Playing More Catch Up

I believe I left off at Arab Street.

All I can I think of when I think Arab street is Aladdin magic carpets.  From full floor rugs to runners to door mats to coasters :-)

(Please ignore the the ugly grey lack from Ikea, clearly still in the market for a coffee table).
I have spent a good deal of time sweating in Singapore but my mom got me sweating even more when she brought me to the Sarvan's carpet shop.  "Allison I told them we'd be back.  They had a deal for us on a bunch of rugs and runners," she said.  There was some serious haggling (which led to the sweating) before we managed to get to the "great deals" we initially went there for, but it was well worth it in the end.  I love the carpet and runner that I got.  (The picture above is the carpet...and I love the rug coasters)  I will also recommend this store in-paricular if you're looking for a good deal and great quality on rugs when you come to visit me.

There is so much more shopping to be talked about but shopping seems to have gotten boring and repetitive.  And the pictures reflect that as well.

People, they are by far the more interesting aspects of my life.  The defintition of "a friend of a friend" takes on a whole new meaning when you're new to a country, living on the other side of the world from friends and family, and it's something you don't take for grantite.  So far I have been very lucky, meeting some pretty awesome people and exeriencing all of Singapore has to offer.

The day started out with an all day wine festival with unlimited wine tasting with Daniel and some of his friends.   It was a great way to start the weekend.  After tasting many different types of wine and buying several bottles of wine I continued my day/evening with Kristin and Dan in the Arab street area.

We may not have dressed up on Halloween weekend, but we sure had a good time!  We started off the night in getting dinner a Turkish restaurant on Arab street then found our way to the House of Blues in the same area.  We were able to listen to live music, and enjoy the unique atmosphere... and the band members are in costume because of halloween :-)

 There were 6 of us (refer to the dinner picture), Me, Kristin, Dan (below in the blue), Vera, Lars and Gabe (also below).  No one would have known that I just met Vera, Lars, and Gabe because we were having such a great time.  I have to thank Vera for many of these amazing pictures, as she was the photographer.  Kristin and I made it our mission to keep her awake, as she and her boyfriend Lars has just landed in Singapore for the beginning of a 2 week vacation in Asia. (We did well, te hehe stayed up most of the night)
 

 After spending a couple hours at the House of Blues listening to live music, we moved onto all the Halloween parties that were happening in Clark Quay (pronouced key, "clark key").  Despite all of the clubs we could go to, we managed to find the only pool bar in Clark Quay, the Crazy elephant.  And while I didn't play any pool, we had the "winja" (white ninja) on our side, aka Lars.  He was able to beat the hussler that had been ruling the pool table most of the night.   It was quite entertaining watching the hussler and his possee stalk out of the bar once he lost the pool table.

Clark Quay at night is pretty amazing, the lighted umbrella give the illusion of giant space ships.We kept entertained with dirty jokes on the TV. HAHA

 While there were tons of people in Halloween costumes, the two guys below were not dressed up, yet they looked like they were straight out of a movie.  I think it's Nacho Libre but if anyone else can place them please let me know.

And leave it to me to bring my signature picture pose to Singapore.  That is me with Kristin.  

 After kicking butt at the pool bar, we decided to go cut a rug at Highlander, a popular expat bar.  Even the band members were dressed up for Halloween!  I must admit the costumes that
people were wearing went above and beyond anything I was expecting.

 I will have to say it was not easy dancing carrying my purse with 2 wine bottles, but some how I managed.  After the bar closed we all went back to Kristin's apartment and watched the sunrise, and college football.

After sleeping most of the day I managed to meet up with Kristin Vera and Lars as the East coast seafood center for the traditional Singapore Chili Crab dinner.  Yummy in my Tummy.  It was a delicious potluck style dinner.

The scenary at the restaurant was just a beautiful.  It actually reminded me of Hoboken, a small city looking onto a big city of lights.  The difference being the city of lights I was looking out towards was the hundreds of barges that surround Singapore and not buildings.  It was beautiful and I can't wait to go back for that De ja vu feeling and the amazing food.

My First Post

I did it!!  I finally managed to set up my adventure blog.  Its been a month since I've moved to Singapore and it has probably been one of the busiest months ever.  A special thanks to Mom who was out here helping me get settled and helping decorate my apartment.

Yes that WAS my apartment.  Clearly we had our work cut out for us.  We spent 2 weeks closeted up in our rooms to avoid the dust storm that was my apartment.  It was through much frustration and irritation that we survived those weeks from hell and the contractor from hell, but if it weren't for my mom my apartment would still be apocalypto.
During my days working, Deb was busy shopping for everything essential for an apartment with the help of a great family friend, Ellen and my amazing realtor Anke.

