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.