Malaysia

There's a horrible commercial that gets played a lot here encouraging tourism in Malaysia. It has a bunch of shots of jungles and plates of food, and then for some reason a random white lady doing yoga on a beach. And there's a song in the background with the tagline "Malaaaaaysia.....truly Aaaaaaasia!" Like I said, it's terrible. But I guess it somehow worked its way into our subconscious, because when a couple friends invited Mike and I to Malaysia for the day, we jumped at the chance.

We had to wake up at 6 am to get to the harbor in time to catch a boat. We got there around 7 and had to wait till around 8:30 to get going. Mike and I learned very quickly there's no use asking how much longer, because no one actually knows what's going on, they just take your passport and put it in a line. There's not really a system set up, the boats come whenever they feel like coming and you wait till you see your stack of passports is next. Helpful! But eventually we got on a boat, and about an hour later we arrived in Pengerang, which is a small post in the southeast state of Johor.

From there we went to Rengit in one of the most terrifying cab rides of my life. The driving rules are apparently pretty flexible in Malaysia; things like staying in one lane, driving on the correct side of the road, and going at a reasonable speed are all optional. I'm just glad we made it alive, but we were going so fast I couldn't get any non-blurry pictures of the trip there, which was a really beautiful ride with the sea on one side and thick hills of jungle on the other. I couldn't actually tell you HOW fast we were going, because everything in is damn kilometers here. Foiled by the metric system yet again.

So Rengit is a small town just off the coast, and it's perfect for a day trip. Eventually I'd love to visit Kuala Lumpur or Malacca, but those places are farther away so you have to fly or take a bus and spend the night. I think the only downside is that since Rengit isn't as touristy, we got quite a lot of stares. Some guy saw Mike and just started laughing his ass off, which was a little disconcerting. Poor Mike, he does tend to stick out. As does yours truly.

In a lot of ways, Rengit reminded me of the Texas coast, it looked and felt like parts of South Padre (minus the white kids on Spring Break, thank god). Lots of rotting wood and rusted metal, the way a town gets when it's close to the sea. Malaysia is a lot messier than Singapore, more unkempt and wild, it has a much more lived in feeling. Like an old boot that's molded to your foot, and who doesn't like an old boot? We wandered around the town a bit, taking pictures and looking for a place to eat lunch. Malaysia has a reputation for great seafood, so we settled on a restaurant called the Jade something-or-other that looked promising. We got three dishes, which were all freaking delicious.

The first one was really simple and clean, just fresh white fish with soya sauce and ginger and onion. Then we got salted yolk crab, which was kind of like crab in an orange hollandaise sauce that was devoured in record time. And finally we got cereal shrimp, which is exactly what it sounds like, just whole shrimp rolled in cereal and fried up. They're crunchy and sweet, you just have to get used to eating the shells. We also got coconuts to drink, which are always refreshing and fun to eat once you've sucked up all the juice. They gave us plastic spoons, though, and I broke mine trying to pry out all the meaty bits.

After eating, we walked through the main part of town and then through the neighborhood out towards the sea. Some of the houses were beautiful and painted bright colors, and then some of them were so old and run down they looked abandoned.

We wandered around for awhile, but it was so humid and it looked like it was going to start raining so we headed back towards the main street and ducked into a little shop. While our friends enjoyed refreshing and unappealing ice kacangs, Mike and I were introduced to li hing mui, which are these crazy salty sour dried plums covered in orange powder. They're super strong but also strangely addictive, like a Chinese version of sour patch kids that have the added benefit of turning your mouth a smarting shade of orange.

Since the last ferry back to Singapore left at 4, we had to be back in Pengerang before then, and after another frightening cab ride we made it back to the post. Just in time, too, since it started pouring rain as soon as we got there, and we got absolutely soaked on our way to the boat. And since the boats don't have windows, it wasn't that much dryer inside. Still, there was something kind of soothing about being wet and hot, sitting on a newspaper on a wooden bench while the rain beat down on the tarps. It was like being in a really cheap sauna that smells like gasoline.

I fell asleep on Mike during the ride back, and even he had to shake himself awake a few times. By the time we got back, we were so tired we peeled off our wet socks and napped on the couch, which is really too small for the both of us. As it always goes, one of the best parts of traveling is getting back home.

Hazy Daze

First off, apologies for the delay between blogs, I'm sure the three of you who read this were very disappointed. Mike got sick about three weeks ago, so I was taking care of him, and then literally the day he started to improve was the day I came down with it. We've pretty much spent the last month taking turns getting each other juice, Gatorade (or the Singapore equivalent called 100 Plus), and visiting what we like to refer as the "wall o' Ramen" in the grocery store.

Here's Mike perusing said wall. I only got about half of it in the shot, and this is at our local store, not one of the big ones. So far we've tried mushroom and chicken varieties, which aren't half bad. They actually have way less salt than the Ramen noodles back home, but as a result they aren't as strongly flavored. Still, there's nothing better for a cold than a big bowl of chicken flavored noodles with chili sauce. It'll cure what ails ya.

So we're finally both feeling better and we're slowly emerging from our cocoon of blankets and wadded up tissues. Of course, as soon as we can breathe again, Indonesia has to go and set Sumatra on fire and fill the entire city with smoke. At first we had no idea what was going on, I looked outside and thought maybe it was just really overcast, but when I went outside everything smelled like burning rubber and the smoke started stinging my eyes. Apparently this happens pretty much every year because Indonesia has a real problem with forest fires because farmers use fire to clear land, and on Thursday the Pollutant Standards Index reached "unhealthy" levels in Singapore. We tried to stay inside as much as possible to avoid the haze, but it was quite inconvenient. The Singapore government seemed politely annoyed about it too, the Environment Minister was quoted in the paper as saying "this is not the first time that we have informed the Indonesians that they should pay attention to hotspots in Sumatra and Borneo," and that if the haze worsens, "we will register our concerns again, perhaps on even stronger terms to our Indonesian colleagues." Uh oh, watch out, the hall monitor is pissed! Seriously, that has to be the most non-threatening warning I've ever heard in my life. 

Lovely view, isn't it? But it rained twice over the weekend, which helped to dispel a lot of the haze, so we were able to go outside without coughing. A couple of our friends invited us to a movie and then dinner over in Little India on Saturday. When we first got to Singapore we were staying quite close to Little India and we wandered over there a few times, but since we moved to the east side of town we haven't been back. It's such a colorful, different area of town, and right now everyone is gearing up for Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. This year Diwali (or Deepavali) is November 5th, but they already have a bunch of lights strung up and down the streets. It reminded me of Congress during Christmas, and I realized how strange it is that it's not getting colder here! My body keeps expecting a change of seasons, and I constantly think it's still July.

It was Saturday night, so the streets were bustling, lots of people around buying food from the open markets. We saw tables of fireworks for sale, and it looked like every shop was selling marigold garlands, so it smelled amazing. We walked around for bit until we got hungry, and then we ducked into a small restaurant called Zaika. I think almost every restaurant in Little India could be described as "hole in the wall" by American standards, here were only maybe 6 tables in the whole place. I actually like that the restaurants are so small, it means you have a bunch of places to try, all next to each other. Plus, I've always found the smaller the restaurant, the better the food, and this place was no exception. We got a couple of our usual favorites like aloo gobi and saag paneer, and then our friends recommended we try the butter chicken. Oh man, it was one of the most delicious dishes ever, I wanted to drink the sauce. I didn't, but only because we were eating in front of other people. I'm not sure if it's a popular dish back home, but I don't think I've ever seen it on the menu at the Indian restaurants we used to go to. It may sound a little simple, but "butter chicken" doesn't really describe it properly; the sauce has a ton of ingredients, just one of which is butter. Anyway, the whole meal was great, even though Mike found a tiny bug in the tray of candy coated fennel seeds at the end. I don't care, I still ate them, I have a slight obsession with those. I once ate an entire bag of pastel colored candied fennel seeds that Mike's mom gave us. Pretty sure that was supposed to last a couple months, not two days.

