Day 1—March 14, 2007
We had graduation at school. I was really stressed out afterwards, because we had lunch with all the teachers and I didn’t know when it would end. Turns out I had reason to worry, because my school didn’t even eat lunch until 2:15. That’s a probably when you need to catch a train at 4:00 to the airport and you’re 20 minutes from home. So, I left school at 3:15, rode my bike as fast as I could home, changed clothes, grabbed my bag, and then we headed to the train. It was officially spring break.
We got to the airport and then proceeded to take care of business. After checking in, we had some fun at the currency exchange.
We got a little currency for each of the countries we’d be visiting, except for Vietnam. Why didn’t we get any Vietnamese dong? Simple: We were told it’s worthless and we should get US dollars.
After finishing with our ‘business’, we did what we do best: We went to Starbucks. We didn’t really have much time at this point, so we got our drinks and headed to security where we soon realized we’d have to chug our drinks before going through. Starbucks is not enjoyed when you’re forced to chug it, but we did what we had to do. I did my good deed for the day and gave an African guy next to us a plastic bag for his liquids. Of course, once through security, he was being questioned and tried to get Maureen and I to sympathize with him. We quickly escaped so we wouldn’t be accused of anything and headed to our gate.
Maureen and I soon realized we were the greatest travel partners ever. We both brought journals with us to keep track of all the details. Her’s became the actual detail journal while mine was the quote/music journal. She’s the ying to my yang…or so she says!
We were pretty excited about flying on Singapore Airlines since we had heard so many good things about it, but our excitement faded quickly when we found out they only had the Japanese meal left. We complained longer than necessary and I even refused to eat it, just to prove a point. What point that was, I’m not quite sure…
Singapore Airlines redeeming quality: They had a good movie/music selection. I finally got to see ‘Stranger than Fiction’ even though it took Maureen and me more time than I care to admit to get our movies synchronized. You see, Maureen insisted that if we were going to watch the same movie, we had to start it at the exact same time so that when something funny happens, we would laugh together and not give away any parts of the movie. Did we ever get them perfectly synchronized? No.
We both eventually slept until our arrival in Singapore at 1:30 in the morning.
So I guess technically this is now Day 2 of the trip.
We took a cab to our hotel (it was the only option at that time of night) and were surprised to see that it didn’t look half bad from the outside. However, after inspecting the inside, we soon found out why our room was so cheap. Oh the joys of traveling on a budget! We were so tired, that we fell asleep quickly…but not before Maureen put her bag in front of the door.
**Exact quote from the trip: I’ll sleep better with my bag in front on the door. (Maureen)
The next morning we started getting ready and soon learned our first lesson (of many on this trip) on electricity. Yes, we actually did know that you couldn’t plug 110v items into 220v plugs without consequences. So why did we do it? I have no idea, but I soon smelled my hair straightner burning. Today’s new goal: Find a power converter, not just a plug converter.
After checking out of the hotel (and saying good-bye to the hot guys working at the desk…twice, because Maureen thought she left her watch in the room—she later found it in her bag) we headed to the train station that we’d be leaving from later that evening. Of course we also took pictures of ourselves along the way...
We bought our train tickets to Kuala Lumpur and then put our bags in storage for the day while we headed out to explore Singapore.
First thing—eat western food. That, of course, meant eating at Burger King. I never eat at Burger King in the states, but for some reason, seeing it in other countries makes it appealing. We did have one rule for the entire trip: Eat as much western food as possible and don’t eat any Japanese food. We were well on our way.
We had varying experiences with the public transportation. We had taken the subway without any problems (other than figuring out the cryptic ticket machines). We had also managed to take a bus without a hitch. The bus driver was even really friendly and helped us find where we were going. I did, however, almost get hit by a taxi driver. And I swear the dude came back for more—we saw him on another street and he tried to hit me again!
Impressions/Observations on Singapore
-People wear colors—very different from black and grey Japan…
-English is EVERYWHERE!
-Lots of foliage—everything is so green!
-Lots of nationalities—we’re no longer the minorities!
-Be careful—Singapore is known for their strict laws
-A lot more cute guys than in Japan (So many, in fact, that we decided to make up a code word for when we saw a cute guy.)
We went to Chinatown later that day and decided to get a power converter. We found one (our first of three purchased on the trip!) and celebrated with some really good ice cream bars. We saw a few temples, but after living in Japan, none seemed to compare.
That afternoon we saw the infamous Merlion.
We also went to Boat Quay. It was so beautiful and colorful!
After wandering around Singapore (and getting stuck in the rain) we decided to head back towards the train station for dinner before our long ride to KL. Of course we choose American food—Subway! We actually have Subway in Japan, but it’s a little different and in Singapore they have a lot more choices.
We still had a little time, so we went to an internet café, which shows our slight addiction to the internet. We didn’t even last 24 hours away from it.
We walked to the train station through a somewhat sketchy area, but managed to stay safe. We took turns brushing our teeth and going to the bathroom before boarding the train. While I was waiting for my turn, a guy came and sat a couple chairs down that was obviously traveling around too. (It was obvious because of his backpack.) I decided to say hello and he ended up being a Japanese guy—what are the chances?! His name was Hiroki and we got to talk to him quite a bit before boarding the train. He was on the same train as us, but in a different car. (Which was just fine, since we planned on sleeping!)
Now, I could go right into the overnight train experience, but I think that’s best left for a new post. It will include vague descriptions and lots of pictures—and I mean lots. We are a little vain, therefore take an unreal amount of pictures of ourselves.