Well they didn't buy the toilet but the landlord went out of her way to get this "amazing" toilet that looked like a "Versace" (the need to say "Quote end Quote" is necessary) toilet hahaha.  There was a clear lack of style and judgment used for the apartment decor, from the olive green Arabic tiled kitchen walls, to the brand new wood vinyl cabinets and flooring, that compelled my mom to take the situation into her own hands.  Her philosophy "you get more bees with honey" is without a doubt the reason anything was accomplished by workers.   I'm finding that my philosophy of "get it done and get it done efficiently and correctly" is something you can only expect if you're living here as a ex-pat, as opposed to a "local"(trust me there is a huge difference).  With what I would deem entirely too much effort, she managed to communicate in the most gracious manner (said is my words not hers) "get this f#$%ing done or there will be hell to pay." With some miracle, the worst was over about 2.5 weeks into her stay, giving her not much time to enjoy the apartment as much as deserved once it was "complete."

But alas, despite the "apartment" trials, we still managed to take in as much as Singapore could offer in such a short period of time.  The flyer took us to see the heights of Singapore and the beautiful skyline.

But despite being on an island, this was one of the rare/best sunset we/I have seen thus far in Singapore.    There is no comparison to the LIS boat (the Kitty) or Naples sunsets but I'm hoping that there will be a day where the sun triumphs over the clouds at sunset.  Once the sun had set the city revealed its unbelievable beauty.  Lights.  Think of the city of lights, think of the NYC skyline.  I am having troubles getting my iphone picture uploaded onto the blog, so you'll have to suffice with the pictures below.  The City at night is incredibly beautiful and a picture can barely describe the beauty.

Nights turn into day and fortunately work was able to give me 2 days off while my mom was still in town and we managed to escape my apartment and experience the Jungles of Singapore, via the 138 ang ki mo bus stop (and the monkey's on the street) and the Night Safari.

 The night Safari has been by far one of the coolest experiences/touristy things done in Singapore.  The night started out with a simple but delicious dinner followed by none other then a Singapore sling.

Then there was an amazing fire show, geez I don't know how they do it, its like they're ingesting gasoline.

There aren't any pictures of us actually being in Zoo because you can't take pictures with flashes, but let me tell you, it was an amazing experience.  They have two open air aviary cages, one for flying squirrels and one for bats!  I had a giant Fox bat swoop down on me, several times...talk about an adrenaline rush.  Thank god blood isn't the diet for these particular bats.  (this may be why I'm rereading twilight again...for the 5th time)  The flying squirrel cage was amazing as well. They were jumping from tree right over our heads.  The cats (lions/tigers/leopards) were unbelievably active as well.  My experiences in the past have always been the lions lying down and doing nothing for the whole day, seeing them at night was a whole different experience.

And "don't worry!" to all of my future visitors, the Zoo and night safari is something I'll definitely do again...and again.

The Jurong Bird was just as amazing as the night Safari, minus the fire :-)  Singapore is home to the largest bird park in the world and for all of those who know my mom, this would be her equivalent of Heaven.  From Penguins, to Flamingo's to Macaw's, they really did have it all.

During the 3 weeks my mom was here we got in quite a bit of tourist attractions and did quite a bit of shopping.  I think we might have spent several days in Ikea buying all of the essentials.  The most memorable Ikea moment was after spending a significant amount of money, I needed an extra plastic bag and the check-out lady asked for 10 cents per bag (this was after already purchasing several of the large blue bags).  Needless to say that was my last trip to Ikea.

 Thanks to the help of Ellen we managed to find what is known as the Walmart of India -"Mustafa's"which I frequently refer to as Mufassa's (The Lion King is just a classic).  This store is far more massive and intense then any walmart I have ever seen.  The store is 5 floors vertical and 2 floors subterranean and spans the equivalent of 5th and 6th avenue.  They have everything from blenders to shoes to electronics to books to home decor.  They also, fortunately, have the cheapest prices in Singapore.  For those who aren't aware Singapore IS NOT CHEAP!  I'm finding that out the hard way; visitors be prepared.  I am also finding that shopping on a public holiday is the worst decision one can make.  I went shopping at Mustafa on the Deepavali public Holiday...poor life decision.  Little India on an Indian holiday meant the masses would be out shopping and they'd all be in the same place.  Picture me walking through .75m wide aisle carrying a large pillow, and two shopping baskets loaded well past capacity.  >:(

Arab Street is also a shopping destination that my mom and I were able to explore together and shop at.  The food has been probably been some of the best I've had so far.

To be continued