Adventures in Singapore seem miles away, but better late than never

Nothing says 'cultural exchange' like a good fart joke. 

written 8/15/2012

Right now I'm sitting in an open kitchen in a location with no address deep in the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. Although it's a simple 1hr and 45 min plane ride from the location I'm going to write about, it feels as if it is a whole different planet. However, the adventures of the last two and a half days here are left for another post. 

I'm not quite sure when I will actually be able to post this, but I'll do my best to keep all my catch-up posts organized. After our adventures in Hong Kong came to a close we headed south to Singapore. I came to Singapore for the sole reason of seeing friends, in particular R, my egyptian friend who I've seen over 5 times in the past year and in 4 different countries. The plane landed and another friend, S, who I was also looking forward to seeing did us a kind favor by picking us up at the airport and escorting us around for a Saturday night on the town.

Traveling on a budget is impossible in Singapore, which is the main reason why we spent so little time there. I was actually anticipating spending more per day in Hong Kong, but luckily this turned out not to be the case. 

We arrived late (around 10:30 pm) and got out on the town for some grub. S took us to a place that served up some unbeatable butter chicken (a ghee based curry dish) which we mopped up with some naan. The next stop was an Indian club, but not really a dance club. The best way to describe it is a strip club, except the women dance to Indian music (mostly Bhangra I believe) and wear saris. No badonkadonks, cookies, or boobies, but plenty of gawking men. Apparently in India, the men make it rain on the women (ie brush bills off of there palms into the air) but Singapore's prices don't allow for such things. We had a pint there then headed to Clark Quay, (pronounced 'key' by the way) for a tall can on the bridge. We people watched and exchanged stories, it wasn't nearly as wild as my first time to the bridge, but after a long plane ride and MB's struggle to adjust to the time zone, the fact that we were even alive past arrival time is a small feat. After a beer or two we wandered around the club area and ended up going to a cheap place with a minimal cover charge and live music. Don't get me wrong, I love live music, but in most cases in Asia a live music bar can be a terrifying nightmare. However these guys were REALLY good. Granted they were on their last set and played mostly drunk cover songs (think Journey people!) but it was awesome. We danced, had a drink and watched all the complete waste-os try to get some. Overall it was an entertaining night and we stayed up until past 4am which allowed for us to finally get adjusted to the time zone. S, if you're reading this, I left my phone in the cab (again) on the way back from the airport so sorry if you smsed me and I didn't respond. Speaking of my phone, it was on it's last leg (it fell apart multiple times a day and couldn't hold a charge for more than 2 hours) so I don't miss it. Plus, R gave me an old one to borrow for my trip so no worries there.

We slept in a bit and then woke up at R's place. R was still in Langkawi on holiday so we opened the door to find one of R's roommates, L, cooking up some Roti. She made us some and gave us some teh tehrik (my fav). We hit it off quite well, she was excited that she could talk with us because two of her other roommates were French, and their guests never spoke English. She's from KL and we talked about the food vs the Singapore food. She mentioned a place nearby that had Penang food (argued to be the best in Malaysia, and therefore, some - if not THE- best in the world). I jumped on this opportunity because MB and I didn't have the time to squeeze in Penang. We all hopped on the MRT and headed over to the place. 

It was DANK...AWESOME...HAPPY...pretty much as authentic as Penang food can get without being the real thing. We got Penang Laksa, squid/cuttlefish (I can't tell the difference) curry, char keow tow (sp?), and various juices. This was the commencement meal to our hari makan (eating day). We decided to walk off the meal and headed to a few markets to pick up beer and fresh fruit. We tried these small nut looking things that actually have fruit that tastes a lot like Lychee (the name escapes me right now...I think it starts with an 'L'), and some mangosteens. It was hard not to eat everything in sight. We also learned that R lives near the 'red light' district of Singapore, which was funny because I thought Singapore was too polite to have one. Apparently it's pretty obvious at night, but it isn't dangerous or anything like that. The only thing that happens is a man might ask you 'how much?' if you are a woman out alone at night. In which case, it would probably be more dangerous for the man as my fist or foot would meet his face or happy spot.  