Alright, friends, I promise to be more diligent in the future with regards to my blog. Happy Halloween! 

Mid-Autumn Wanderings

I've been trying to keep busier during the weekdays, which is great for me, but unfortunately the blog suffers. I started spending sunny days down by the pool with a book and my ipod, which means when I lazily stumble back to the apartment, all I want is a soda and AC, and it doesn't make for good story fodder. However, my tan is coming along nicely, proving once and for all that anything you set your mind to can be accomplished. And before you freak out, mom, I'm wearing sunscreen and a hat, and I don't stay in the direct light for long. I'm not BROWN per se, but I am turning a nice golden color; makes a nice change from the blinding white I used to be. The only downside is the freckles on my shoulders are finally doing what I feared they would do for years, and joined together to make one large über-freckle. Sigh. But a lot has been going on in the mean time, so I'll try and sort through the highlights.

Mike is officially 30! Hooray! I have to say, he took it quite well. No tears, no tantrums, no denial of the fact that he's a year older; very impressive, especially since I plan on doing all those things when I turn 27. Instead, we went to a sort-of-Italian restaurant called Lenas and got a couple pizzas and some beer. I say "sort of" because while they have pepperoni pizza and bruschetta on the menu, they also had curry seafood pizza and cheese fries, neither of which I think qualify as Italian. I don't know for sure, I've never been.

We finally tried chili crab, which is one of Singapore's specialty dishes. We were down in Chinatown again, this time during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is also called the Lantern Festival or the Mooncake Festival. Basically it's just a big Chinese harvest festival that involves a lot of lanterns and little cakes. Everywhere we go we see mooncakes for sale, they're little pastries shaped kind of like flowers filled with flavored lotus seed paste. The taste is very similar to fig newtons, they're just a little bigger.

Anyway, we went down to Chinatown to look at all the lanterns and wander around, and we met some friends at a seafood restaurant and ordered chili crab and black pepper crab. Both were very good, but I think the chili crab wins most delicious; it's a little spicy but also somewhat sweet, which worked really well with the sweetness of the crab. Plus, the extra chili sauce was great for pouring over fried rice. Look, you can see its little eyes staring at you all accusingly! Mmmmm.

We also made it over to East Coast Park, which is kind of like a boardwalk along the eastern shore. There's a bunch of shops and restaurants along the water, and long paths that people ride their bikes around. We even saw a few rollerbladers, which I didn't know still existed. Perhaps I should dust off my wrist guards, grab my Walkman and throw down like it's 1995. We went to a little bar along the water and got a pitcher of what passes for frozen margaritas in these parts. They weren't BAD, exactly, just not very flavorful and a bit too salty. Not as upsetting as the "nachos simpaticos," which turned out to be a few chips covered in cheese whiz and a few stray beans. WRONG. MALO. So instead of satiating my cravings, I was cruelly teased with off brand Tex Mex, which has only increased my longing. But the beer was fine, and Mike got to play Frisbee in the sand.

Still on the topic of food (because that's what we do here, eat) a couple we know through Mike's mom took us out to a place called Fatty's. I am immediately predisposed to like any place called Fatty's, and this restaurant is apparently some kind of Singapore landmark that's popular with expats and locals alike.

The food was really tasty, and I can see why expats like it: it tasted more like American Chinese food than anything else we've eaten here. It had that sort of greasy-noodle-in-a-take-out-box flavor that we know and love, and we had a ton of leftovers just like at home! Even though it was technically Asian food, it still made a nice change from our usual soup, noodle, and chicken rice diet. I think it would serve as a nice starting point for whoever wants to come visit first!

Down by the Bay

Sorry this post was delayed a few days, I've been busy preparing for Mike's 30th birthday tomorrow. It's a lot harder for me to shop here, for a number of reasons. First of all, I hate shopping and I hate being in malls, I get cranky after about 10 minutes and I want to leave. Secondly, obviously the stores are different here, and I'm not sure what they sell or what the quality is. For example, there's a store called Pull and Bear, which sounds like a hunting or taxidermy store but it actually sells hipster clothing from Australia. Anyway, it took awhile, but I finally got him some presents I think he'll like, and luckily we have a three day birthday weekend because Friday is Hari Raya Puasa, which celebrates the end of Ramadan. I don't know how Muslims do it, I can barely go five hours without eating something, I know I couldn't last all day without seriously injuring someone and then probably trying to eat them. Hats off to you, Muslims, and thanks for the day off!

We had a very full Saturday, which kicked off with the Chunk Fest, the annual Ben and Jerry's ice cream festival. People really like Ben and Jerry's here, which is great, except it's imported which hikes up the cost. I'm not paying $15 for a pint of ice cream, not when I can get a mango ice cream sandwich for a dollar right outside. Although, the last time we got ice cream from a stand, we noticed the side of the package said "meat," which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Oh well, we haven't died, so I'm sure it's fine. Moving on, the ice cream festival was fun, even though it was still $5 for one scoop. But we got to try some new flavors, including a Boston cream pie one and a coffee malt that I liked a lot. There was a maple one that the Canadians got, stereotypes be damned! People were supposed to dress like hippies for the festival, but I'm not sure everyone understood what a hippie is, because I saw some girls in skin tight minidresses with huge heels. Close, ladies, but no.

Since the festival was down by Marina Bay, afterwards we wandered around and took some pictures. The weather felt SO good, it was overcast and there was a breeze coming off the water. I know no one actually wants to hear about the weather, but it was seriously the most comfortable I've been outside in Singapore. We made our way over to the edge of the bay, where there is a giant stone statue of a Merlion. What is a merlion, you might be asking yourself? Well, friends, a merlion is half lion, half fish, all awesomeness. It's the mascot of Singapore, since "singa" means lion (Singapura means "lion-city"), and the fish part dates back to when this was a fishing village and it was called Temasek, or "sea town." But that's besides the point; the point is that it's a giant stone mermaid with the head of a lion and looks like something from Napoleon Dynamite. It also shoots water out of its mouth, but I don't know if that's like a power it has, or if it's just a fountain. Either way, I am so loving the Merlion. Talk about the ultimate surf and turf!

After spending some time basking in the glory and dignity of the noble Merlion, we headed out to get some dinner and drinks. We stopped at a German brauhaus for a beer and some sausage, which tasted sooo good. It's actually kind of nice not eating Western food for awhile, because then when you finally eat it, it tastes a thousand times better. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Next we stopped off at the world's largest fountain, which was a bit of a disappointment because it wasn't working properly. We did see a laser light show that they reflect off the water, though, which was...also slightly disappointing. Perhaps I'm expecting too much out of fountains.

Lastly we went to Chijmes, which is an old church in the center of downtown that used to be a convent and is now a big event space. I think they use the church for weddings and parties and such, and the courtyard is divided up into shops and bars and restaurants.

