National Day

On the 9th of August is Singapore's National Day which involves a lot of people coming to the city centre wearing red and white (the national colours) to watch parades, concerts, and fireworks!

Fireworks may only be alighted when it's done by government officials on public holidays.

We went to Marina Bay with a big group of people to enjoy the fireworks and later hang out on the bridge at Clarke Quay.

FOOD

First off, some "safe food" at the Soup Spoon.

At the supermarket I bought this sushi lunch for 2,50 EURO!

Thai Express was ok, but not as flavourful as I expected. Steer clear of chendola (jelly drinks).

Indian curry chicken prata; quite nice, but they often don't give a knife in the restaurant for you to cut the meat off of the bone. On my list: try mutton prata (prata is the bread pancake).

Today I ate this at the hawker centre; it's "2 veg 1 meat" with green beans, tofu, and sweet&sour chicken. It was quite yummy - a good lunch for 2 EUR.

In Singapore, I don't cook, because it's much more economically efficient to eat out. Some products here are very cheap while milk for instance costs a lot more and normal bread is nearly impossible to find, because they mostly sell white bread (like American Wonder Bread) that shouldn't even really fall under the category of bread.

At the McCafe they sell cheap coffee/frappes/lates and this delicious heated up cinnamon bun!

Yummy!!!

Kamer

My room!

Siloso Beach + City Tour

On Friday I went to Siloso Beach on Sentosa with some friends and it was gorgeous. The sand was white, there were places to sit and eat. The only thing was; it didn't quite feel like a normal beach, because about 500m into the water were huge freighter ships (by the 100s) blocking the view of the ocean. Sentosa island is in the middle of the port!

Yesterday I went on a city tour with other SMU students and we went to the Buddha Tooth Temple in Chinatown, Little India, Arab St. mosque, the water filter (Singapore water is recycled!), and went on a night safari in the Singapore zoo. There were no fences between us and the animals so it felt very much as if we were in the wild - especially since the zoo is located in a jungle. We also took a bus tour through the city and the bus functioned as a boat, too, so we drove into the water (that sounds funny) and took a boat tour as well.

The city is very pretty, clean, and uber modern!

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel is amazing - it has a great view over the city and I plan to get a room with some friends so that we can go to the pool located on the "ship" at the top.

This was at the water recycling center (Marina Barrage) where I got to know my fellow classmates and new exchange friends better. :)

We were supposed to go to Universal Studios today, but it was raining. However, the ticket is available for the next 5 months so I will certainly go on another day.

When it rains here, it rains a LOT! Thankfully umbrellas were invented.

Pictures!

These are some of the pictures from my first days in SG!

Singaporeans want to be white so they sell tons of whitening products. They also love creams, facials, and body lotion. Half the drugstore is filled with such products.

The Singaporeans love food. At the Soup Spoon they have wall decorations that are really fun and modern. Most restaurants are actually fun and modern!

Myself enjoying a "beauty from within" juicy drink @ Ion Orchard. They have all types of drinks; for pregnancy, PMS, slimming, skincare - quite funny.

The first picture of my room: this part is the living room that I will be sharing with 3 other girls.

First Days

During my first 24 hrs in Singapore I visited Ion Orchard and Clarke Quay.

Ion Orchard is the ultimate shopping mall. There are four floors with one floor dedicated to a huge food court. The mall opened in 2009 and features many familiar shops; Zara, Mango, Bershka, but also American stores such as bebe, 7 for All Mankind, Steve Madden. There is a huge M&S store with a special food section (if you crave some porridge or tea biscuits) and there are also some small boutiques that remind me of the Asian-themed stores in Camden Market, London.

At Ion Orchard, I was overwhelmed with choices. There were so many options! Perhaps too many?

One store was amazingly awesome; I had never seen anything like it. The name read “kikki k: Swedish design” and it featured stationary products that would make any organizational freak (ahum) drool. Link: www.kikki-k.com

Clarke Quay is a popular area filled with restaurants, outdoor dining/lounging, and a bustling nightlife. The scenery represents a colorful colonial lifestyle – perhaps representative of what I will be experiencing these next few months. It's a great place to have drinks and I think I'll be coming there quite often.

Last night I met other exchange students and a really nice guy (he was almost local) showed us where to go and we actually ended up at a comedy club. It was my first time experiencing stand-up comedy and the people on stage were actually pretty good! A lot of jokes about Chinese sizing , eating culture, and Singaporean habits were made.

Prime example: "Singaporeans eat more meals a day than that they walk up steps in one week." It just ain't fair how skinny some of them are! Why weren't those genetics passed on to us? :P

Flight

My journey started on Friday morning, the 29th of July, as I passed through customs and made my way to Starbucks. Always a good start – especially before a 12 hour long flight. I departed at 11:15 AM Dutch time on Friday and arrived in Singapore on Saturday morning 5:40 AM. After a quick taxi ride, I had arrived at the Park Regis where I would be staying for 2 nights. The only problem was that at 7 in the morning they didn’t have a clean room available so I had to wait. Luckily enough, my favorite coffee house (guess which one) was right around the corner and I was able to fully appreciate the awesomeness of a Kindle (reading about Becky Bloomwood).

Observations:

• Singaporeans love food. There are so many restaurant and coffee places EVERYWHERE! And most of them are close to the sidewalk, with huge windows, so that you always have a view of what’s going on outside.

• The weather is… hot. I may have mentioned this before, but it’s really true. In the morning it’s rather pleasant, but in the afternoon it’s like you’ve walked into a warm blanket. Note to self: relax and walk slowly (not the fast Dutch pace).

• There are all types of people here. Malay, Chinese, Indian, Mixed, Brits. It kind of makes me feel special, because I am part of a “minority” now. Most of the Caucasians are easily recognizable as either Brits or Aussies.

• The city is hectic with loads of people, but it still feels very serene and calm. Take it easy kind of vibe. Maybe I feel this, because currently I don’t yet have too many things to do and can experience Singapore fully.


P.s. I was looking out of the window of the plane and when we were flying through the night sky above northern Pakistan we witnessed a thunder storm. It lasted nearly half an hour and lighted up the sky with beautiful lightning strikes; created a bit of an ominous feeling, but very cool to witness.