Hey from Singapore!!

I'm on a computer at my hostel right now. My hostel is in the Arab Quarter of Singapore. Today it rained and right now it looks like it's going to rain. But enough about right now, let's talk about how the journey's been!

We grabbed our flight on Friday evening. We have a discount airline, so we can't eat on the airplane unless we buy the airplane's stuff. I brought along granola bars to eat, so we all just sat there hungry until we landed. After landing we got our luggage and bussed it near our hostel, then taxied closer and got to our hostel. It's a pretty nice hostel. I stayed in a dorm bed above a guy I didn't know, so I was always worried about moving around too much or making noise, but it worked out fine.

The next day we visited many of the temples around Singapore. A word of note: if you ever go to visit the temples in Singapore, wear sandals. I wore my hiking boots and it was a pain having to take them off every temple I went in. The temples were very interesting and beautiful, though. It's really warm in Singapore, so by 3:00 I was drained.

We went back to the hostel to recoup and get some dinner (at a really good Muslim restaurant) and that night we went to the Night Safari, which is a tram ride featuring all sorts of tropical animals, none of them in cages. It was amazing! The lions were cool, the tigers were mostly sleeping, the giraffes, elephants, and hippos were HUGE, and my favorite part was probably a bat house where you could see (rather large) fruit bats three feet away from you chowing on oranges.

Afterwards we looked for a bar but didn't find one in Little India until about 11:30. Alcohol is really expensive in Singapore, but we got a couple of beers to bring in my birthday. I'M 23 NOW WOO!! Afterwards we went to an electronic market to get an outlet converter then headed back to the hostel.

This morning we headed to a park and did a hike through a tropical rainforest park. On the hike we saw a lot of monkeys. It rained, however, and we got pretty wet. We were glad when we got back to the hostel.

So we're all freshly showered and on the Internet. We'll probably grab dinner at a place around here then head to catch our bus to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia at 10:30. We'll sleep on the bus and probably arrive around 7 AM. We'll do some hiking there, but it won't be as warm (since we'll be up in a mountain). I'll try to keep everyone updated!

I LIVE

I've been a naughty blog owner, neglecting it and all. I do have some fun news to share, though.

So, 36 hours from right now, I will be sitting on a plane on its way to Singapore. I will spend the weekend there, after which I will head to Malaysia and spend the rest of the week there. I return the following Sunday.

Pretty huge, huh?

Here's how it came about. Early in the month, I saw a post by one of my kickboxing classmates, Diana, that her and her friends were planning a trip to Singapore and Malaysia and wanted to know if anyone wanted to come along. I really want to see a lot of Asia while I'm over here, so I was interested, but decided not to since I didn't know them very well.

Fast forward to the following weekend. We have our monthly (or to be more accurate now, every-so-oftenly) kickboxing night out. We spend some time at an Irish pub, but decide it's too expensive so we head off to another smaller bar with live music and cheaper beer. While there, I chat with Diana and Janine, Diana's friend who's also going on the trip. Anyways, while chatting, Janine asks me if I want to go with her and her friends to Singapore and Malaysia. I say sure. (I'm a firm believer that the best decisions in your life are made on the spot [see: Why I Started Studying Chinese].)

So starting the next day, Diana starts organizing. (She's an accountant, so she loves organizing things, which works for me.) She drafts the itinerary, books the flights, and makes sure everything's good to go. I'd say as of right now I'm pretty set to go. Except for the entire packing thing; still gotta do that.

As for other things, class is going quite well. We're quickly finishing up this quarter. I'm pretty sure a lot of my classmates will be back with me, but I'm not sure about my teacher. That worries me a little bit, since I know Shida has many teachers, some of whom are not very experienced/good. Let's roll the dice again!

Kickboxing keeps getting more and more fun. I've been told that I've progressed a lot since I first got there. All I know for certain is that I have a great time going. We're starting to do light-contact sparring, which I enjoy greatly. Having experience sparring at my old martial arts school is a double-edged sword: while I have experience and quickness in sparring situations, I also have habits that while they may work well in my old system don't work as well in kickboxing. Better keep it up!

Also, I got my visa renewed. I'm legal in Taiwan until 3/10. I'll probably have to go back sometime in February to get a Resident Visa.

I usually post pictures with my updates so...here are a few! These are of the Xindian River which runs very close to my apartment. Every time I walk to or from the MRT station I walk right by it.



That's my apartment building on the right side there.



I took one of the pictured swan boats with May (yes, the girl I went to Danshui with last post). Here are some closeups of the river scenery:





To finish up, one more picture, from the "Is this ridiculous enough to be true?" department (taken in the bathroom at Shida, the school I'm attending):

Another packed weekend

I'm getting into a pretty good groove with having fun times on the weekend. And best of all, it doesn't always involve going out to the clubs!