It's really pretty, and it was fun to drink a beer in the shadow of an old church, although I think Mike kept expecting nuns to run out and start scolding him. There were lights strung up in the trees, giant TVs playing rugby, and the big church looming over us; honestly, it felt a little surreal.

Making Snow in Singapore

This weekend Mike and I decided to get creative. Or rather, Mike decided to get creative, and I stood around and carried things and said "oh that looks good baby!"

The past week or so, Mike's been working on a matte painting that he described as an aerial shot of a snow covered canyon with mountains in the background. I haven't seen it, but it sounds delightful. Now, Mike's project this weekend was to take a picture and use it in his matte painting. The problem is, we're in the jungle; there are no canyons here, there is no snow here. So we had to improvise.

At first we tried taking pictures of rocks, but it's hard for a rock to look like a canyon or a cliff. We wandered around the little park behind our apartment, climbing through grass and ant hills to get shots of the rocks that line the pond, freaking out the gardeners and generally making a nuisance of ourselves. Mike had his big Minolta, and I used my little digital camera. We probably looked like the world's most insane tourists; "look, this is a rock we saw in Singapore! And here's a mound of dirt!" It was fun, though, we haven't been through the park in awhile and we hardly saw anybody other than the occasional passerby or jogger. Despite ant bites and sweatiness, it felt great to be outside without having to run errands or catch a train, just enjoying the views and the sun.

After we finished with the rocks, it was time to try to make it snow. We found an old board someone had discarded, and we set it on a table in the park and I proceeded to cover the entire thing in flour. Mike even blew on a few spots, to create snow drifts. I have to say, it really did look like snow, especially once you got up close.

We got covered in flour, but I love little projects like this. It reminds me of being a kid, setting up scenes with my troll dolls and Skipper, Barbie's little sister. (Mom wouldn't let me have Barbies. Apparently they promote a bad self image or something.) I like feeling like I'm part of what Mike is working on, I so rarely get to help him and to be included in that part of his life. I loved seeing him in that mode, though, he looked so focused and excited, and I couldn't help taking pictures of him, too. He just needs a bigger beard, and he would fit right into one of his books on the matte painters in the 70s. They look like a bunch of hippies playing with miniatures.

Sunday we went to a small dinner party at a friend's house. We're the only Americans in our little group, but there are quite a few Canadians as well as the Australians. We talked about food again, and Target, and cheap drinks, and all the things we miss from home. It's fun to talk to people from different countries, because even the English speaking ones have different words. Australians especially have their own way of talking that's really fun. They like to shorten words, and at first it's totally confusing. They call sunglasses "sunnies" and swim suits "cozzies," which is short for bathing costume. Now I normally don't condone abbreviations, and forbid anyone from vocally using the term "LOL," but for some reason I really like these terms. I think it may be the accent, but "sunnies" is such a happy word, it just sounds more fun. Also, they have their own term for white trash: bogans! I also like this term, because I can't for the life of me figure out how it came into use. White trash is pretty self-explanatory, but bogan? Who knows? What I do know is that it makes me feel warm inside to know that no matter where you go, every country has their own version of rednecks. It's a small world after all.

Chinatown

Friday we went to Chinatown for the first time, which is in south Singapore. A lot of foreigners think it's confusing or redundant that's there's a Chinatown here, since something like 75% of Singaporeans are Chinese. But Singaporean culture is a lot different from Chinese culture, since it's a mixture of Malaysian, Filipino, Indian, and more. And actually, some of the Chinese here are what's called Peranakan, which means part Chinese and part indigenous Malaysian. So it makes sense that there would be a specifically Chinese area, just like there's Little India and Arab Street.

Chinatown here is similar to the Chinatown in San Francisco, it had the same sort of messy, chaotic feel that I can only assume is innately Chinese. The streets were a bit narrow, with lots of shops and restaurants packed along the way. We saw a lot of street vendors set up, which is something we haven't seen much of yet. The food courts are so popular in Singapore, the only street food we normally see is ice cream sold from little carts. But we saw a lot of carts set up down one street, so we got some delicious dim sum rolls as we walked along. It was raining lightly, so everything looked wet and slick, and it added to the overall feeling of disorder. The photos I took came out a little blurry, but I think that totally helps with the mood. It's pretty much how I saw everything anyway, since my mind was cushioned by beer and food.

It was nice to be in that vibrant atmosphere, away from the usual orderly and spotless malls and streets of Singapore. There were lots of lanterns strung up (which I guess China has claimed as their "thing") and they looked so festive and colorful against the rain and dark sky.

It was fun to just meander through the streets, looking at the shops and eating satay and spring rolls, followed by beer and dumplings. We passed a huge and bright red Buddhist temple that was three stories tall at least and all lit up in lights.

Part of me wants to go back during the day to look around some more, but I kind of like the fuzzy, bright and loud impression that I got from our night. I'd hate to replace that memory with something more ordinary.

Saturday morning we finally caved in and did something we had been putting off for weeks. I knew it would happen eventually; once we learned about it, it was really only a matter of time. We tried not to, really we did, but it was raining outside and we didn't want to leave, so we did it. We had McDonald's delivered. I don't know how this happened, what insane and cruel individual thought this up, but it doesn't matter now. The point is, it exists, and there's no way to stop it. You just go online, select what you want, and within 20 minutes, SOMEONE BRINGS YOU MCDONALD'S. Who thought this would be a good idea? Isn't McDonald's bad enough, does it really need to come right to my door? There needs to be a middle man for this type of food, to keep me away from it. There needs to be some shame involved, but I won't feel bad if I'm eating fast food in the privacy of my own home. This is a dangerous thing, my friends. A dangerous thing indeed....

Night Safari: When Nature Calls

Thursday night we decided to check out the Night Safari we've been hearing so much about. They have a lot of posters up for it around town, and basically it's the zoo, but at night! It turns out it's a really big tourist attraction, because we saw more white people standing in line than we have anywhere else in Singapore. It was like being in a Gap.

We got on a tram, which takes you around the different animal enclosures. It was like Jurassic Park, but without the screaming. While some of the animals were boring and sleeping (looking at you, lions), a lot of them were nocturnal so they were up and about. We saw creatures I've never even heard of, like a binturong, also called a bearcat because it's a kind of cat that looks more like a bear, and smells like popcorn. Seriously, I'm not making that up. You'd think it'd be a hindrance to smell delicious in the wild, but maybe that's why they're endangered.

There was this adorable animal called the slow loris, which is a small monkey with huge eyes that moves like a sloth. It had it's butt to us, and it looked like a miniature bear trying to slowly climb a tree. Every slow loris should be accompanied by circus music, they always seem a little confused but good sports. I want one as a pet, I would name it Slow Laura and let it wander aimlessly around the apartment.

We saw Asian elephants, which are a little smaller than African elephants but obviously still enormous. They had two females and one pissy male, who had to be kept separately because he's moody. Apparently he throws things at visitors, and charges people who use flash photography. Now, I'm not a scientist, but maybe this guy shouldn't be in a zoo.

