Letter #55 - Singapore Day 1.

Here it is, Day 1 of my trip to Singapore.

Got up at 5 am in the morning, cause Uncle Andy our driver for the trip, wanted to leave early to avoid jams and such. Got ready, double checked everything, and met up with the others at McDonalds at 6. Put the bags into the back of the van, and filled out forms for immigration purposes. Everyone was already at McDonalds by then, except for Beng Way, who apparently "forgot" that we're leaving for Singapore so early. When he finally showed up, it was already 6.30. Half an hour later than we originally planned, but all seemed good.

The guys had to take turns sitting in front accompanying Uncle Andy throughout the trip, and I figured since everyone would be sleeping this early in the morning anyway, why not take the opportunity to sit in front first? Talked for a bit with Uncle Andy, and witnessed a poor bird flying into the path of our van and get rammed with a loud thud. Poor thing. Ended up not sleeping all the way to the first stop, a rest area. Had a toilet break, then swapped places with someone from the back, cant remember who it was now though. Finally managed to get some sleep in the van, and someone took advantage of that to take this.

*snore*

Had lunch at a hawker stall in Melaka before going through immigration and crossing over into Singapore. Upon arrival, we made our first stop at a food court somewhere in Singapore, but right next to my aunt's apartment. Singapore has tons of food courts I tell you. Throughout the entire trip, we only ate at food courts, but never in the same one. After lunch, we visited the Singapore Zoo, as planned.


Saw lots of interesting animals there, but roughly half of those animals were monkeys. There were a few memorable ones though, like...

the "flasher" and "mooner" baboons,

the "angry" hippo,

the "weird" spider,

the "lazy" polar bear,

and of course, the "blue chicken".

There was also this giant alligator, which was about triple my height in length.

Yeah, that long fella.

Which made me wonder what it would feel like to have your head in between it's jaws. So I thought, why not give it a try? And so I did.

Just kidding.

The weather was hot as hell, with all of us sweating away whilst trying to navigate through the whole zoo with Joel as our guide. Finally made one full circle throughout the zoo, and I resorted to my usual "cooling down" habit. Ice. This time, however, I took it one step further.

That's the stuff.

Met up again with everyone after that, and left the zoo for our hotel, a cheap but comfortable hotel called Value Hotel Thomson. Checked in, and went up to my room, only to find the door wide open and the TV on. It didnt help that my room number was 911 either. Went down to check, and was told that they were "airing" the room to allow some fresh air in as the room's window couldnt be opened. Took a shower, and then gathered downstairs to go for dinner at another food court.

Visited the famous Merlion after dinner, taking lots of pictures and just enjoying the view.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel, or as we call it, "The Boat Building.

Got this picture from a website, we didnt have the chance to go up and see for ourselves.

Kai Xiang's so happy to be in Singapore!

Went shopping at Bugis Junction after that, it's something like Vietnam's Ben Thanh market or our regular pasar malams here in Malaysia.


We didnt buy anything, except stopping at a nearby 7-11 to get a refreshing slurpee. Went back to the hotel not long after that, around 10.30 to watch a football match and then fall into a deep slumber, to prepare for the roller coasters the next day! Or so we thought. More on this in the next blog post!

Day 2 coming right up!



College starts tomorrow, signaling the end of a two week break :(