Universal Studios Singapore, Gardens by the Bay, & Pulau Ubin

After papers, midterms, and classes, I am back to writing. Almost all of the work that I’ve had this semester was piled into the past two weeks, and that means no updating my blog. But it’s over, so I can update you all on what I’ve been doing lately.

After Mckenna and I got back from Bali, we went to Universal Studios over the weekend. We entered Universal right when it opened, and got to ride most of the ‘big’ rides without having to wait in line. The theme park is quite small, so it doesn’t take long to walk through the whole park. But the rides are fun, and that’s what matters. We got a fast pass for five of the rides, so we were able to ride our favorite rides multiple times throughout the day.

The Universal Studios around the world have different castles, and Singapore’s castle is Far Far Away from Shrek!

Gingy even made a special appearance.

Not the gumdrop buttons!

Rumor has it you might be able to find real dinosaurs in here…

After we left Universal, we went to a nearby restaurant by the park to make our own pancakes!

After the pancakes we called it a day, and headed home.

The next week we went to Gardens by the Bay, and loved what we found. 

Gardens by the Bay has two greenhouses, but one of them was closed. so we were only able to see the Cloud Forest. The Cloud Forest is an indoor dome that is supposed to mimic rain forests at higher altitudes (around 2000 meters), so this was pretty cool to see.

Tallest indoor waterfall in the world.

After visiting the Cloud Forest, we left to go to the Sky Trees.

View from the catwalk.

Part of the light show that the park puts on.

After visiting the Gardens by the Bay, we called it a night, because we were heading to Pulau Ubin the next day.

Pulau Ubin is a smaller island off of the north east of Singapore, and it has been left relatively untouched since Singapore gained independence in 1965. The island gives you a sense of what Singapore looked like 50 years ago, and really puts into perspective the amount of change that the country has experienced over the last half-century.

To get to the island, you take a 10 minute boat right from the main island.

To get around the island, you can rent a bike for the day. The bikes definitely are not the best bikes in the world, but they were manageable.

The island is also home to wild boar!

The boardwalk on the island.

A lake next to an old quarry.

One of the places to take a break and have a drink.

After Pulau Ubin, Mckenna left to go back home two days later. Although I was sad to see her leave, I am so happy that we were able to spend two months together here.

Tomorrow I am leaving to go to Cambodia to check out the Angkor temples, then I will be traveling to Bangkok, Thailand for a few days. After I get back, my mom is visiting me a week later, then finals begin to start after she leaves. Time is going by extremely fast, but I’m trying to take advantage of the last few weeks that I have here. I’ll try to post about my trip to Cambodia and Thailand soon after I get back, so keep an eye out for that.

Thanks for reading!

Greetings from Malaysia!

As I promised last week, here’s my post about my weekend in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

My friend Wilko and I left for Malaysia on Saturday morning, and returned on Monday, which is more than enough time to check out everything that KL has to offer. After getting off the plane, we had to take a train downtown since the airport is conveniently *sarcasm* located about 35 miles south of the city. After a pretty drive through the Malaysian countryside, we arrived at KL Station, which is the main gate for all local trains. Being tourists and also a little naive, Wilko and I decided to walk to Chinatown, instead of taking a taxi. Not knowing where we were going, we aimlessly walked around the southern part of the city while getting to see a couple attractions that we probably would not have seen without taking our walk. Malaysia is similar to Singapore in weather, so once we arrived to Chinatown, we were both covered in sweat.

Chinatown was really cool for me, mainly because I had never been to a market that sold counterfeit items. There are endless outdoor shops to visit in Chinatown, and sellers will not stop haggling you until you enter their shop.

Chinatown.

Wilko and I did buy a few things at these shops, and I thought that negotiating was pretty fun, so we found ourselves returning to Chinatown multiple times during the trip. After walking around Chinatown for a bit, we agreed that wandering around KL wasn’t the best idea, so we decided to buy tickets for a sightseeing tour. The tour (which only costs $12), is a must if you’re touring KL, because it takes you around to most of the main sights, while being much cheaper than relying on a taxi everywhere you go.

One of the stops along the tour, the Malaysian National Palace.

The Ministry of Information building, which was erected in 1897.

The tallest twin towers in the world, the Petronas Towers.

After riding the bus around town for a while, Wilko and I visited the observation deck at the Kuala Lumpur Tower.

KL Tower.

View of KL from the top of the tower.

After visiting the tower we checked into the hotel, went to grab dinner, then called a night.

We started our next day with a visit to Little India.

Little India.