We saw some very friendly servals, cats who came right up to the glass and tried to play. There were free roaming tapirs, who walked behind the tram for a little while and look much bigger up close. A babirusa, an uncomfortable looking pig with four giant tusks growing out of it's mouth. We went to a bat enclosure and saw giant fruit bats and small brown bats. The fruit bats were cool, just chilling and eating bananas, but the brown bats were flying around being obnoxious and pooping on everyone. There was a German family behind us, and when the crap starting raining, the little boy marched over to the door and announced something in German that I'm pretty sure translates to "screw this, I'm not getting shat on, I'll be outside."

The last stop on the tour was the deer section, which was kind of anti-climatic. I guess they don't have too many deer in Asia, but coming from Texas, it's like having a hamster exhibit. There were a few different kinds who all looked alike to me, except some had spots and some had smaller spots. Then we came upon the mousedeer, which totally redeemed the whole section. A mousedeer is a hilariously small deer that's no bigger than your forearm. It has these little spindly legs and a fat furry body, like someone stuck long toothpicks into a potato. Instead of those useless miniature chihuahuas, girls should get these to carry around in their purses. They're less trembly and way cuter. I kept laughing whenever I saw one, they just look like cartoon creatures instead of real animals.

(Side note: I didn't get a chance to take a lot of pictures, since it was dark and I didn't want an elephant having a mid-life crisis charging at me. I did manage to get a few good ones of the servals, since they seemed as interested in us as we were in them. So you'll just have to use your imagination or Google to see what the other animals look like.)

It ended up being a lot of fun, even if it was a bit touristy and overpriced. Totally worth it to see the mousedeer and the slow loris in all their natural hilarity, plus it was interesting to see some of the animals that are native to this area. If I ever run across a slow loris in the wild, it's coming home with me.

Pulau Ubin

I love three day weekends, but they somehow go by faster than two day weekends. Must be some sort of paradox in the time-space continuum. Friday night we went to a club over near Arab Street called Blue Jazz. It was neither blue, nor was there jazz playing there. Our friend Nick is moving to New Zealand, so this was his goodbye party. The bar had three levels, and the decor looked extremely nineties. I mean that in a relatively good way, I felt like we were drinking in the apartment from "Friends." We had a bit too much to drink, but it was nothing compared to the shots some of the boys were throwing down. Jägerbombs? Shudder. We had a great time, but lord did we pay for it the next day. Saturday turned into a recovery day, which was spent watching Alien movies and drinking copious amounts of water. Hangovers are even worse here, since you're usually somewhat dehydrated to begin with. I think I'm officially at the point in my life where going to a bar is just no longer that appealing. The drinks are overpriced, the music is loud and always terrible, and it's impossible to have an actual conversation with anyone. It's fun while it lasts, but it's not worth feeling like crap the next day.

Monday was National Day, and one of Mike's fellow matte painters asked us if we'd like to go to Pulau Ubin. We jumped at the chance, since we've heard great things about it. Pulau Ubin is an island just off the coast of Singapore, and it's the only real "kampang" or village left. You have to take a ferry to get there, since it's totally surrounded by water. They take you over in small groups, and the ride only takes about ten minutes. The boats are old and wooden, slightly rickety and damp. You can smell the smoke and gasoline fumes and see the jungle up ahead. We started quoting Apocalypse Now and that kept us busy for the whole ride over.

Once you reach the island, it really does feel like a separate country. There's no city here, no big buildings and new cars, no huge crowds of people. There's no electricity on Pulau Ubin, everything is run off of generators; there's no telephone poles sticking out or street lamps along the way. You have to leave before it gets dark, or you'll be lost in the jungle. Where you alight from the boats, there's quite a few little shops, most of them are bike rental places plus a few stores selling drinks and snacks. We walked along until we found some bikes that looked decent. We let our friend Eric and his fiancé handle the bargaining, since they're Filipino and we tend to get overcharged. We got our bikes, stocked up on drinks and re-applied sunscreen, and then we headed off.

There are hundreds of trails around the island, but it's quite small, only about 10 kilometers. We started out on a wooden and concrete path, it led around the coastal region of the island. The land gets really muddy, very swampy and steamy until you get to the water. There are huge sections of mangroves, which are trees that can grow in salt water. They look like crazy upside down trees, since their root systems are all exposed. It's like a giant came by and just started yanking the trees up.

We kept walking along the path, which eventually let out over the water for awhile. We could see Malaysia just across the way; you can take the ferry there too, but it takes a little longer. We saw these fiddler crabs in the mud, which I found hilarious. They're these little orange crabs and the males have one giant claw. Just ONE, mind you, so they look lopsided. They use them to fight, and I couldn't stop laughing at these tiny crabs knocking each other with their single over-sized claw. It was like watching nature's most pathetic arm wrestling match.

                                        

Seriously, don't they look hilarious? Poor little crabs; I feel bad laughing but it honestly looks they each have  a severe and localized case of elephantiasis. High five, dudes! 

Once we left the coast, we went inland and found a bunch of trails into the jungle. Some of the trails were dirt paths and pretty wide, but some were little more than slightly flattened grass. The worst was one that was really rocky and downhill, I swear I bruised parts of my butt I didn't know you could bruise. Everywhere we went seemed more lush and beautiful than the place we went before. At one point a helicopter flew overhead, and I swear I had a flashback to 'Nam. We found small houses and temples buried amidst the jungle, and we stopped to get drinks. I think most people who still live on this island survive by selling water and renting bikes to tourists. The homes have their own gardens, and chickens and rabbits in cages. The deeper you get into the jungle, the quieter it is. It's that strange loud quiet, where the noises of monkeys, birds, falling nuts and snapping trees somehow add up to silence. 

                                      

By the end of the day, we were covered in sweat, dirt and bites, and tired and sore from riding for hours. It was worth it, though. I can say without a doubt that this was the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. Being surrounded by giant trees and vines, the way the light filters through the canopy--it was like being in a movie, it felt so unreal. Every picture you take looks like a screensaver on someone's desktop computer. When we reached higher ground, the views were spectacular: just shades of green as far as you can see, until your eye hits the water. Some parts were jungle, some parts looked more like forest, and then some parts were granite, left over from old quarries abandoned a long time ago. Part of me wanted to just stay on the island, set up a little bungalow and sleep in a hammock. I'm sure a lot of people feel that way, but luckily they don't act on it; the less people change this place the better. 

                                        

We finally found our way back to the village when the sun started to set. We were exhausted but exhilarated. Looking around at the small buildings, the stray dogs and faded signs, Mike and I both said we finally felt like we were in Southeast Asia. This is what we had been picturing when we envisioned our future home, a place unaffected by time and technology. We bought a couple coconuts from a vendor, they just chop open the top and stick in a straw and spoon. We were so thirsty and tired, I swear it was the best thing I've ever tasted. By the time we made it back to a ferry boat, the sun was almost gone. Looking back at the island from the boat, it was just all in darkness. Pulau Ubin is now my favorite place we've been to in Singapore, but I have to say it's not really Singapore. It's a place out of sync with the rest of the world, and that's what's so appealing.  

Searching for the New

Most of the time I love that Singapore is so westernized. If you need an American cheeseburger, they have it. Clorox bleach? Check. Your specific brand of tampons? Oh thank god, yes. But sometimes it's entirely too easy to forget that we live in an exotic country, literally halfway around the world from home. Some days I'll be laying on the couch, reading a book and eating the very same pretzels I enjoy with such abandon back home, and I'll forget I'm not living on the third floor of an apartment complex in south Austin. At times like that, it's such a jolt to get up, stretch, and notice palm trees glaring accusingly at you from the window. "Go outside," they say. "Do something foreign, you lazy American."

