JillianRuth

Our day started with beef bee hoon (small noodles about the size of angel hair pasta but harder in texture - they're a Singapore thing that I remembered). Then after a few detours and line-ups to extend our transportation tourist pass, we made our way to Bugis to go shopping at the market there. We enjoyed our time and bought a few little things, and I was delighted to find the Malay sweet I had been looking for but couldn't remember the name of. It was tutu kuah, a coconutty-type thing (not sure what's in it or how to describe it, but it's good!) and it was indeed as yummy as I remember! I also had kiwi juice, and Rhonda had coconut juice straight from the coconut! Next, it was off to Clementi, my childhood home. ... read more

As soon as my plane touched down in Urumqi, I was on the go again! Rhonda and Kelsey wanted to go bowling. So I ran home, took a shower, and headed back out. I didn't get any pictures of bowling, but the highlight of our outing was a walk in Hongshan Park right next to where we bowled. Ice sculptures were being carved - ever so many of them - and they were beautiful!... read more

While flying from Heathrow to Istanbul this summer (on June 29) on my way to China, I met a Turkish lady on her way home to Istanbul and we became friends on Facebook. At the time, I told her I would love to visit Istanbul someday. Little did I know that I'd get to fulfill that desire of visiting her in her hometown 6 months and one day later! Ceyda (pronounced "Jayda") and her husband, Mehmet, picked me up in the morning and we drove around the outskirts of the city and finally to a little restaurant on a hilltop that had been a summer home for the Ottoman rulers during the late Ottoman Empire. There, we enjoyed a fabulous Turkish breakfast. Apparently the key ingredients to a Turkish breakfast are cheese, olives, and tomatoes. In ... read more

Today, I went exploring Istanbul by myself. I started at the 1453 Panorama Museum, which is near the old city walls and depicts the fall of Istanbul when the Ottoman Turks took it over from the Byzantine Empire. The best feature of the museum is that the panorama depicts the battle raging at the walls from the viewpoint that can be seen of the walls and city from right where the museum sits. Then I walked outside and was able to spend some time wandering along the walls themselves. It was so neat to see things that old. Then I took a taxi to the Cora Church, which is a small church from the Byzantine Era with mosaics filling every possible space. After that, I went back out and finally walked up on top of a ... read more

On Monday, December 3rd, Rhonda and I went shopping for Christmas stuff for our respective apartments and roommates. We made a stop in a tea shop and the sales ladies tried to sell us their teas by having us sit down for a tea ceremony, which was most enjoyable! It took until two days later on Wednesday night for my roommates and I to all be home together so we could decorate our tree. So our Christmas celebrations - first ever Christmas celebrations for my roommates - are now underway! The next week, we baked cookies in our new oven. Very few places here have ovens, and the girls wanted one, so we bought one for Christmas. It's basically a large toaster oven, but we can now make cookies!... read more