I was able to make a trip to Singapore recently with three friends Noriko, Rei, and Michaela. Noriko used to live in Singapore so I thought I shouldn't pass up the opportunity to be there with a local. Michaela was returning from vacation in Indonesia and met us there. Singapore is a clean, nice, less expensive and easier to understand, hot, humid, international enclave made up of Chinese, Malays, Indians, Westerners, and locals. After a Singapore sling and a walk around the older parts of town, there's not much to do but stay inside the air-conditioned malls and shop. The food was excellent - much to choose from, including Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc. We met up with one of Noriko's friends, Mavis, who helped us out with everything from shopping to hotel room charges to whatever, she was so nice and hospitable. I made my flight and hotel reservations at the last minute and found a hotel that ended up being pretty dumpy once I saw it at check-in. I found another hotel and checked out within 30 minutes of getting there. You can see from the photos that there is also a large Indian contingent, the Little India neighborhood is really interesting to visit.
One day we took a 45-minute ferry ride to a nearby island in Indonesia called Bintan. Although we went for just the day, we still had to go through customs and get visas. Once we landed and made our way to the beach, it began to rain and did so for about 2.5 hours but eventually cleared up and we enjoyed 4 hours of sun and surf. The water was really green and warm. The same day happened to be Michaela's birthday so we had the beach lounge bring her a chocolate brownie with candles.