My friends, as much as I hate to kowtow to wise cracking palm tress, I admit that they're right. The problem is that because Singapore is so similar to home, it's more difficult to find places that seem inherently foreign. But Mike and I decided our goal for Saturday would be to wander around Bugis Street, looking for places to remind us we're on an adventure. 

It worked right away, mainly because Bugis Street is insanely crowded, crowded in a uniquely Singaporean way. It's just an unmoving sea of dark-haired heads, everyone jostling to get the attention of vendors selling juice, food, t-shirts, food, jewelry, tourist trinkets, and food. Pushing through the masses only leads you to an equally crowded fruit market, where we saw a eye-smarting array of mangoes, star fruit, lychees, and longans. And of course, a large stand of durians, the self-proclaimed "King of Fruit." (I'm not really sure how a fruit can proclaim itself, but I fail to see how else it got that nickname.) We got some longans to try, which look like little brown nuts, and they're not bad. Sweet and juicy, but they also have an underlying flavor I can't quite put my finger on. Longans are also called dragon's eyes, because once you peel them, the actual fruit is a milky translucent color, and the seed in the center is black. They made Mike's mouth and hands tingle, so I'm not sure if he should keep eating them. 

After fighting our way through the crowd, we wandered off for awhile until we spotted he Victoria Street Wholesale Market. We've passed by this place before as it's on the way to Arab Street. It's a big complex with a bunch of storefronts facing out, all covered by a giant red canvas. We've never gone through it, because it always looked a little empty and rundown, and it smells really strongly of fish. But since we didn't really have any plans, we figured why not? 

I'm really glad we walked through the market, because this was what I'd been looking for. This is the kind of place that reminds you you're in a totally different world, full of foods you've never seen before and you can only guess at how to eat. There were giant baskets and tubs of all kinds of dried fish, dried mushrooms and chilies, bright red sausages hanging from the ceilings, big blocks of uncooked ramen noodles, nuts laid out to dry, and tons of jars of sauces. As it turns out, the dried fish smell a lot better up close than they do from far away. We've had some of the little tiny silver ones in fried rice dishes, but never the big ones. Mike, ever curious, asked one of the store owners how you cook with the fish, and she said they're for soups or for grilling. And she said you don't have to soak the fish first or anything, you just throw it on the grill and eat. We didn't get any to try this time, but maybe in the future we'll fire some up. We walked all around the complex, and even though it was Saturday, it seemed very slow. The only customers were older men and women, wandering around and looking at the wares; I saw an older lady sneaking a raisin out of a big tub of them. There was one old man who was walking around, shirtless and barefoot, carrying a bag of dried shrimp, and he seemed to sum up the whole feeling of the market.

As we were leaving, another older lady with a red umbrella was walking towards us and she gave us a huge smile and said "Welcome to Singapore!" She asked where we were from, and we said the United States. For some reason, when older people see us, they love to ask us where we're from. (But in a nice way, not in an Arizona way ohsnap!) She got very excited we were from the U.S., and she told us she loved snow, even though she'd only seen it on TV. When we told her we were from Texas, she said she has a friend who lives in Houston who works at American Express and whose name is Lorraine (hey!). She said goodbye and told us to enjoy our vacation as she walked away. Mike and I didn't bother to contradict her, it didn't seem polite to correct her and say we live here now.

Besides, the more I think about it, the more I agree with the nice lady. Yes, we live here, but we're still just visiting. We ARE tourists here, there's really no way we can be anything but that. My desire to see the foreign parts of Singapore is precisely what makes me an outsider; if you consider something to be alien, then you mark it as being not your own. The only thing foreign at that fish market was me. I don't think I'll ever say the word "home" and mean our place here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I may be a tourist, I may be on a two year vacation, but I'd rather be earnest and naive than blasé about this experience. I like discovering new things, trying different flavors, and being surprised. If that makes me a visitor, well that's fine by me.

Back Inaction

So we're in the second monsoon season in Singapore, which is roughly from June to September. It doesn't rain all day, but it has been fairly more consistent. This morning I heard Mike's alarm go off, and it was so dark outside I thought it was still the middle of the night. Luckily I got to go back to sleep for a few more hours, but it was still pretty gross outside when I finally dragged myself out of bed. I like rainy days like this, when you can curl up with a book and a cup of tea and you have to turn the lights on because it's so overcast outside. Plus, the rain helps cut the heat a little, if not the humidity.

Since we're finally feeling healthy again, we got to do all the stuff we wanted to do this weekend. We met our friends Neil and Elaine at a food court in Bugis and Mike and I got Indonesian food: curry chicken with lime rice and egg on a banana leaf. I've never had lime rice before, it was really delicious and slightly green; unfortunately, I think it may have ruined normal rice for me now, because white rice will never be as interesting to me.

Next we went to Bras Basah again to look at books, because hey, you can never have too many books. I really like that complex, because unlike the rest of Singapore, it's a little dirty and old looking. I happen to like that look, I've always found the best used book stores to be a little sketchy and run down. Like maybe you could trade a pint of clean urine for a couple hardcovers. It makes it feel that much more authentic. Mike found a piece of wooden board on his way to work that he wants to paint on, so we also wanted to stop by the art store to look around.

However, before we went, we got a little sidetracked. When we got off at the City Hall station and started walking, turns out we couldn't get far because the whole street was filled with tanks. A passerby told us they were practicing for the National Day Parade, even though it's a few weeks away. Singapore's Independence Day is August 9th, commemorating their separation from Malaysia in 1965. The more you know! Apparently there are fireworks, tanks, and floats, which all sounds pretty cool. However, as Mike pointed out, it probably also includes thousands of people crammed into one block party, so we're not sure if we're up to going yet. But we got some excellent shots of the tanks, including one where you can see a girl soldier texting. Now, I don't want to tell people how to act, but it makes me a little nervous when someone riding in a working tank is not giving it their full attention.

We finally got to Bras Basah, and I found four books I wanted to get, but only got two this time because they were getting kind of heavy. I hid the other ones, so hopefully when I go back no one will have pilfered them. Mike decided to get watercolors instead of paint, so the garbage board gets to stay in our spare room a little longer. Goody.

Sunday we went to get brunch, Singapore style: dumplings! We went to a restaurant that makes all kinds of fresh dumplings. It's a huge operation judging by the amount of chefs. The kitchen is behind a large pane of glass, so you can watch them make the dough, roll it out, and stuff it. They have a certain number of folds they have to put into each dumpling, and it has to be the exact same amount on each individual one. It looks absolutely mind numbing, but also something I would totally want to try and learn. We ordered SO much food, somehow we always end up ordering at least three times the amount of all the other customers. Whatever, we're bigger, we need more sustenance. We got pork, shrimp, spicy crab, and spinach dumplings, plus chili wantons and pork buns. I still think it's probably healthier than an American brunch, since no gravy was included

The same can't be said of our dinner tonight; for some reason, Mike and I were both starving when he got off work, so we finally caved and went to Carl's Jr. It was everything I remember from my childhood and more. We both got Western Bacon Cheeseburgers, though Mike got the "thick" variety and I got the regular. We got slightly food drunk and started laughing, and Mike announced with his mouth full of burger that he had never been prouder of America. USA! USA!

On a final note, I've decided I'm going to start referring to Mike and myself as "Texpats" because I think it's hilarious and clever.

