Day 2

Day 2 in Singapore and what a day! Thanks for all the well-wishes and concerns; I think yesterday I was suffering from a combination of jet-lag, dehydration, lack of sleep, and too much sun. Today I am feeling 100% better!

I started off the day hopping back on the topless tour bus to do the City Tour (yesterday was the Heritage tour - more of a historic tour). As I boarded the bus, I met a lady from Florida! She is here with work, but took an extra 2 days to see Singapore and enjoy herself. We palled around all day; it was nice to have company!

I thought that today I would try to post my pics in order and describe what you're looking at. I hope that it makes for better and more interesting reading! But to start off, here's a little video from right when I got on the bus:



Our first stop was the Singapore Flyer. It's the tallest observatory in the world, according to our tour guide.



We then headed along kind of the same route as the Heritage tour, so Sharon and I chatted a bit. I took this photo; it's not anything special, I just thought it looked really neat:



Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens. Oh. My. Gosh. AMAZING!!!!! I can't tell you how beautiful everything was! They even have a National Orchid Garden that houses nothing but Orchids - you can even have one named after you for the small price of S$3000 (about $2000US) I think. The garden is amazing - you really don't feel like you are in the city at all. Very good planning on their part. The gardens are free to go to, and to see the Orchid part it was only S$5 ($3US). So worth it! In the US, you'd probably pay $30 to go to a place like that. But not here; it's free for the public. I like it. :) There were all these school children running around, people walking their dogs, just out for a beautiful day!





















After walking around for about an hour or so, Sharon and I were soaked in sweat. We decided to grab some lunch there before boarding the tour bus again. This sign was in the restroom; random, but I thought it was pretty funny:



After our lunch, we hopped back on the bus. I decided to get off the bus at Orchard Road/Lucky Plaza to find someone to unlock my phone, and planned to meet back up with Sharon at 7 p.m. to do a night river cruise and maybe grab a bite and a glass of wine. Lucky Plaza is a 7-story mall filled with little vendors - no chain stores here - all mom-and-pop little vendors. I found a vendor that sold cell phones, and they told me they could unlock my phone, but it would take a couple of hours. I said no problem; I would just come back around 5 p.m. I bought a plug adapter from them so I could charge my electronics (camera, computer, etc) and headed out. Lucky Plaza is where my office is located, so I went in search of them. I found the office, and dropped in to check in. I met my roommate Dominique; a really lovely, sweet girl from Indonesia. She is the finance director for HOME, and although a bit shy at first, warmed up to me rather quickly. I found out that I will probably be working out of the Resource Center, which is the same place I will be living. Short commute! She said that is it nice and new; I am excited to see it on Sunday. Unfortunately, she is going home for a week on Saturday, so I won't see her until the following weekend. I also found out that we have a German Shepard. She about fell off her chair when I told her the dog's name was the same as my ex's! Ha!

After checking in, I decided to catch a bus back to my hostel for a little rest and to recharge my batteries (literally) before heading out again in the evening. Around 5:30, I hopped back on the bus and headed back to Lucky Plaza. Unfortunately for me, I missed the stop. And by missed, I mean missed by about 30 minutes. By the time I had figured out my mistake, it was about 6:30 and traffic was getting really bad. I had to catch a bus headed in the opposite direction; I didn't get to Lucky Plaza until 7:15, and it's about another 20 mins to the spot where Sharon and I were suppose to meet up (Suntec City). I decided to go ahead and get off at Lucky Plaza and pick up my phone, and forgo meeting up with Sharon. I still feel bad about that, but at the time there was nothing I could do. I went back to the vendor, but they said that they couldn't unlock my phone because it was an older BlackBerry model, but that it was probably better anyway because it would be cheaper for me to just buy a new phone: a phone cost me S$60, and the unlocking fee would have been closer to S$90. So all's well that ends well I suppose. After the phone, a SIM card, and $20 worth of minutes, I had spend S$116. Uhg. But at least now I have a phone here and feel somewhat more connected and independent! Oh, and if you want to call me, you can. But I don't recommend it.

After Lucky Plaza I hopped back on the bus (#14 is my BFF), and headed back to Suntec City, because I knew there was a river cruise stop somewhere close and I figured I could find it, plus I didn't want to depart too far from the bus stops I actually knew. I got off at the right stop this time, and after some maneuvering of the shopping mall and underground walk-ways, I came out right by where the cruise picked up. Go me! Here are pics:

The night skyline of the business district:




Construction of the first casino. It's being built by the Sands (Las Vegas). For tourists/foreigners to go in it's free, but Singaporeans have to pay S$100 just to go in! Why? The government says to cut down on gambling!



Famous Merlion - half Lion, half fish:





The Esplanade Opera House:




The Fullerton Hotel (which use to be the Post Office and then a hospital):




Parliament (sorry it's so dark - using ambient light):



Other interesting shots along the river:






After my tour it was nearly 10:00 p.m., so I dragged myself back to the hostel for some R&R. I woke up about 5:00 this morning, checked email and facebook, and uploaded these pics for you! Today I think I might make my way down to East Coast Park and the beach to see what that's like, and I'm meeting up with a guy I met on Expat Singapore Friends. He's an Aussie; been here about 5 years! I'm excited to get to hang out with someone my own age! We are going to go hang out awhile; hopefully we'll have a good time and I'll meet some cool people! :)