Singapore!!

Hi!! Last week we got back from our trip to Singapore!!  We had a great time-- got to see lots of great sights and stay at some amazing places!

Brian had to attend a conference Mon-Wed so we came up the weekend before to check out some of the city!  I arrived before Brian (I have to say, Im very proud of myself-- I traveled to another country alone and got to the hotel and did a bit of shopping alone before Brian got there later that evening!!  It helped that Singapore is so super easy to get around and everyone there speaks English!  Anyways, I was feeling pretty good about my solo travels especially since I got some birthday presents for myself at the TopShop in the mall!)  The next morning we started off on basically a walking tour of the city -- one my feet were not prepared for!  We checked out Marina Bay where they had the super cool Marina Bay Sands hotel (the one that is 3 columns and the top is a huge pool and outdoor area) and the floating stadium, and the techno looking Helix bridge.

Next, we went to Thian Hock Keng temple.  It was built in 1839 and every single space is covered in the most beautiful details!  It was so pretty-- but smelled soooo strong on incense!!  Here are a few pictures:

Chinatown was very close by so we went there next!  It was neat and there were soo many little shops and cafes!  We ended up getting an Asian teapot and cups set (partly because of the "you break, you buy" policy haha clumsy Brian!)  but they are really cool and even came in a beautiful chest.  We also had the famous "Chili Crab!"  It is basically crab legs with the delicious chili sauce allllll over it!  It was super messy but super yummy!  After that, we went to the Kampong glam area, where they have the Sultan mosque.  They were finishing up ramadan so had a festival with tons of food!  We got delicious kebabs over there! The mosque was beautiful!

It was a very long day so I had a much needed Singapore Sling back at the hotel!  YUMM   We then had a delicious seafood dinner by the shore then had a few more drinks in the bar district along the river- Clarke Quay.  It would have been really cool, if I was only a few years younger and not quite so exhausted from walking ALL day!  

The next day was still a little overcast so we decided to check out the Botanical Garden instead of going straight to the beach on Sentosa Island where Brian's conference was being held.  I am sooo glad we did because besides the fact that I was incredibly hot from the horrible humidity, it was beautiful! -- Especially the Orchid Gardens!  We had such a great time just walking around and snapping pics of all the pretty orchids!

We finally had to get to Sentosa Island for Brian's conference.  We took a subway back to get our luggage and when we got inside the station, we realized we were also in a huge underground mall!  There were all the luxury stores-- Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc all 4 floors underground.... I guess that is the only way to add more and more shopping in a small island city/country but it was kinda strange-- Brian said he felt like an ant haha!

We finally got to the Shangri La hotel on Sentosa island.  It was a very nice hotel but we went straight to the beach for a little sun and cold drinks :)  For the next few days Brian was gone most of the day for his conference and I spent most of my time by the pool reading the last of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books (sooo good)!  One of the days I did a bit of sightseeing around the Island because it was raining and not good pool weather!  But it was really an ideal vacation getting to lay by the pool, with food and drinks, catching some rays (after 2 winters in a row!!) and reading a good book!  Can't complain :)

By far the coolest thing was all the monkeys!  I had heard that they often crawled around the balconies of the jungle view rooms so was excited that we were in one of those rooms!  The first day, right after I left Brian from our breakfast, I went back up to the room to change and decided to stand out on the balcony for a few minutes to see if I could see any monkeys!  After about only 1 minute I saw some rustling in the tree and then a few seconds later, out popped a monkey!!  I was so excited I grabbed my camera and started taking pics!  It went all the way up to the 8th floor where we were staying and only a few balconies away-- where apparently someone left crackers out.  It was so nice because I was a perfect distance away to take more and more pictures, although I was so excited/nervous that they mostly turned out all blurry, oh well!  I kept making a clicking noise with my mouth to get them to look at me for the pictures, but they obviously thought that meant I wanted them to come over to me-- so next thing I knew he was on my balcony!!!  (dont worry I ran inside and shut the door before he actually got there!!)  I got a few pictures with him on my balcony before he realized I did not have any food for him and left.

I was feeling guilty that I got to see amazing monkeys and Brian didn't but that evening, while we were downstairs about to go for a Tiger beer :), I was explaining to him how they got from the tree to the balconies and how they just hopped in between them without falling, when we noticed that there were multiple monkeys on the ground right in front of us!  So Brian got to see for himself the way they swing and jump around!  They are really cool animals and its crazy because you can tell that they are really actually smart and are thinking all the time!  The man who checked us into the hotel said that we need to make sure and keep our balcony door shut because they will go in our room and take stuff-- and that one time they even put on a woman's bikini!!  Im not sure I believe that one but who knows, monkey see- monkey do!  Anyways, it was really cool to see them in action and hopefully it wont be the last time (since we are planning on going to Thailand in october for our 1 year anniversary!)

All in all we had a great first trip to Asia!  It was a great place to visit and I would recommend it to anyone!  So nice and clean with loads and loads of shopping!

Also-- we REALLY REALLY appreciate our friends Tim and Lauren for taking care of Brody for us while we were gone!!!  So nice!!!