We headed back to wash up, enjoy some fruit, and wait for R and his girlfriend (another M) to arrive. I was so excited to meet M as I hadn't met her yet and R spoke so well of her. After the reunion we went out again for some makan and a little sight seeing. This time we got some bakuteh (again with the spelling), which is essentially a clay pot stew of broth and spare ribs. Delish and one of my favorites of Singapore. Afterwards we went to get MB some more foot pads, as his achilles had some blisters from his new sandals. Then we decided to head to Arab street, as no visit with R is complete without a shisha session. Not to mention, MB had never been to a shisha establishment so it was a must. The shisha was great despite the wind (ash) and heat, which by this point, was starting to get to me. 

After we left it was about time for buka pasar, or the fast-breaking market that happens during ramadan to start. We headed to the big mosque, which I had never seen before, and strolled through the market. It's always great to wander through these types of markets, and even better to eat at them, but I was already stuffed at this point, so I enjoyed it with my nose. However, R insisted that we stop by Singapore's signature place to buy some Murtabak, which we were planning to eat 'Egyptian style' or on the hood of one's car. This plan quickly backfired because the nastiest thing I have ever witnessed in Singapore occurred in the parking garage, a broken sewer pipe. NASTY. So we opted to take the food back to R's place instead.

Once again, we washed up and I checked my email to get some info on meeting up with my Spanish friend, N by the Marina Bay footbridge. We had agreed to meet as she had a layover there, but both of us had no way of communicating to one another. We walked by the waterfront at night, which MB hadn't seen anyways (I also haven't, despite the fact I had already been to Singapore last year). It was quite charming and really pretty. We waited around for N for about an hour then gave up to makan (eat) one last time. We headed to a hawker center near the Esplanade and I had some mee goreng (fried noodles, nothing too special as I was full enough by this point) with veggies and MB had some chicken wings (the whole wing, stretched out, with tasty dipping sauce and a delicious glaze). We bumped into other CSers there (CouchSurfers) V and his surfer. I hadn't seen V in over a year so it was cool to bump into him. The other surfer had just came from KL and stayed with someone I know there. We were laughing about the 'small world' effect. Apparently it's quite common in Singapore. They say there are 6 degrees of separation but I have been told by more than one person that in Singapore there are only three. 

R dropped us off at his place (he was staying with M for the night so we would have a bed) and wished us well. I was sad to leave, as it felt too short, but Singapore isn't a cheap place to be, and without jobs it was about as much as our wallets could handle. However, we'll be back for 12 hours at the end of our trip and we will at least get to see R and M one last time.

We passed out almost immediately after being on the go for so long. The next morning we awoke, packed our clean laundry (thanks again for letting us use your washer L!) and said bye to L. We snacked on some kaya toast at the airport before we boarded the plane to Bali.

It was a fun start to the trip to be in some of the big, worldly cities. However, I'm thankful to not have to be at an airport for two weeks and to be taking things at a slower pace. The plan is to spend one week in Bali and one week in Java giving us two weeks in Indo. Indo is my favorite country that I've visited in my life thus far and I'm excited to be back. However it's a bit late and the start of the chapter is better left for another post. It's time for me to put some aloe on my sunburns and retire to the Bale underneath the mosquito net.

selamat malam (goodnight)

-M

Nothing says 'cultural exchange' like a good fart joke. 

written 8/15/2012

Right now I'm sitting in an open kitchen in a location with no address deep in the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. Although it's a simple 1hr and 45 min plane ride from the location I'm going to write about, it feels as if it is a whole different planet. However, the adventures of the last two and a half days here are left for another post. 

I'm not quite sure when I will actually be able to post this, but I'll do my best to keep all my catch-up posts organized. After our adventures in Hong Kong came to a close we headed south to Singapore. I came to Singapore for the sole reason of seeing friends, in particular R, my egyptian friend who I've seen over 5 times in the past year and in 4 different countries. The plane landed and another friend, S, who I was also looking forward to seeing did us a kind favor by picking us up at the airport and escorting us around for a Saturday night on the town.

Traveling on a budget is impossible in Singapore, which is the main reason why we spent so little time there. I was actually anticipating spending more per day in Hong Kong, but luckily this turned out not to be the case. 

