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Published: July 31st 2009
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In October of 2008, Jeanine & I went to Singapore to visit Jeanine's former colleague, Jazz while she was on an expat assignment. After we toured singapore for several days, we all went to Hong Kong together. From Hong Kong, we took a ferry to Macau. It was a lovely trip with some notable hiccups. For example, We had to fly in a day late and we spent the first night in Japan due to a typhoon in Hong Kong, where we were to have a layover. I frantically called American Express to see if there were any other flights to bypass the storm, but to no avail. We did not really have the opportunity to tour Japan, but we did have an interesting night trolling the airport. When we finally arrived in Singapore, apparently our luggage made it's way somewhere else. So Jazz took us to a mall to purchase some clothes until our luggage arrived. It was not easy to find clothes that worked for us, since the average Singaporean is very tiny, but we found some cute things and I love buying purses in other countries. It is so much nicer than the standard $400.00 Coach bag at
home. I always get complements on my Singapore dress & the purse I picked up in Little India (for 5.00). In Singapore, we tryed out the Singapore eye in the sky (similar to London's) and found ourselves taking one of those bus tours to orient ourselves to the city. We also went to the National Orchid Garden. We had a wonderful time in Little India & Chinatown, where we both decided to get foot reflexology ($5.00 in a little room up the stairs in an apartment building). We had a fabulous meal at an Indian restaurant, as well. We had a Singapore Sling at Raffles restaurant (which is what the guidebooks tell you to do). We went to Cannery, where there are bars, restaurants, lots of expats & hookers. It also boasts the restaurant claimed by Anthony Bourdain as "hospital chic", Aurum. We also went to Sentosa, a mini-disneyworldy type place and while there, went on a cable car ride, visited the aquarium, and went to a museum where we saw the "images of Singapore" and of course we saw the impressive "Merlion". My favorite day was when Jeanine and I took a ferry to a small fishing island and
rented bikes to tour the island. I love seeing how the people live there. This, to me, is true travel! I took some amazing photos that day, which were all lost as you will see later. I lost photos of babboons on the roof of a house (which frankly, was more like a shack), while villagers shooed them away, I took beautiful nature shots of the beach and the best were of the fishermen and the little houses they set up in the ocean. There was this one spider that was the largest I had ever seen (even in Africa) spinning a perfect web and I lost that one, too. After trying to follow in Anthony Bourdain's footsteps in Singapore (We had chilli crab in a hawker centre, a bourdain recommendation and I even tried a Durian shake - it had the odor of gasoline), we flew to Hong Kong and moved into the Intercontinental. (Jazz kept calling Anthony Bourdain, Anthony "Boudoor" which for seem reason drove me into fits of giggles).
In Hong Kong, we took the Peak tram to view the city. This is where I was mesmorized by the nightime skyline and while trying to adjust
The Loo
Jeanine and Jazz with the gift Jeanine purchased to remind Jazz of home. my camera (for photos that ended up being almost worth it), I lost all of my Singapore photos. It was really quite upsetting and the ones in this blog from Singapore are from Jeanine. I lost some great ones, but c'est la vie!
We took a ferry to Macau, and since it is another country, we got our passports stamped, but we only stayed for a day. There we saw the ruins of Saint Pauls, and walked around, trying street food (and non-street food), shopping and enjoying the old town. It seems to be a very traditional place, where they sell herbs and various animal bones, etc as remedies in the stores. They have little shrines located everywhere that have big circular insense tubes (I heard that the longer it burns, the closer to God one is, so as you can imagine, the insense burns for quite awhile). While we were there, I developed a cold sore so we found an apothecary. I walked in while Jeanine & Jazz waited outside. The place was packed and they had traditional and modern remedies. I just wanted to get Valtrax. There were many others ahead of me and I felt like
Godzilla compared to all these little people. Godzilla with a cold sore. hot. So finally, a man asked what I wanted and I said "Valtrex" and he did not understand so he gave me a piece of paper and I wrote it down, "Valtrex". He disappeared into the back and returned with some herbs, and yes, some valtrex. He lays them on the table in front of me and by this time, I had an audience of little people and me, King Kong, getting medication. He leans in and says "take the herbs, they work better". I was curious, but did not want to aggravate my situation so I respectfully asked for the Valtrex. He said, "Valtrex, VERY expensive". I say, "How much?". He said "$108. Hong Kong Dollars" and at that moment, the crowd around me goes, "ooooohhhhhhhhhh!" I said that it was ok and made my purchase. It is only around 14 US dollars! It is like a co-pay back home!
Back in Hong Kong, we had afternoon tea at the Peninsula (mainly because it was in that book, 1000 Things to do Before you Die) and we travelled around via the subway system. We shopped (my
Raffles Hotel
We had a Singapore Sling here. The bartender was rude and the place was empty (but the company was fabulous). favorite) and I had a very expensive martini at the Intercontinental. Our room was spectacular and the view was stunning. We went shopping for a day at Stanley's Market, where I purchased souveniers and of course, many things for myself! I got some traditional robes and slippers, some china and some beautiful pillow covers, which are covering pillows on my bed right now, along with some I picked up in Little India in Singapore.
Another wonderful trip with my fabulous friend, Jeanine.
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