Friday night I went to my first movie in Taiwan. Before the movie, we hung out in the nearby area (a pretty ritzy shopping district) and tried some fries that had corn on them (weird!). Me and May saw In the Valley of Elah. I enjoyed the movie, and it was nice that we could both enjoy it (it had Chinese subtitles). Afterwards we ran to catch the MRT but didn't get there in time and I took a cab home.

Saturday afternoon I had kickboxing class. We're starting with a fee so we could get equipment, and the equipment came in on Saturday. He got five kick bags (big bags that provide cushioning so you can kick/punch them), boxing gloves, "clappers" (targets used in kicking for accuracy) and some sparring gear. I think it's really going to bring the class to the next level. After class an amateur photographer came by and took some pictures. She said she'd send them to us. I saw a few and they looked pretty good. I'll show them as soon as I get them.

Also on Saturday my Australian roommate, Simone, moved out. She's leaving Taiwan at the end of November and she's going to spend the rest of the time staying at her friend's. It was a little sad, but we also got a new roommate. Her name is Chelsea, and she's Amanda's friend from Canada. We've met before, and since I already knew how cool she was, I was glad to hear she was moving in. Of course, if you get a new roommate, you've gotta go out and celebrate. And celebrate we did. We went to a club called Pasoul and met up with a few of Amanda and Chelsea's friends. After some dancing, a few drinks, and a late night convenience store trip, we cabbed it home.

In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have gone out Saturday night, because on Sunday I went and spent all day at Danshui with May. I wasn't too hung over but I definitely wasn't as energetic as a quiet night and a full sleep would have afforded me. After taking half an hour to find each other at an MRT station and eating lunch, we took the MRT up to Danshui!



After we got off the MRT we went down this street. It had all sorts of little Taiwanese snacks. I tried some egg snacks and some various candies that May said she'd eat all the time as a kid. She tried to trick me with an Atomic Warhead. Nice try!



We went to a Ripley's Believe it or Not! museum. Believe it or not, they're in Taiwan too. They had snakes, pickled animals with deformities, a mummy, and a bunch of weird animals. Would've been a good place to go on Halloween!



This is the 紅樓, or "red building". It was built in 1899 by Europeans when Danshui was controlled by the West as per the Treaty of Tianjin. We didn't hang out here long, since May said it looked cooler at night.



That's May, so you know who I'm talking about.



This parrot would say his name (something like "Baowei"), "Nin Hao", and "Hello". When we first came it seemed he was more interested in breaking his lock with his beak. After a minute he warmed up to us, though.



We took a ferry boat to two more of the tourist spots in Danshui: Fisherman's Wharf and Bali.



VROOOM! May didn't want to get splashed. We did.



Since May was cold (65 degrees F is cold? Whatever!), we stopped by a coffee shop and she got something warm to drink. While we sat there, there was a guy outside making balloon art. Here he is making Santa Claus (working on his hat). He also made Donald Duck and a swan. Not too shabby.



This bridge is called 情人橋, or "Lover's Bridge". According to legend, if two lovers cross the bridge they will break up. We crossed it. (May said she didn't believe the legend.)



Here's Bali. It wasn't quite as hoppin' as the other two places but there were a lot of people who'd walk their dogs. I didn't get a picture of any of them; May was too busy playing with them all.



At Bali a bunch of kids were riding these sorts of little toy animals. You had to pump them up and down to go. Wasn't a very effective mode of transportation.



We walked by a street artist who cut out silhouettes of people. He said I could get one for free if I posed so I could send his work overseas. He liked my nose.



Since it was getting dark, we returned to the Red Building in Danshui. On the third floor they have a cafe with an outdoor porch. We sat there, ate some french fries, drank some tea, and took pictures of the Danshui skyline. There were also some fireworks we could see in the distance. It was a nice way to end the day.



May took this of me. Turned out pretty well.

After fries we headed back to Taipei on the MRT. Quite the day! Luckily I didn't have any homework so I was able to have a relaxing evening. That was what I needed after such a full weekend. (Of course, it didn't end up to be very relaxing since my computer started acting up, which I didn't fix until this afternoon, but I got my rest in, don't worry!)

This week in class we're studying politics. It's not the most interesting subject in my opinion, but it'll be good to sound at least semi-informed. Other than that and kickboxing, I have another "normal" week coming up. There may be an update midway through the week to show you the fancy pictures that the girl at kickboxing took. Stay tuned, Tedketeers!

I'm out.