We arrived late (around 10:30 pm) and got out on the town for some grub. S took us to a place that served up some unbeatable butter chicken (a ghee based curry dish) which we mopped up with some naan. The next stop was an Indian club, but not really a dance club. The best way to describe it is a strip club, except the women dance to Indian music (mostly Bhangra I believe) and wear saris. No badonkadonks, cookies, or boobies, but plenty of gawking men. Apparently in India, the men make it rain on the women (ie brush bills off of there palms into the air) but Singapore's prices don't allow for such things. We had a pint there then headed to Clark Quay, (pronounced 'key' by the way) for a tall can on the bridge. We people watched and exchanged stories, it wasn't nearly as wild as my first time to the bridge, but after a long plane ride and MB's struggle to adjust to the time zone, the fact that we were even alive past arrival time is a small feat. After a beer or two we wandered around the club area and ended up going to a cheap place with a minimal cover charge and live music. Don't get me wrong, I love live music, but in most cases in Asia a live music bar can be a terrifying nightmare. However these guys were REALLY good. Granted they were on their last set and played mostly drunk cover songs (think Journey people!) but it was awesome. We danced, had a drink and watched all the complete waste-os try to get some. Overall it was an entertaining night and we stayed up until past 4am which allowed for us to finally get adjusted to the time zone. S, if you're reading this, I left my phone in the cab (again) on the way back from the airport so sorry if you smsed me and I didn't respond. Speaking of my phone, it was on it's last leg (it fell apart multiple times a day and couldn't hold a charge for more than 2 hours) so I don't miss it. Plus, R gave me an old one to borrow for my trip so no worries there.

We slept in a bit and then woke up at R's place. R was still in Langkawi on holiday so we opened the door to find one of R's roommates, L, cooking up some Roti. She made us some and gave us some teh tehrik (my fav). We hit it off quite well, she was excited that she could talk with us because two of her other roommates were French, and their guests never spoke English. She's from KL and we talked about the food vs the Singapore food. She mentioned a place nearby that had Penang food (argued to be the best in Malaysia, and therefore, some - if not THE- best in the world). I jumped on this opportunity because MB and I didn't have the time to squeeze in Penang. We all hopped on the MRT and headed over to the place. 

It was DANK...AWESOME...HAPPY...pretty much as authentic as Penang food can get without being the real thing. We got Penang Laksa, squid/cuttlefish (I can't tell the difference) curry, char keow tow (sp?), and various juices. This was the commencement meal to our hari makan (eating day). We decided to walk off the meal and headed to a few markets to pick up beer and fresh fruit. We tried these small nut looking things that actually have fruit that tastes a lot like Lychee (the name escapes me right now...I think it starts with an 'L'), and some mangosteens. It was hard not to eat everything in sight. We also learned that R lives near the 'red light' district of Singapore, which was funny because I thought Singapore was too polite to have one. Apparently it's pretty obvious at night, but it isn't dangerous or anything like that. The only thing that happens is a man might ask you 'how much?' if you are a woman out alone at night. In which case, it would probably be more dangerous for the man as my fist or foot would meet his face or happy spot.  

We headed back to wash up, enjoy some fruit, and wait for R and his girlfriend (another M) to arrive. I was so excited to meet M as I hadn't met her yet and R spoke so well of her. After the reunion we went out again for some makan and a little sight seeing. This time we got some bakuteh (again with the spelling), which is essentially a clay pot stew of broth and spare ribs. Delish and one of my favorites of Singapore. Afterwards we went to get MB some more foot pads, as his achilles had some blisters from his new sandals. Then we decided to head to Arab street, as no visit with R is complete without a shisha session. Not to mention, MB had never been to a shisha establishment so it was a must. The shisha was great despite the wind (ash) and heat, which by this point, was starting to get to me. 

After we left it was about time for buka pasar, or the fast-breaking market that happens during ramadan to start. We headed to the big mosque, which I had never seen before, and strolled through the market. It's always great to wander through these types of markets, and even better to eat at them, but I was already stuffed at this point, so I enjoyed it with my nose. However, R insisted that we stop by Singapore's signature place to buy some Murtabak, which we were planning to eat 'Egyptian style' or on the hood of one's car. This plan quickly backfired because the nastiest thing I have ever witnessed in Singapore occurred in the parking garage, a broken sewer pipe. NASTY. So we opted to take the food back to R's place instead.

