Singin' in the Pore

And that title is probably one of the worst ones yet on this blog. 

I went to Singapore last weekend! It was a blast! Five other Fellows joined me for a quick, three-day jaunt to the country located only two-and-a-half hours away.  Yet SO DIFFERENT from Indonesia. I had some culture shock. But it was glorious. 

There was Cold Stone Creamery ice cream. Which I usually don't eat in the States, but hey, they have it in Singapore? Why not??!

Esteban and Autumn model their delights. 

 There was a Buddhist temple at the end of the block where our hostel was located (we stayed in the center of Chinatown).

I got Indian food for the first meal. And an orange Fanta. 

The street outside of our hostel. 

On our first afternoon in the city, Holly and I walked over to a Chinese temple. 

Monks were leading chanting inside. And the inside was freaking amazing!

Holly standing next to a...prayer wheel? I can't remember what this was called. But it was pretty.  

When Deirdre got in, we went to lunch at a stand that also sold cigarettes. With disturbing pictures on the cases. 

Sheesh. 

 That night, we enjoyed a little wine in the dorm room, thanks to Tabitha and the bottle she had bought at the duty-free.

You can see how tiny our hostel room was! 

Holly and I made almost the same face by accident. (Holly, me, Deirdre, Autumn, and Tabitha)

The next day, we took the metro to Little India. The stations are so clean! And air-conditioned! Oh New York City, you have so far to go.

Mid-subway ride. 

 We walked along this cool "alternative" street on the way, called Hajji street (I think). Some of the closed shops had amusing grafitti.

Me and Autumn being alternative. 

 We also went to this small but very crowded bazaar, where we bought essentially glorified popsicles (I forgot what they were were actually called--"ices" or something like that).

Holding the popsicles. 

That night, we found (relatively) cheap Mexican food! Only $20 for three tiny tacos and a Corona! (Did I mention Singapore is WAY more expensive than Indonesia? We all had some sticker shock.)

Finally, on our second and last night there, we found this really cool bridge to sit on, where all the young people seemed to be hanging out. Yes, there were definitely a lot of high school/undergrad-age kids there. But also some older people too!

Everyone gathered around for a drum corps group performance on the bridge. There was some dancing too. 

The next morning, Autumn, Esteban, Holly and I had to get up at 7:30 to catch our flights back to Indonesia. So we didn't get to see anything on Sunday. But it was a wonderful, whirlwind trip!