Sentosa

So yesterday we were finally able to make it to the beach! If you've seen the pictures, and I think most of you have, you'll understand how totally floored we were. It's probably the most beautiful place I've ever been, and every picture looked like it could be a postcard. Greetings from exotic Singapore!

But backing up, we started our day with calorie rich kopi (that's the coffee with condensed milk) and some surprisingly light walnut bread from the bakery across the street. I put on THREE, count 'em, THREE layers of sunscreen and donned my swimsuit. We caught the bus to Harbour Front and got off at Sentosa station. There's a special train that takes you to Sentosa, since it's actually an island. They built a kind of monorail that goes above the bridge, and then it has three stops on the island. From the rail, you can see the giant lion statue that towers over Sentosa; Singapore was originally Singapura, which means lion city. The first stop takes you to Universal Studios, which I'd actually like to go to sometime, but only about half of it is open right now. Apparently there's a Battlestar Galactica roller coaster, which is pretty frakin' sweet.

We got off at the beach front, and proceeded to have our minds blown. It was still pretty early, so not a lot of people were there. To quote the Counting Crows, it's been so long since I've seen the ocean...I forgot how much I love it. The view was somewhat ruined by a small army of tankers out on the ocean, but Singapore is a port city, so there are always ships around. Basically, Sentosa is dotted with other little islands, which are close enough to swim to but mark the cut-off of where you can venture. I was wondering why there were buoys with ropes strung between the islands, so I asked Mike. "Shark nets," he said, with a gleam in his eye. I'm pretty sure Mike's greatest goal in life is to hunt and kill a great white shark. He's pretty annoyed they're endangered. This is what happens when you become obsessed with Jaws at a young age.

We walked around the beach for a mile or so, just admiring the views. Finally we found a nice shady palm tree, and once we hit the water we didn't come out for hours. It's so warm, and the little islands buffer the waves. We looked for shells, got freaked out by seaweed, and swam to some of the smaller and rockier islands and walked around.

This was definitely the most touristy place we've been. I don't mean that in a bad way, it in no way diminished how beautiful the beach was. We saw a ton of Europeans wearing Speedos, which I'll just never understand. There were a lot of people from Australia there; I think it's only about a 5 hour flight away, so a lot of them vacation here. But I haven't seen that many white people in awhile, it was a little disconcerting. Also, not to sound intolerant, but I think it would SUCK to be Muslim when you're at the beach. I saw at least three fully clothed women in head scarves sitting with their shirtless husbands. They looked hot and not pleased, but I might be projecting.

What is it about swimming that makes you so hungry? I don't know, but we were starving after a couple hours. What's cool about Sentosa is they have all these really nice food and bar areas set up. They look like you'd have to pay to get in, or be some sort of snooty club member. But you just walk over, and sit down at the restaurant you want, or you can order drinks from the lawn chairs and gazebos. Mike and I agreed that burgers are the quintessential beach food, so we ordered two and some beers. It was more expensive than the food in the city, but it was totally worth it. I don't know if it was the view, the beer, the sun, or just being so hungry but DAMN that was one of the best burgers I've ever had. Huge and juicy, with grilled onions, mushrooms, and barbeque sauce. (I realize this blog is becoming basically a food journal, but that's just what people do in Singapore. They eat. And I like to eat too.)

After we ate, we swam again for awhile and took more pictures. We decided to end the trip with a walk over a rope bridge to the smallest and most southern island. They have observation decks you can climb up to look out over the sea. Looking out there, and looking back at the island, was a surreal feeling. The beach backs up to pure JUNGLE, and I mean screeching bugs, howler monkeys, and insane plants jungle. Just looking at this giant wall of trees and vines made me want to grab a machete and go exploring. I think it took looking at that jungle to realize how far away we are. Since Singapore is so westernized, it's easy to forget that we're not in Kansas anymore. The island has a sign that reads "The Southern Most Point of Continental Asia." It struck me that this is the farthest from home I've ever been, and probably every will be. It's a bittersweet feeling; exhilarating, but also a little lonely.

We rode the subway home, sunburned, very tired, and still slightly wet. We got home and showered all the sand off, still kind of in a daze. Aloe is really expensive here, I think because it doesn't grow in the tropics. I caved and got a bottle of it ($11!) since I think that's something we'll be needing in the future. We tried to do some laundry, but that's a story for another day...