Once again, we washed up and I checked my email to get some info on meeting up with my Spanish friend, N by the Marina Bay footbridge. We had agreed to meet as she had a layover there, but both of us had no way of communicating to one another. We walked by the waterfront at night, which MB hadn't seen anyways (I also haven't, despite the fact I had already been to Singapore last year). It was quite charming and really pretty. We waited around for N for about an hour then gave up to makan (eat) one last time. We headed to a hawker center near the Esplanade and I had some mee goreng (fried noodles, nothing too special as I was full enough by this point) with veggies and MB had some chicken wings (the whole wing, stretched out, with tasty dipping sauce and a delicious glaze). We bumped into other CSers there (CouchSurfers) V and his surfer. I hadn't seen V in over a year so it was cool to bump into him. The other surfer had just came from KL and stayed with someone I know there. We were laughing about the 'small world' effect. Apparently it's quite common in Singapore. They say there are 6 degrees of separation but I have been told by more than one person that in Singapore there are only three. 

R dropped us off at his place (he was staying with M for the night so we would have a bed) and wished us well. I was sad to leave, as it felt too short, but Singapore isn't a cheap place to be, and without jobs it was about as much as our wallets could handle. However, we'll be back for 12 hours at the end of our trip and we will at least get to see R and M one last time.

We passed out almost immediately after being on the go for so long. The next morning we awoke, packed our clean laundry (thanks again for letting us use your washer L!) and said bye to L. We snacked on some kaya toast at the airport before we boarded the plane to Bali.

It was a fun start to the trip to be in some of the big, worldly cities. However, I'm thankful to not have to be at an airport for two weeks and to be taking things at a slower pace. The plan is to spend one week in Bali and one week in Java giving us two weeks in Indo. Indo is my favorite country that I've visited in my life thus far and I'm excited to be back. However it's a bit late and the start of the chapter is better left for another post. It's time for me to put some aloe on my sunburns and retire to the Bale underneath the mosquito net.

selamat malam (goodnight)

-M

Nothing says 'cultural exchange' like a good fart joke. 

written 8/15/2012

Right now I'm sitting in an open kitchen in a location with no address deep in the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. Although it's a simple 1hr and 45 min plane ride from the location I'm going to write about, it feels as if it is a whole different planet. However, the adventures of the last two and a half days here are left for another post. 

I'm not quite sure when I will actually be able to post this, but I'll do my best to keep all my catch-up posts organized. After our adventures in Hong Kong came to a close we headed south to Singapore. I came to Singapore for the sole reason of seeing friends, in particular R, my egyptian friend who I've seen over 5 times in the past year and in 4 different countries. The plane landed and another friend, S, who I was also looking forward to seeing did us a kind favor by picking us up at the airport and escorting us around for a Saturday night on the town.

Traveling on a budget is impossible in Singapore, which is the main reason why we spent so little time there. I was actually anticipating spending more per day in Hong Kong, but luckily this turned out not to be the case. 

We arrived late (around 10:30 pm) and got out on the town for some grub. S took us to a place that served up some unbeatable butter chicken (a ghee based curry dish) which we mopped up with some naan. The next stop was an Indian club, but not really a dance club. The best way to describe it is a strip club, except the women dance to Indian music (mostly Bhangra I believe) and wear saris. No badonkadonks, cookies, or boobies, but plenty of gawking men. Apparently in India, the men make it rain on the women (ie brush bills off of there palms into the air) but Singapore's prices don't allow for such things. We had a pint there then headed to Clark Quay, (pronounced 'key' by the way) for a tall can on the bridge. We people watched and exchanged stories, it wasn't nearly as wild as my first time to the bridge, but after a long plane ride and MB's struggle to adjust to the time zone, the fact that we were even alive past arrival time is a small feat. After a beer or two we wandered around the club area and ended up going to a cheap place with a minimal cover charge and live music. Don't get me wrong, I love live music, but in most cases in Asia a live music bar can be a terrifying nightmare. However these guys were REALLY good. Granted they were on their last set and played mostly drunk cover songs (think Journey people!) but it was awesome. We danced, had a drink and watched all the complete waste-os try to get some. Overall it was an entertaining night and we stayed up until past 4am which allowed for us to finally get adjusted to the time zone. S, if you're reading this, I left my phone in the cab (again) on the way back from the airport so sorry if you smsed me and I didn't respond. Speaking of my phone, it was on it's last leg (it fell apart multiple times a day and couldn't hold a charge for more than 2 hours) so I don't miss it. Plus, R gave me an old one to borrow for my trip so no worries there.