Ugh

I am sick AGAIN. This is getting ridiculous. The travel books warned us that people get sick more often here, though I'm not sure if it's because there are so many people in one small place, or if the hot weather has something to do with it. Whatever the reason, apparently Singapore is just a giant sticky petri dish of germs, and they keep ATTACHING to us.

Me and Mike both have bad head colds, which is seriously the illness I hate the most. I find it cruel and unusual that my body can feel relatively fine, yet my head feels so disgusting and achy. I wish there was a way to cut off my head just below the neck, like cutting off the bruised part of a fruit. That doesn't seem like a normal thought, now that I look at it in writing. I just can't stand being stuffed up, and it's really hard for me to sleep when I can't breathe through my nose. So not only am I congested, I'm cranky from a lack of sleep. Poor Mike.

On top of everything, I had to go to the grocery store because we ran out of bread and milk, etc. I did manage to get a shot of the packaged durian they cut up in the store, which makes the whole place stink. As you can see, it's as unattractive in appearance as it is in smell. Up close, it looks like a naked mole rat, with all that wrinkly skin. Only yellow, and packaged. It looks exactly like a jaundiced naked mole rat wrapped in cellophane.

Anyway, as I was standing at the checkout line (or "queue" as they call it here), the cashier started chatting to me. I could only partially understand what she was saying, since her accent was pretty thick. She asked me if I was in school, and I said no, I was done with school. She kind of gave me a weird look and asked again, and I realized she was asking if MY CHILDREN were in school. So that's great, that makes me feel really good about myself. Not only do I not feel well, I look like I'm old enough to have children in school. Awesome. I guess I'm officially at that point in my life where I can't pass for a college kid anymore.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to drink a cup of tea, eat a prune, and give up on life.

Awesomeness

I have a confession to make: I love puzzles. Crosswords are my favorite, but plain old jigsaws are a close second. And the tackier the artwork, the better. If it has a rainbow and a unicorn, I want it. If it's a Thomas Kinkade paint-by-numbers cottage with God rays, I'll take it. If it looks like it came out of a Wal-Mart reduced price bin, all the better. It's not so much that I find them fun, but something about completing a big jigsaw puzzle is very satisfying to me, like scratching an itch. I also enjoy untangling things. I'm not entirely sure what this says about me as a person, but it probably has something to do with deep-seated neuroses.

So, yes, I am a puzzle junky. And given my predilection for the eye sore variety, you'll understand how excited I was to find the puzzle pictured above. Mike and I found it on sale for $2.90 at the mall. It's an orange-haired, robe-wearing character from Bleach, a Japanese manga. According to Wikipedia, "Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki after he accidentally obtains the power of a Soul Reaper—a death personification similar to the Grim Reaper—from Rukia Kuchiki. Gaining these abilities forces him to take on the duties of defending humans from evil spirits and guiding departed souls to the afterlife."

That all sounds great, but this has to be the LAZIEST drawing I've ever seen. First of all, there's no background, just the color blue. And it's pretty obvious the artist didn't feel like putting any effort into the bigger version of Mr. Kurosaki. He doesn't even have any arms! It's just a big torso! I used to do that in middle school when I didn't feel like putting hands on my sketches, and I never got to have my work turned into a puzzle. I mean, for the love of God, it's a cartoon, not photo-realism. Would it have been too hard to give him limbs?

The finished product:

How awesome does that look?! I want to hang this on the wall so people can come and admire it. What an excellent way to spend my day.

Lurking

I'm thinking of growing out my bangs. (Yes, I know no one is interested, but this is my blog dammit, so you will read every inane thought that comes into my mind.) My reasoning is twofold: first of all, they grow pretty fast, and I don't want to have to keep trimming them. More importantly, my face gets sweaty whenever we go outside, and my bangs always end up plastered to my forehead. I've also forsaken any kind of make-up, since it just melts off. Basically, I look like crap all the time. Luckily, I'm married, so no matter how bad I look, Mike still has to love me because HE PROMISED. So it's settled: growing out the bangs.

We started off the weekend with a pretty full day. Mike decided he had craving for ranch style borracho beans, so we went to the grocery store to get what we needed. We had to search around awhile, but we finally found some pinto beans hidden away in a lonely imported foods section. Going to the grocery store on a Saturday is always a nightmare, but it's especially bad in Singapore, since the aisles are tiny as well as packed. Plus, the music they play is awful; I had successfully avoided hearing "My Heart Will Go On" for at least five years up until today. You win again, Celine.

We dropped our groceries at home and then went to get some lunch. We've been meaning to try this restaurant called Lerk Thai, which I like to refer to as Loitering Asian. (There's also this bakery here called Bread Talk, which sounds like it was named by somebody with synesthesia.) Anyway, Lerk Thai has this papaya salad Mike wanted to try since we saw Bourdain try it on TV. It was a little too heavy on the fish sauce for me, but Mike liked it. He got some red curry chicken, and I got pineapple fried rice, both of which were excellent. However, my dish came in a hollowed-out pineapple, so advantage: Emma.

After that we headed back to Bras Basah, since we wanted to get some more used books. I'm on a mystery kick right now, I think watching so much Law & Order has started to warp my brain. I'm so glad we found this place, since I'm going through books at an alarming rate, and I can't afford to support my habit if I buy new. I found a copy of Let the Right One In which I'm very excited about, since I really enjoyed the movie. Why is it that every time any foreign movie does remotely well, Hollywood feels the need to remake it? We're American, we're not stupid; we can read subtitles.

...But not tonight, tonight we're watching The Big Lebowski and eating beans. Class all the way.

Number Thirty

So this is my 30th post on my blog! Very exciting, it's almost like I've actually accomplished something. I will dedicate this post to my sister, who also recently celebrated something to do with the number thirty.

Saturday morning we got a treat, our care package from home finally came! We had been anxiously waiting for it, since we ordered new DVDs to watch, and mom promised to add some goodies to the box. Our moms have been so sweet, sending us things from home, especially since shipping is ridiculously expensive. Mike's mom sent us new sheets, which we immediately put to use. Ikea may make great furniture, but their sheets are weirdly scratchy and uncomfortable. Mom went all out, and got us new soap, new toothbrushes, and new deodorant, which we definitely need. For some reason, deodorant sticks here are really tiny, they're short and thin compared to what we're used to. It's like doll deodorant. You'd think since it's so hot here, they'd want massive, extra strength deodorant, but I guess that's just wishful thinking. Anyway, thanks for the packages moms! It's almost like being back home, when we used to steal things like soap and toilet paper and food to avoid going shopping.

We went to a barbecue this weekend that two of our new friends were throwing. One of Mike's co-workers, Nick, just got a job in New Zealand and will be leaving our little island for another, bigger island, so he and his girlfriend hosted a farewell barbecue. I'll miss them, but I could tell they were both pretty happy to be going closer to home. It was a fun mishmash of people, lots of Australians, a couple Canadians, one more American besides us, and a lone Swede. Poor little Swede, I think he's suffering the most from culture shock and seems a little down. Or maybe that's just the Nordic personality.

It was bring your own meat, since meat gets pretty pricey here, but Nick made a bunch of chicken wings for everyone. Mike and I decided to celebrate the Fourth of July early, and brought burgers and potato salad. There were some local flavors added in too; in addition to burgers, steaks, wings, and chips, someone brought prawn crackers and crunchy seaweed.

