23-27th in Bedok, Singapore:
I advise all tourists to go to Singapore. It is designed for
tourists with all their sporting attractions, strategically planned out
high-rises and endless shopping paradise. At the marketplace, they sell
t-shirts calling Singapore a fine city. It is an overused repeated joke there
amongst the locals. They will fine you for littering, smoking and eating on the
MRT platforms (subway train) - but that all creates an incredibly beautiful and
well-displayed city. My dad’s niece told us that old men riding bicycles in
parks are actually undercover spies that watch for people littering.
We were picked up by
my cousin, Karen at the Singapore airport. She reminds me a lot of my other
cousin in Canada, Dawn. She took us out for dinner at a hawker store and then
went back to her 1.6 million dollar apartment on the 12th floor. It
had an amazing view of the ostentatious city with a cozy balcony. Inside, the
house was furnished with beiges, whites, and dark mahogany coloured pieces and had
a grand Buddha painting accenting the front entrance pillars. We finally met
her first two year old child, Cayden and her Swedish husband, Hans. I fell in
love with Cayden. The first night there, we lounged outside sitting on her
white Ikea couch talking with fresh mangosteen piled on a place and glasses of iced
water in our hands. Did I mention that every morning her housekeeper (ya-ya)
constructs a sandwich platter for breakfast for is all!?! She’s amazing.
My sister and I slept in Cayden’s room. The apartment
building provided a pool and a tennis court which I totally took full advantage
of. The first two mornings, Hans, Gary and I were out on the tennis court at
8am sweating profusely in the humidity. It was glorious. My sweat glands needed
a workout. A few moments after that, my sister and I switched out of sweaty
apparel into our bikinis and dipped into the pool soaking in the morning
sunrise. From those few dawning hours I was able attain a slight golden tan.
The whole family soon joined us along the poolside and Cayden was swimming and
blowing bubbles in the water with his little arm floaties. We soon drove to
Suntec City where we walked around and saw a Merlion statue that had the head
of a lion but the tail of a mermaid spewing water out of its mouth. My sister
and I took funny touristy shots where we stood in front of the statue. My dad
explained to me how the name, “Singapore” or Singapura translates to Lion City.
I’m not too sure where the Mermaid comes in, maybe because Singapore is an island,
I’m not too sure. I’ve discovered the whole country of Singapore is incredibly
tiny and it only takes an hour’s drive to go from one end to the other. Don’t
let that fool you though. There are so many things to do in this small City
called Singapore. Our next stop was Jumbo’s, an always fully-booked 200-table
restaurant feeding over a 1000 mouths by the waterfront. The thing I found most
unique about Singapore is that encompassing the island there are thousands of
ships at sea all docked for importing and exporting. When it gets dark it looks
as if another mystical city is floating nearby. Dishes of sea cucumber with
mushrooms, chilli and pepper crab, and butter egg deep fried prawns bombarded
our round eight person table. I sadly declined the offer of crab because of my
allergy towards it. Sitting beside my sister was horrible. All she would do was
moan and sign in satisfaction the crab meat was giving her. Whatever.
On Monday, Karen took off a day at work and took the family
to Sentosa Island via gondola. Sentosa Island is a must see. There are
attractions that you will tilt your head in awe of. Ashley and I went luging.
Freaking awesome. Oh my god. I felt as if I was a part of a Mario-Kart racing
game. It’s basically a plastic bin you sit in with metal handlebars that
brakes, accelerates, and turns depending which direction you pull it in. They
had automatic cameras that took photos of people when they pass through the
finish line, like the photos you see at Playland when you’re on the wooden
rollercoaster or the waterlog ride. Silosa beach was filled with tanning
bodies. Above our heads, people zip-lined across the water to another small
island about a kilometer away from the beach. Further down the beach there were
restaurants, a plethora of bars, pools, palm trees, and tourists. Gary, Ashley
and I got to experience the Wavehouse, a manmade wave contraption where blasts
of water break the laws of gravity. You can try your luck wakeboarding, body
boarding, or knee boarding but I only had enough time to do wakeboarding. By my
3rd attempt I could edge (carve in snowboarding terms), and ride up
and down the wave. I was overwhelmed with a need to go snowboarding afterward.
All three of us ended bailing as some point and acquired extreme whiplash the
next day. Other than that, it’s worth trying. On our breaks we discovered
Cayden’s favourite crave for lime juice. He ate it with everything or just
straight plain. He ate it with calamari, rice, and his biscuits. His sour face
was just the cutest thing ever. We walked through this man made rainforest.Our fourth day in Singapore we ventured to Orchard Street known for their shopping malls after shopping malls. In the food court, they were having their annual food festival so I had happily sampled all these great Asian cuisines and desserts- green apple frozen yoghurt, Japanese teriyaki chicken, asparagus wrapped in bacon, fried chicken skin, prawn balls, beef jerky, almond cookies, mousse cakes, dark chocolate biscuits, pistachio tarts, curry puffs etc. I wanted to cry it was so good. Shopping was a totally blundering event. All out energy was drain from the day before when we went to Sentosa. The night we went for dinner with my Dad’s niece, Sandy. She was personable and caring. After dinner we feasted on durian at this outdoor durian marketplace. Hundreds piled high-twice of my height- and all our faces dropped in amazement. She bought us three whole durians to eat. I was feeling fatigued from all this food. It was interesting seeing my dad interact with her kids. The Malay slang and hand motions were mimicked by each other as I watched in curiosity. Never have I seen such a connection. I just don’t have the culture in me to act that way with my dad. I am too “Canadianized” as my dad puts it.
Ashley and I were slugs the next morning. Cayden jumped on
our beds and on my back at 10am to wake us up and happily rolling on top of our
blankets, but we did not feel like going to Bugis Street (especially known for
their cheap merch). Instead, we both ended up wasting time inside Karen’s house
while she worked away on her computer when both my parents left to see this
tourist site. I ended up playing with Cayden and his plethora of colourful
toys, tracing his hand with crayon on paper numerous times, and teaching him
the notes on the piano for a few hours before he went for his morning nap.
Ashley and I taught him how to pound it. He brilliantly picked it up. I miss
him so much right now. Anyway, Karen and both us girls went to this fancy Yum
Cha restaurant in Chinatown (yes, again.) I’m starting to crave Chinese food
more and more now than I’ve ever in my whole lifetime. My parents and Gary met
up with us and we walked around looking at little boutiques. I hated going into
a dress store and all the saleswomen would be so pushy for you to try on things
and buy their clothing. I just wanted to leave after the three stores I walked
into. I ended up buying a pair of wedges that my mom bartered down for me for
$25 SG, roughly $22CAN. I was super excited. Our last dinner with Karen’s
family was at this authentic Indian restaurant that served the fattiest and
best butter chicken, lamb curry dish, spinach and cheese dip with roti. It was
soooooo good. But I felt terrible on the bus ride to Ipoh, Malaysia.
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