The Perfect Mass Meeting Outfit!

If there was an Asian themed mass meeting - I have found the costume! Actually I just found it in the kiddie section of the Asian Civilization Museum (typical - finding the dress up). Anyways, it was a great museum.

SE% and THE City!

Despite the 2am Skype messages from some that think it's really another time, the 12 hour time difference has been really great with movies...especially the release of Sex and the City. Despite the US Premiere date May 30, Singapore released the movie 2 days earlier in fact. So to "The Cathay" we went. The Cathay, a mall with a movie theater on the 5th floor, was packed! But four of us managed tickets on the front row. What an experience! The theater was packed with young asian women... giggling. The movie had Chinese subtitles and some editing for Singapore's standards. We had a great time!

But afterwards, we wanted a picture. However, Singapore has very strict piracy laws - so once we took a photo an usher came down demanding we delete the pictures. The picture was blurry so I deleted mine, but we still wanted proof of our early viewing. So not to become victims of a piracy scandal, we decided to take a picture with our reflection in it, but not our actual bodies outside of the theater . You can vaguely spot the outline of my hair in the middle of the pic. We'd give the movie 5 stars out of 5 with unexpected laughter for all audience members eligible for NC - 17 features.

Monsoon Morning

So being 1 degree above the equator, I was expecting the heat, the humidity, the frizz, but not the monsoons and evening lightening storms. Fortunately they have vending machines for umbrellas.

Gloomy Pics from the Top of Mt. Faber the second highest hill on the island. Views of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Tempest.

Hawker Centers and Hawks

Sorry for the delay, I just realized I enjoy running around Singapore more than sitting in my room blogging, but I will try to keep everyone up to date with what's going on in my adventure. Day 2 consisted of a trip to the Clementi (an area) Hawker Center and the Jurong Bird Park. The Hawker Centers are outdoor food courts that are extremely cheap and diverse in options. I ordered a Singaporian favorite, chicken rice for a whopping SD$2.50. The Hawker Center was great to see the market type open stores and masses of people eating.


Our next stop was the Jurong Bird Park, the largest aviary in the world. Very similar to the Animal Kingdom exhibit, there were penguins, owls, and flamingos. The neat part was the tropical birdlife that actually belonged in the country. The birds were amazing and everywhere.

One of the great tourist traps of the park was the Birds of Prey Show, exhibiting the largest vultures and hawks anyone would like to see. Expecting the performance to run similar to past animal shows, I decided to get front row seats... Surprise! They needed a volunteer especially a young lady (after all 6 years handling hawks might be a recipe for disaster). So I had the great privilege to help out Gan, the Falconer, feed raw meat to an enormous bird, help a vulture land mid-flight on my hand, and become mildly assaulted by another bird [See picture for explanation]. Oh and the last picture is just trouble - Patrick and I had to pose on the Stuffed Animal Motorcycles, which you could rent for 2 dollars to ride around the mall - they were actually quite large and quite fast.

Curry In the Morning Risin' To the Streets

So... breakfast in Singapore looks just like dinner at the Golden Dragon. Chicken, Rice, Dumplings, Bubble Tea, and CURRY. I went for a Cheese Prata at the suggestion of Matt Roberts. I'll give it to him- it was delicious! A crepe like layer enveloping the cheese and then smothered in curry sauce = everyday bfast. It was delicious and a great start to my first day in the city.

At breakfast, I met up the two NUS students who are just taking their vacation time to have fun with us. Alexious and Yong both lived at UNC in the Spring. One of our favorite things is to see the Carolina gear that they bring back to their country. Despite the jet lag, I managed to notice something wrong with Alexious' shirt at 9 in the morning... it read Carolina Mom.
One UNC T-shirt = $ 20.
One Cheese Prata = SD$ 2.20.
Seeing Alexious wear a UNC Mom shirt in Singapore = Priceless.

To Infinity And Beyond!

Starting my journey at 5 30 am Sunday, I can only assume that they reason why I then ended my journey at 2am Tuesday was due to my Buzz Lightyear powers - “To Infinity and Beyond” as he says. Instead, our RDU based crew of 19 members traveled to JFK then Hong Kong then Singapore. Most of us thought we would be flying over Europe instead over the US, which the Charlotte crew was routed. Oh No! We were sent on a better flight path – To the North Pole! Yes, that’s right. From Sunday to Tuesday, I traveled to the North Pole then down to the Equator on the other side of the world. Not having to change my watch with the time change, we ended a whopping 12 hours away from sweet Eastern Time. I took some pictures from our personal TV monitors on Cathay Pacific to prove my “Santa Claus” status with a snapshot of the North Pole from the plane’s outside camera.

Some of the pluses of the journey included the smoked salmon salad, the chocolate mousse, the reclining seats, oh and even some Melbac to sip with our beef and potatoes meal though it was served at the temperature of the cabin (14 degrees Celsius). It was an extravagant economy class – so Patrick (my row 55 buddy) and I decided that the icy Melbac was too difficult to swallow chilled, so we opted to change it to split a Carlsburg. Yes, they had Carlsburg on flight, Grandsam, I thought of you. Don’t fear, the amounts we were sipping were standard airline cups barely enough for Coco to realize the difference if it replaced her water bowl. Anyways, it was a delightful 16-hour flight after having 5 hours lay over at JFK aka free massages at the Brookstone Store for four of the hours.

There were some funny miss communications on board the predominantly Asian plane. I was seated at the front of the economy class with little legroom and stowage, but Patrick had a seat next to him when the plane was exiting the ramp so I sat there. However, a quarter of the way through the flight a woman came up to the man seated next to me and began a conversation with him. After she left, I asked if that was his wife and if she wanted to sit in my place as if I had taken her seat. Instead of my expected reply (Oh Yes that would be great or Oh No she is fine) he stood up 5 minutes later and went to another area of the plane. Seconds later, the woman I had assumed his wife came and sat in his place. She remained there for the rest of the flight. Patrick and I couldn’t figure out if the man thought I was saying “I want your wife to sit here” or if he had another plan in mind. Anyways, the entertainment on the plane was overwhelming and I never finished a movie while on board (kind of typical). I did catch portions of P.S. I love you and Sweeney Todd, which I finished on the Hong Kong to Singapore flight. The only problem was it that I didn’t recognize the difference in the channels and listened to the majority of the musical in German with Chinese subtitles.

Nevertheless, after our bus ride passed the Singapore Flyer (the London Eye equivalent) I found my keys to my modest abode in the Prince George’s Park Residences. On the 6^th floor of the middle tower, I over look the basketball courts, a fountain display, a Supermarket, and the port in the distance. So far so good despite the crazy time change. I look forward to getting my Monday back after skipping over it – but I can’t complain because there are always instances when skipping a Monday is ideal. Today we are orienting ourselves and going to the Jurong Bird Park. Should be wonderful!

Where will CC be in SEA?

Since I realized I am not that familiar with Asian geography, I thought I'd add a map to show where in the world I will be. I fly into Hong Kong from JFK (17 hour flight!!) and then go to Singapore from there. My next trip is to Melaka by bus then back for singa-more. Then to Chaing Mai, Thailand then Bangkok, Thailand... follow the arrows.

Singapore is less than 100 miles off the Equator at a latitude of 1 degree North.

So It's gonna be pretty HOT. Check out my weather forecast here: Singapore Climate

Houston, We Have Lift Off!

Greetings! I hope to update the world on my adventures with Carolina's SEAS program in Singapore through this blog. I'll also be using Skype so download it to your computer for more updates! Have a great summer!

Departure: May 25 to Singapore
Return: July 17 to US

Wahooooo!