It's funny, whenever we're hanging out with people who aren't from Singapore, all our conversations inevitably devolve into what foods we miss the most from home. It goes: talking about work, talking about movies, talking about home, FOOD. I think it must be a universal thing. According to Paul the Aussie, there's an Outback restaurant in Australia, but it's not like Outback Steakhouse; apparently it's like Medieval Times but with Australian cowboys instead of knights. I would very much like to go. We had a lot of fun grossing people out with tales of terrible-for-you Southern food, like biscuits and gravy, chicken fried steak, and Chuy's big as your face burritos. Gee, I wonder why obesity is such a problem in our country....Paul looked particularly horrified when I told him about sweet potato fries dusted with brown sugar. "Why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good chip?" was his reaction. Now, I don't even care for sweet potato fries, but I feel that people who eat Vegemite are in NO position to judge.

Down Time

Sorry for the delay in posting, we've been a little under the weather, so nothing seemed exciting enough to write about. But my good friend Laura (aka the cat whisperer) informed me that she was impatiently waiting for a new post, even if said post ended up being mostly about making tea and soup.

So Mike caught a cold, and he's been sick all week. This place is so hot and humid, it's basically just one big petri dish, so germs spread pretty quickly. Of course he refuses to take any time off, so I've been trying to cure him through willpower alone. It doesn't help that our AC has been acting like a schizophrenic off his meds. At first it just stopped blowing cold air, so we had to sleep with the fan on high and aimed directly at our faces. Now, getting the AC fixed here is not as easy as it is back home. You don't just call the apartment office and ask someone to come fix it. No, WE are responsible for paying for the repairs, and WE have to call a repair company. I guess it's fair, since we pay so little in rent...wait...

Anyway, our agent recommended a company to call, but he sent Mike a rather ominous text (and I quote):

"Please be very careful. Some contractors here are very unethical. They may cook up stories about parts spoilt and needed to be replaced, to get more money out of your pocket...especially when they see caucasians. Many mechanics and contractors are like this in S'pore."

So naturally, we were pretty scared, but I guess that's just how it is. To be fair, though, mechanics in America aren't exactly known for their honesty either.  Anyway, the guys came and messed around with the unit (thatswhatshesaid), and of course, told me we needed to replace a condenser something-or-other and it would be $80. I tried to tell them we just wanted it serviced, but the guy insisted it wouldn't be cold without this piece. The way I figured, I could say "no, we just want it serviced," pay the $40 and then call another company to come out and service it, but that would be another $40. So I said screw it, I'll just pay the white tax and suck it up.

This would be all well and good, but then the damn thing went crazy again. It didn't stop working, but it started blowing FREEZING air, and we couldn't turn down the temperature. The unit started to drip water, and then giant chunks of ice started falling out of it and shattering on the floor. Mike suggested we make snow cones. I think sleeping in an ice box made him sicker. So we called the guys again, and they came to fix it again, and now I guess we'll see what cruel fate awaits us next. It'll probably catch on fire and shoot bolts of lightening. Clearly, Zeus, king of the Gods, has possessed our AC wall unit. Where's a Greek exorcist when you need one?

So that's been the focus of the past few days, but we did manage to have a nice relaxing weekend. Since Mike was feeling bad, we mostly stayed in. We've been craving Tex-Mex like crazy, so Sunday we got to work and spent all day making carnitas. It was a lengthy process, since we had to make everything from scratch, including tortillas and salsa. I don't know how the hell women used to do all this before packaged food and restaurants. Just cooking one meal from scratch was exhausting and hot, I can't imagine having to do that three times a day for a bunch of ungrateful men folk. They must have spent all damn day in the kitchen. I would probably end up putting arsenic in the mashed potatoes. Just further proof I was not cut out for the frontier life. Also, I got a pretty horrible chili oil burn on my hand. That one's on me, though, I should have known better than to cut up chilies without protection. It felt like I was wearing a glove made of FIRE. But it was totally worth it, because the food came out delicious and our Tex-Mex taste buds are satiated for now. Or at least till next weekend, when we'll probably make them again. Seriously, they came out really good.

Also Mike got new swim trunks. Hooray! The only thing I think he's missing is a cape. To be continued...

Why, Singapore?

I'd like to introduce you to a new segment of my blog, entitled "Why, Singapore?" Think of it as a sort of list of grievances to counterbalance all the good things about this place.

Today's "Why, Singapore?" was inspired by an insipid commercial that is DRIVING ME INSANE. The thing about Singapore TV is that they have very few commercials. No car ads, no movie trailers, no jingles for McDonald's or the like. The only commercials I've seen are for Dettol (the Asian equivalent of Clorox), Dove shampoo, and Febreeze. Mostly what they play are advertisements for other shows, often ones that were canceled back home, like the unasked-for remake of Knight Rider. Now, this may seem like a good thing--oh yay, fewer commercials, more TV--but NO. What actually happens is that the same commercials get played over and over and over, until Mike and I can't get them out of our brains.

There's the repeated ad for NCIS that plays "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones. A weird one for Law and Order: SVU that markets the show as a comedy. A badly dubbed commercial for toothpaste.

But the worst offender by far is the one they play the most often, on every channel. I swear I see this damn thing at least ten times a day, and it burrows into your mind. I have taken to angrily muting and yelling at the TV whenever it comes on. Watch the following about 15 times in a row, and you'll get what I'm experiencing.

http://www.singaporesports.sg/cheerSG.aspx

I don't what's more offensive: the song, the dance (and I use that term lightly), or the dude's hair. All I know is that this is, without a doubt, the most annoyed I've ever been by a commercial.

This has been "Why, Singapore?"

Branching Out, Staying In

Tuesday night Mike got us tickets from work to go see Prince of Persia. (Yay perks!) I had extremely low expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be, although apparently in Hollywood, white man plus eye liner equals Persian. Poor Iranians, but I think I'd still take Jake Gyllenhaal in make-up over the weirdly voiced drag queen from 300 to represent my people. We sneaked in some candy, forgetting that everyone brings food into the theaters here, but it added an element of intrigue. After the movie, we ran into one of Mike's co-workers and his girlfriend and went to get a drink at a food stand around the corner. I had to use one the outdoor bathrooms by a 7-11, which was one of the more terrifying experiences of my life. Everything was dripping wet, since the preferred method of cleaning here is to just hose everything down. I don't know whether it was the combination of beer and candy, or just that we don't drink as much as we used to, but man did I feel like crap the next day. No more Toblerone for me, thanks.

So tonight is our first attempt at making Thai food at home. Mike has made it before, so he's going to show me how. Up till now, we've mostly stuck with easy things, like pasta or pizza, since our kitchen isn't as fully equipped as one back home. We're planning on making green curry chicken, which we both really like. Sure, we could just go to a hawker stand and get some for cheap, but that's not the point. The point is for me to figure out how to make it at home, so I can impress people when we move back and be obnoxious about how worldly we are. "Oh, well, when we lived in SINGAPORE, we used to get this all the time. It's a very common SINGAPOREAN dish. It might be too spicy for you, since we like to make it the way they do in SINGAPORE. Would you like some chopsticks?" Man, people are going to hate me.

