying to see all the places we enjoyed the most here and getting some last minute souvenir shopping done in the next few days.

Friday we leave for Malaysia, fly to Bali on Monday, and then back to the states next Friday – I can’t wait! Miss everyone back home and can’t wait to see you in less than a week and a half!

Week 4 - Haw Par Villa, Singapore Slings, & Night Safari

Hey everyone! So just wanted to do a quick update before my trip this weekend. Tuesday after work, Lisa and I went to this place called Haw Par Villa - the world's only Chinese mythology theme park. Unfortunately, the place is really run-down and is free to anyone to walk through it and see the statues and exhibits related to different stories. It was really neat to see a lot of the things, but it was kinda spooky since hardly anyone was there on a Tuesday afternoon. We then walked around Malay Village before heading to Badoque restaurant for dinner. Hidier and Zafeera have friends that own the restaurant, so they recommended we bring the group there for dinner. 9 of the ILAP people (out of 12) were able to go and the food was AMAZING! Especially the dessert - there's definitely a picture of that ice cream posted below. Wednesday, Lisa and I went to the Arab district and got some Teh Terik - it's just tea with evaporated milk, but it's really good! Then, the ILAP group met up and went to the Long Bar at Raffles Hotel to get the famous drink called a Singapore Sling. It's ridiculously overpriced ($27.05 including tax and service charge), but it's one of the signature things I think you have to do if you come to Singapore. It's where the drink originated and the bar itself is supposed to be one of the top in the world. Lots of famous people have gone there over the years, like Michael Jackson, Queen Elizabeth II, and Charlie Chaplin, to name a few. Thursday (today), Lisa and I had a farewell lunch for her with our group from work. Lisa leaves to head back to the U.S. on Saturday, so today was her last day of work. We then bought some groceries and cooked dinner as a thank-you for our host parents tonight. We made alfredo pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots, and blueberry muffins :-D. It was really good. Then, Zafeera was able to get Lisa and I free tickets to go to the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo - it's open from 7:30-midnight and you can walk through trails to see lots of nocturnal animals, not to mention there's a show as well called Creatures of the Night. It was really cool! We even walked into a cage that had fruit bats flying around us - they were the biggest bats I've ever seen in my life (see pics). We then came home and made chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Off to bed - I leave for Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand, tomorrow! 

Week 3

So we're officially over the halfway mark of our trip - 3 weeks down, 3 weeks to go! Last Wednesday I went and checked out the Little India area of Singapore. Shannon and I weren't really that impressed and then later that night went to dinner with our group and some Aggie alumni here in Singapore. We then went to the Clark Quay area and walked around and got to see some of the nightlife. Wednesday nights are "Ladies' Nights" in Singapore, so that was nice because we didn't have to pay to get in anywhere - one place even had free champagne for ladies (don't worry Dad - it was half champagne, half sprite, but not too bad). Thursday, Lisa and I walked through the City Hall area and over to the Old Parliament / The Arts House. The building used to house the parliament and now has some rooms preserved to walk through and puts on shows. We also walked around and got some good pictures of the surrounding downtown area. Friday, I met up with friends after work and went to see the Thian Hock Keng temple. Unfortunately, we got there right when it closed so I only got to see the outside, but at least got a few good pictures. We then went to the Asian Civilizations Museum and walked through there.

Saturday was a busy day. We met up with some of the ILAPers and went to the East Coast Park Beach. We walked along the beach there and the boys in the group decided to rent some tandem bicycles and ride them around, so we traded off doing that. It's definitely harder than it looks. We ate a wonderful seafood lunch and went back into town where the girls did some shopping. Meredith and I saw some of the parade for the National Day Preview (a full dress rehearsal for the actual event that happens August 9th, Singapore's independence day). We then walked over and saw the practice fireworks show too and that was really neat, and then ended the day with some good ole' Swenson's ice cream.


Sunday I went to the Church of St. Mary of the Angels with Megan and Shannon. It was a little different than the Catholic masses I'm used to in the U.S. - mainly just different songs and a few things said or done differently throughout the mass, but I enjoyed it. We met up with the group later in the Little India area of town to go to the 24-hour shopping mall called Mustafa. Once again, we weren't really impressed - we'd heard all this stuff about how great and cheap the shopping was, but it wasn't what we were expecting. We went and got tea tarik and roti parata - a light pastry that is either filled with something like eggs or cheese or it's just plain and you dip it in curry sauce. I also got some homemade ice cream from a stand nearby and they hand it to you in rainbow bread! It was really tasty - I'll have to get some again and take pictures of it. We then went to the Istana grounds, where the president's house is, to walk around and take pictures. They're usually closed to the public but they were open that day in celebration of the upcoming National Day. It was absolutely beautiful - big trees, beautiful view of the city, and we even got to see the president from like 20 feet away. We toured the first floor of his house and unfortunately couldn't take pictures but it was gorgeous. Afterwards, we walked through the National Museum of Singapore since it was nearby and was free after 6 pm. It was pretty neat but we didn't stay too long because we were pretty exhausted from walking around all day.

Although I'm having a blast here in Singapore, I want it to be the weekend already b/c we're going to Bangkok and Pattaya, Thailand! I miss everyone back home, especially my family, and I'll be thinking of you this weekend in Possum Kingdom - wish I could be there but there'll always be next year!