We slept in a bit and then woke up at R's place. R was still in Langkawi on holiday so we opened the door to find one of R's roommates, L, cooking up some Roti. She made us some and gave us some teh tehrik (my fav). We hit it off quite well, she was excited that she could talk with us because two of her other roommates were French, and their guests never spoke English. She's from KL and we talked about the food vs the Singapore food. She mentioned a place nearby that had Penang food (argued to be the best in Malaysia, and therefore, some - if not THE- best in the world). I jumped on this opportunity because MB and I didn't have the time to squeeze in Penang. We all hopped on the MRT and headed over to the place. 

It was DANK...AWESOME...HAPPY...pretty much as authentic as Penang food can get without being the real thing. We got Penang Laksa, squid/cuttlefish (I can't tell the difference) curry, char keow tow (sp?), and various juices. This was the commencement meal to our hari makan (eating day). We decided to walk off the meal and headed to a few markets to pick up beer and fresh fruit. We tried these small nut looking things that actually have fruit that tastes a lot like Lychee (the name escapes me right now...I think it starts with an 'L'), and some mangosteens. It was hard not to eat everything in sight. We also learned that R lives near the 'red light' district of Singapore, which was funny because I thought Singapore was too polite to have one. Apparently it's pretty obvious at night, but it isn't dangerous or anything like that. The only thing that happens is a man might ask you 'how much?' if you are a woman out alone at night. In which case, it would probably be more dangerous for the man as my fist or foot would meet his face or happy spot.  

We headed back to wash up, enjoy some fruit, and wait for R and his girlfriend (another M) to arrive. I was so excited to meet M as I hadn't met her yet and R spoke so well of her. After the reunion we went out again for some makan and a little sight seeing. This time we got some bakuteh (again with the spelling), which is essentially a clay pot stew of broth and spare ribs. Delish and one of my favorites of Singapore. Afterwards we went to get MB some more foot pads, as his achilles had some blisters from his new sandals. Then we decided to head to Arab street, as no visit with R is complete without a shisha session. Not to mention, MB had never been to a shisha establishment so it was a must. The shisha was great despite the wind (ash) and heat, which by this point, was starting to get to me. 

After we left it was about time for buka pasar, or the fast-breaking market that happens during ramadan to start. We headed to the big mosque, which I had never seen before, and strolled through the market. It's always great to wander through these types of markets, and even better to eat at them, but I was already stuffed at this point, so I enjoyed it with my nose. However, R insisted that we stop by Singapore's signature place to buy some Murtabak, which we were planning to eat 'Egyptian style' or on the hood of one's car. This plan quickly backfired because the nastiest thing I have ever witnessed in Singapore occurred in the parking garage, a broken sewer pipe. NASTY. So we opted to take the food back to R's place instead.

Once again, we washed up and I checked my email to get some info on meeting up with my Spanish friend, N by the Marina Bay footbridge. We had agreed to meet as she had a layover there, but both of us had no way of communicating to one another. We walked by the waterfront at night, which MB hadn't seen anyways (I also haven't, despite the fact I had already been to Singapore last year). It was quite charming and really pretty. We waited around for N for about an hour then gave up to makan (eat) one last time. We headed to a hawker center near the Esplanade and I had some mee goreng (fried noodles, nothing too special as I was full enough by this point) with veggies and MB had some chicken wings (the whole wing, stretched out, with tasty dipping sauce and a delicious glaze). We bumped into other CSers there (CouchSurfers) V and his surfer. I hadn't seen V in over a year so it was cool to bump into him. The other surfer had just came from KL and stayed with someone I know there. We were laughing about the 'small world' effect. Apparently it's quite common in Singapore. They say there are 6 degrees of separation but I have been told by more than one person that in Singapore there are only three. 