So first things first, we went to Tampines to stock up on ingredients. All the Asian spices that are so hard to find back home are in abundance here. And super cheap, too, which seems amazing considering how much cinnamon is. We got kaffir lime leaves, bird's eye chillies, coconut milk, lemongrass, and curry paste. Then we got a bunch of vegetables and chicken, forgetting that eggplant is heavy and we had to walk home.

One thing that sucks about our kitchen: no air conditioning. While this does make it feel more authentic when cooking Thai food, it's also really freaking hot in there. It's like being in a delicious smelling sauna. I took some pictures to document our progress, and we look drenched in all of them. At least my heat rash has gone away....for NOW.

I have to say, the curry turned out so unbelievably good. It was sweet and spicy, and the chicken just fell apart as soon as I bit into it. I'm very impressed with Mike's Thai cooking skills, which he probably should have hid better. Now I'm going to make him make this all the time. Live and learn.

Streets Ahead

We spent most of today running across Singapore trying to find all the places we've been meaning to go but haven't gotten around to yet. It was satisfying, but it's the end of the day and my feet are killing me and I have a heat rash spreading across my chest. Lovely. I am such a classy woman.

First we went to Bras Basah, which is a very eclectic and arty section of Singapore. The Bras Basah Complex has five stories of used book stores, art supplies, and music shops. It's pretty much right up our alley. We were in desperate need of a trip to this place, since Mike has been bored without a sketchbook in the evenings, and I've gone through twelve books since we got here. We've seen other book stores, but new books in Singapore cost around $17, which just doesn't work for me. We found a great little shop called Evernew, where we picked up six used books for $10. I'm super excited, and I got a pretty good variety of overly-indulgent mystery, hokey fantasy, and genuine literature. We discovered the Singapore version of Michael's on the third floor, the only thing it's lacking is that weird dusty perfume smell. They have clay and paint and brushes and those little food erasers my mother is so fond of. Mike got a new sketchpad and pencils and pens, and immediately started sketching when we got to our next stop....

Arab Street! I've been wanting to go back there for awhile, since I didn't bring the camera last time. Something about this area is just so peaceful, it's completely unlike the rest of the city. The shop keepers don't hassle you, there aren't very many people around to jostle you, and the view of the mosque through the palm trees is breathtaking. I think this might be one of my favorite places here, it's small and secluded, and I just feel comfortable there. Everyone takes their time to stroll down the road, and that sense of calmness is infectious. Mike was hungry, so he sat at the restaurant we went to last time, Deli Morocco, and ordered us some chicken tajin and sketched while I browsed along the row of shops. I found a place full of handmade Malay artwork and crafts; it had swords and creepy looking shadow puppets as well as toys and instruments made from things like coconut shell and wood. It's just like being at World Market, but I finally won't feel stupid buying a frog made out of bamboo.

Our last stop was not very exciting, but Mike has been in sore need of a pair of clippers. His strong, manly beard has been growing at an alarming rate, and simple razors are no match for such thick masculine bristles. So we braved the mall on a Saturday, which was less than fun, but we got out with what we came for. We also picked up some Magnum Gold?! (seriously, that's how it's punctuated in the ads with Benidio Del Toro) ice cream bars, which sound like condoms but are indeed as delicious as Mr. Del Toro claims they are.

Also, on the walk home, we passed a family walking with their two kids, and Mike scared the little girl and she screamed. I think she thought he was an ogre. It really made my day complete.

Three Day Weekend

We've had a very full weekend, and it actually started on Thursday when we went to the Raffles City Mall, which is one of about a thousand malls they have in Singapore. We needed to get a cooler for the weekend, but we also wanted to take a look at some stores that one of Mike's coworkers had told us about. On the fifth floor of the mall there are four stores in a row that all sell the most awesome action figures and figurines I've ever seen. It was amazing, and I'm going to have to geek out for a bit, so please skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear me wax lyrical about Star Wars memorabilia. Not only did they have life sized statues of Yoda and Darth Maul, but they had huge and detailed Alien figures, Predator heads, and a bust of Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn that I am very tempted to get for a friend who needs some cheering up. They had really detailed figures from Harry Potter that were clearly hand crafted by very talented and very lonely men. They had action figures of classic X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Hellboy--just pretty much any nerdy cartoon or movie was represented. I think my favorites were the bookends of Han Solo and Greedo with their guns drawn, and the Lost Boys action figure of Keifer Sutherland. That one came with two heads that you could switch out; regular Keifer, and vampire Kiefer. If I am ever in a position were I have around six hundred dollars to blow on a bust of a T-600 (that's a Terminator, mom) I know exactly where I'm going.

Even though Memorial Day isn't celebrated here (a tragedy), we still got to have a three day weekend. Friday was Vesak Day, which is a Buddhist holiday that commemorates the birth and enlightenment of Buddha. Since most Singaporeans are Buddhist, our whole neighborhood smelled like incense all day, and we saw a lot of shrines set up in people's yards. A few of Mike's friends from work invited us to go to the beach with them, so we packed up the cooler with some beer and snacks and headed out to Sentosa again.

I have to say, Australians are really fun people. All of the ones that I've met have been cheerful and outgoing, and we had a great time at the beach with them. It's nice to be able to talk to people who have gone through everything we're going through; most of these guys moved here sometime in the past six months and were full of useful information and funny stories. One of the things that we've been kind of annoyed with is how we tend to get overcharged for things like taxi rides and beer because we're not Singaporean, which everyone else could sympathize with. Somehow just trading stories about feeling out of place makes everything funny instead of frustrating; laughter always takes the edge off. Anyway, I'm very excited that we have friends now, and the boys have been really nice about including us when they go out. I'm thankful for that, and hopefully we can return the favor with the next batch of newbies.

We spent most of Saturday just hanging out at home. Mike checked out some movies from work, and we dedicated the afternoon to watching The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. We've been in a classic American cinema kind of mood, and nothing says America like a film shot in Spain by an Italian. We went to the grocery store for a meal to accompany the movie, and snagged some chili and the ingredients to make tortillas. I tried my best, but they still didn't come out as good as I'd hoped. Someone has promised to email me their mother's recipe (I'm waiting, buddy), so next time they'll hopefully be mas delicioso. We're seriously jonesing for Tex-Mex over here; what I wouldn't give for some carnitas from Curra's. Mmmmm. But on the bright side, we got some chips and salsa, which should hold us over for the time being.

Yesterday we braved the Singapore Food Expo, which was pretty insane. It's basically an opportunity for merchants to showcase and sample their products, which I guess is helpful since there are thousands of places to eat in this city and it's hard to narrow down where to eat. Singaporeans take food very seriously, so the turn out was no surprise; there were so many people there, it was hard to move. There were so many stands, we really only got to see probably a third of what was there. And they had stands that seemed only tangentially related to food, like one stand that sold oils for your body and a few places selling medicinal roots and herbs. The whole Expo center smelled like a combination of smoked meat and seafood, and there was steam rising everywhere. We got a bunch of food to try, including a pork sandwich, a sort of seafood sausage, chicken satay, and pan fried pork buns with mango custard. The seafood sausage was very different; it was kind of like someone mashed up a bunch of fish and shrimp, and then cooked it in a banana leaf. The consistency was kind of mushy and soft, like a paste instead of something solid. It's hard to describe the taste beyond "fishy"; I think it's one of those tastes we're just not used to. The pan fried pork rolls were absolutely delicious, though, and I could have eaten at least a dozen of them. They were sweet and salty, with a crispy bottom and little green onions and sesame seeds on top.