Easy travelling in Singapore

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Singapore was the first place I went on my big trip. I decided on Singapore because it seemed like a nice, easy, gentle introduction in traveling- I was right. Singapore is really easy to get around and nearly everyone speaks passable English. My flight from Dallas was uneventful and very boring. I couldn't sleep at all and watched about 7 movies on the private screen . I landed in Singapore and was off the plane by 1Am and caught a quick nap next to some construction workers. The Singapore airport is a work of art (terminal 3 not terminal 1). I was only in Singapore 4 days but it seemed like plenty. Singapore is a modern bustling city quite unlike most of Asia I think. While in Singapore I went to the zoo, took at hike at the small national park, walked around and stared at the buildings, and explored the malls.

The Singapore zoo is the most amazing I've seen, even more impressive than the LA zoo but likely much smaller. I think the zoo itself was much more interesting than some of the animals. The entire facility was built very naturaly into the jungle so you never really felt like you were in park. Singapore and Malaysia have a jungle climate with thick trees, high humidity, and very hot. The trees tower over the zoo and make you feel like you're walking around in the rain forest.

The single thing that stuck out most about Singapore was the sprawling shopping mall district. The main shopping mail is called Suntec City. The mall is built around the worlds largest fountain (which is not very impressive) and has 5 towers on top of it. The malls are connected underground through tunnels but you would never even notice that you're under the road because the tunnels are lined with shops. You can't really walk around on sidewalks at surface level because there is too much traffic. To Cross the road you have to go into a mall and navigate your way back out of it. The subways also "alight" directly into the malls. The bus depot is also a mall. The hotel is a mall. Everything in Singapore is a mall. I walked probably 1 mile from the beginning of the mall district all the way to ocean without ever leaving a mall.

From now on I am going to try to keep a few list of oddities I notice and foods that I eat.

Weird and amazing foods:
Curry puff- tastes like a spicy pizza pocket, it's also a means of biological warfare against your gut.
Chicken and Rice- Apparently Singapore is famous for a simple dish of boiled chicken and white rice with chili sauce. I don't know how they make something so simple so amazing.
I don't know what it's called (barbecued goat hip)- It's the leg bone with tiny scraps of tough meat and tendon on the hip end. You gnaw on it and when you're done suck out the marrow with a straw. The meat is good but the marrow was a bit much for me.
Chicken feet and prawn- A giant soft shelled boiled shrimp that is impossible to peel. You pretty much have to eat the legs because they won't come off. The chicken feet are who feet shopped off and boiled whole. They really don't taste like much of anything (not even chicken). There is barely any meat on them and 20 of them might have as much meat as a baby shrimp. Note- I didn't mean to order this, I asked for chicken.
Durian Ice Cream sandwich- Durian is the notorious favorite fruit of this area. It's notorious because it's pungent and not good tasting. When they say sandwich, they mean sandwich- it's served in a piece of white bread.
Nestle Milo- Very popular around here. It's pretty much hot chocolate in a can.

Oddities:
Everyone smokes! It's driving me crazy! I start coughing every time someone lights up. Even the bus drivers and taxi drivers smoke while they are driving.
Scooters and motorcycles everywhere.
Europeans everywhere. Almost all the tourists are European. I only ran into two Americans so far the entire trip, they were students at Berkely. It seems that Americans go to Europe and Europeans go to Asia.
"alight"= get off the bus/train/airplane.
I am almost always the loudest talker everywhere.
I am the tallest person everywhere that isn't crowded with European tourists
Squat toilets
Most places are missing toilet paper
You have to pay to use the bathroom sometimes. I got hissed at when I walked passed the little counter one time. I thought she was trying to sell me something.
Everyone is a salesman. They will even chase after you to make a sale. They bargain with you until you're red in the face. Some guy offered me 55% off plus a free case and filters on a lens that doesn't even fit on my camera.
If you're Australian a Weedwhacker is a "whipper snipper"
Europeans have ugly haircuts and glasses.

I'll have more later, I'm running out of time at this computer. My camera card reader won't work in any computer in this country. I managed to upload a few photos to flickr but they were actually photos taken by the Australian guy I met in Kuala Lumpur.

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Comments

[Meg]

HI JON!!
Hey little bro, I liked reading your post about Singapore. I find it hilarious that you're considered a loud talker over there when your volume is totally average over here. Liked the photos on Flickr, even if they aren't yours. Good luck with the ass rot. Hope you found some 2-ply. kisses and cupcakes, your older super awesome sister

[Chunky milk]

Crappy internet and bad computers
It's been forever since I actually wrote anything but I haven't found a good computer in a month and have not been able to actually upload any photos becuase my connection keeps dying. I'll try to get something up in the next few days while I'm Jakarta, Indonesia.