R dropped us off at his place (he was staying with M for the night so we would have a bed) and wished us well. I was sad to leave, as it felt too short, but Singapore isn't a cheap place to be, and without jobs it was about as much as our wallets could handle. However, we'll be back for 12 hours at the end of our trip and we will at least get to see R and M one last time.

We passed out almost immediately after being on the go for so long. The next morning we awoke, packed our clean laundry (thanks again for letting us use your washer L!) and said bye to L. We snacked on some kaya toast at the airport before we boarded the plane to Bali.

It was a fun start to the trip to be in some of the big, worldly cities. However, I'm thankful to not have to be at an airport for two weeks and to be taking things at a slower pace. The plan is to spend one week in Bali and one week in Java giving us two weeks in Indo. Indo is my favorite country that I've visited in my life thus far and I'm excited to be back. However it's a bit late and the start of the chapter is better left for another post. It's time for me to put some aloe on my sunburns and retire to the Bale underneath the mosquito net.

selamat malam (goodnight)

-M

Nothing says 'cultural exchange' like a good fart joke. 

written 8/15/2012

Right now I'm sitting in an open kitchen in a location with no address deep in the rice fields of Bali, Indonesia. Although it's a simple 1hr and 45 min plane ride from the location I'm going to write about, it feels as if it is a whole different planet. However, the adventures of the last two and a half days here are left for another post. 

I'm not quite sure when I will actually be able to post this, but I'll do my best to keep all my catch-up posts organized. After our adventures in Hong Kong came to a close we headed south to Singapore. I came to Singapore for the sole reason of seeing friends, in particular R, my egyptian friend who I've seen over 5 times in the past year and in 4 different countries. The plane landed and another friend, S, who I was also looking forward to seeing did us a kind favor by picking us up at the airport and escorting us around for a Saturday night on the town.

Traveling on a budget is impossible in Singapore, which is the main reason why we spent so little time there. I was actually anticipating spending more per day in Hong Kong, but luckily this turned out not to be the case. 

We arrived late (around 10:30 pm) and got out on the town for some grub. S took us to a place that served up some unbeatable butter chicken (a ghee based curry dish) which we mopped up with some naan. The next stop was an Indian club, but not really a dance club. The best way to describe it is a strip club, except the women dance to Indian music (mostly Bhangra I believe) and wear saris. No badonkadonks, cookies, or boobies, but plenty of gawking men. Apparently in India, the men make it rain on the women (ie brush bills off of there palms into the air) but Singapore's prices don't allow for such things. We had a pint there then headed to Clark Quay, (pronounced 'key' by the way) for a tall can on the bridge. We people watched and exchanged stories, it wasn't nearly as wild as my first time to the bridge, but after a long plane ride and MB's struggle to adjust to the time zone, the fact that we were even alive past arrival time is a small feat. After a beer or two we wandered around the club area and ended up going to a cheap place with a minimal cover charge and live music. Don't get me wrong, I love live music, but in most cases in Asia a live music bar can be a terrifying nightmare. However these guys were REALLY good. Granted they were on their last set and played mostly drunk cover songs (think Journey people!) but it was awesome. We danced, had a drink and watched all the complete waste-os try to get some. Overall it was an entertaining night and we stayed up until past 4am which allowed for us to finally get adjusted to the time zone. S, if you're reading this, I left my phone in the cab (again) on the way back from the airport so sorry if you smsed me and I didn't respond. Speaking of my phone, it was on it's last leg (it fell apart multiple times a day and couldn't hold a charge for more than 2 hours) so I don't miss it. Plus, R gave me an old one to borrow for my trip so no worries there.

We slept in a bit and then woke up at R's place. R was still in Langkawi on holiday so we opened the door to find one of R's roommates, L, cooking up some Roti. She made us some and gave us some teh tehrik (my fav). We hit it off quite well, she was excited that she could talk with us because two of her other roommates were French, and their guests never spoke English. She's from KL and we talked about the food vs the Singapore food. She mentioned a place nearby that had Penang food (argued to be the best in Malaysia, and therefore, some - if not THE- best in the world). I jumped on this opportunity because MB and I didn't have the time to squeeze in Penang. We all hopped on the MRT and headed over to the place. 

It was DANK...AWESOME...HAPPY...pretty much as authentic as Penang food can get without being the real thing. We got Penang Laksa, squid/cuttlefish (I can't tell the difference) curry, char keow tow (sp?), and various juices. This was the commencement meal to our hari makan (eating day). We decided to walk off the meal and headed to a few markets to pick up beer and fresh fruit. We tried these small nut looking things that actually have fruit that tastes a lot like Lychee (the name escapes me right now...I think it starts with an 'L'), and some mangosteens. It was hard not to eat everything in sight. We also learned that R lives near the 'red light' district of Singapore, which was funny because I thought Singapore was too polite to have one. Apparently it's pretty obvious at night, but it isn't dangerous or anything like that. The only thing that happens is a man might ask you 'how much?' if you are a woman out alone at night. In which case, it would probably be more dangerous for the man as my fist or foot would meet his face or happy spot.  

We headed back to wash up, enjoy some fruit, and wait for R and his girlfriend (another M) to arrive. I was so excited to meet M as I hadn't met her yet and R spoke so well of her. After the reunion we went out again for some makan and a little sight seeing. This time we got some bakuteh (again with the spelling), which is essentially a clay pot stew of broth and spare ribs. Delish and one of my favorites of Singapore. Afterwards we went to get MB some more foot pads, as his achilles had some blisters from his new sandals. Then we decided to head to Arab street, as no visit with R is complete without a shisha session. Not to mention, MB had never been to a shisha establishment so it was a must. The shisha was great despite the wind (ash) and heat, which by this point, was starting to get to me. 

After we left it was about time for buka pasar, or the fast-breaking market that happens during ramadan to start. We headed to the big mosque, which I had never seen before, and strolled through the market. It's always great to wander through these types of markets, and even better to eat at them, but I was already stuffed at this point, so I enjoyed it with my nose. However, R insisted that we stop by Singapore's signature place to buy some Murtabak, which we were planning to eat 'Egyptian style' or on the hood of one's car. This plan quickly backfired because the nastiest thing I have ever witnessed in Singapore occurred in the parking garage, a broken sewer pipe. NASTY. So we opted to take the food back to R's place instead.

Once again, we washed up and I checked my email to get some info on meeting up with my Spanish friend, N by the Marina Bay footbridge. We had agreed to meet as she had a layover there, but both of us had no way of communicating to one another. We walked by the waterfront at night, which MB hadn't seen anyways (I also haven't, despite the fact I had already been to Singapore last year). It was quite charming and really pretty. We waited around for N for about an hour then gave up to makan (eat) one last time. We headed to a hawker center near the Esplanade and I had some mee goreng (fried noodles, nothing too special as I was full enough by this point) with veggies and MB had some chicken wings (the whole wing, stretched out, with tasty dipping sauce and a delicious glaze). We bumped into other CSers there (CouchSurfers) V and his surfer. I hadn't seen V in over a year so it was cool to bump into him. The other surfer had just came from KL and stayed with someone I know there. We were laughing about the 'small world' effect. Apparently it's quite common in Singapore. They say there are 6 degrees of separation but I have been told by more than one person that in Singapore there are only three. 

R dropped us off at his place (he was staying with M for the night so we would have a bed) and wished us well. I was sad to leave, as it felt too short, but Singapore isn't a cheap place to be, and without jobs it was about as much as our wallets could handle. However, we'll be back for 12 hours at the end of our trip and we will at least get to see R and M one last time.

We passed out almost immediately after being on the go for so long. The next morning we awoke, packed our clean laundry (thanks again for letting us use your washer L!) and said bye to L. We snacked on some kaya toast at the airport before we boarded the plane to Bali.

It was a fun start to the trip to be in some of the big, worldly cities. However, I'm thankful to not have to be at an airport for two weeks and to be taking things at a slower pace. The plan is to spend one week in Bali and one week in Java giving us two weeks in Indo. Indo is my favorite country that I've visited in my life thus far and I'm excited to be back. However it's a bit late and the start of the chapter is better left for another post. It's time for me to put some aloe on my sunburns and retire to the Bale underneath the mosquito net.

selamat malam (goodnight)

-M