Little India in KL was rather small, and didn’t compare to Singapore’s Little India. I was told that it was recently relocated which explains the size, but I was still unimpressed. After Little India, we visited arguably the most popular attraction in Malaysia, the Batu Caves.

At the base of the 140 foot tall statue.

The surrounding mountain is filled with these macaques.

Inside the caves.

I also made a new friend on the way down.

The caves themselves were awesome. They’re believed to have formed more than 400 million years ago, and was definitely the coolest cave I’ve ever been in (Sorry Cave of the Winds). We were visiting during Thaipusam, which is a large Hindu festival that takes place every year. There were people in abundance in and around the cave, so it was extremely dirty when we were there, which definitely took away some of the sanctity of the temple. But overall the caves were incredible, and you have to see them for yourself while in KL.

After the caves we went back to the Petronas Towers to see them at night, and they are beautiful.

On our final day, we got to visit the Thean Hou Temple, Buddhist Temple, located on the outskirts of KL. It was not one of the stops along the bus tour, but it was more than worth it to take a car to get there.

Thean Hou Temple.

Inside the prayer room.

Ceiling art inside the prayer room.

The fortune that I received. Sorry Mckenna, looks like we need to find other people…

View from the temple.

Last picture of the temple I promise.

Visiting this temple was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was so peaceful, well-maintained, and so intricate that it definitely was the coolest temple I’ve seen in Asia. After the temple we went back to Chinatown to pass the time, then we headed to the airport to fly back to Singapore. The trip was awesome, partly because it was the first place outside of Singapore that I have visited so far, and it was all about $200 total (including airfare and accommodation).

Farewell KL.

Chinese New Year and my spring break are coming up, so Mckenna and I are taking a week long trip to Bali, Indonesia which we leave for in a couple days. I will post about that of course once I get back, but this is all I have for now.

Thanks for reading!

Sentosa, Singapore Night Safari, and more.

Hello all! Haven’t posted in a while, but I’m back now.

Since I last posted, I have done a ton of things, including going to Sentosa, visiting the Singapore Night Safari, and traveling to Malaysia (post coming next week). And somewhere in between all of that, school work.

Singapore itself is an island, but to the south of Singapore, is an even smaller island called Sentosa. Sentosa is mainly a place for entertainment, as it houses numerous beach clubs, two golf courses, and a Universal Studios (which I’m visiting next weekend). There are three different beaches on Sentosa, and Mckenna and I were able to visit all of them.

Tanjong Beach

After beginning the day at Tanjong, we went to Palawan Beach, which is home to the southernmost point in continental Asia.

Bridge connecting to the southernmost point in continental Asia.

View from the southernmost point.

After getting a pretty solid sunburn, we decided to head home. It was cool to visit Sentosa though, because I had never been to a tropical beach.

The day after Sentosa, I went to go explore Little India with Wilko, an exchange student from Germany. Little India has quite a bit to see, so we spent a good portion of the day here. After grabbing some Indian food (which I’m a huge fan of now), we went to visit the temples in Little India. Most of the Hindu temples look the same, with some slight variations between them.

One of the Hindu temples we visited.

Inside of a Hindu temple.

Right next to one of the Hindu temples, we found a massive Buddhist temple.

Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple.

This was the only picture that I took, but the Buddha is 50 feet tall, and weighs 300 pounds. The temple was built in 1927, and was extremely impressive.

The next weekend, Mckenna and I went to the Singapore Night Safari. The Night Safari is the first of its kind in the world, and was so awesome to see. I was able to see animals that we don’t usually see at home, while seeing them active in the night. 

The hyenas.

Malayan tiger.

I didn’t get a picture of the Asian fishing cat, which is basically a tiger, but the size of a cat. We got to watch them try to catch fish, which was so cool to watch. If you ever find yourself in Singapore, I highly recommend the Night Safari. It’s a bit expensive, but it is definitely worth it.

I visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this past weekend, and will be posting about that next week. But before I post that, I wanted to write about what I’ve been up to in Singapore the past two weeks. I really wish I could have been home last week to celebrate Spencer’s life with everyone that knew him, but I was praying for everyone here from Singapore. Rest in peace Spence.

First week in the Lion City

It’s been over a week since I arrived in Singapore, so I guess it’s time to write about it.

Arriving in Singapore, I had the assistance of one of my mom’s old co-workers, and he could not have been of more help. He (Van) showed me around the city, took me out to lunch, and helped me get my bags to my apartment. He was so incredibly helpful, and I can’t thank him enough for what he did.

After living in Singapore for the past week, the one word that accurately describes it is efficient. From the way the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) is set up, to even the pace at which Singaporeans walk, everything is efficient. The main means of transportation in Singapore is the MRT, which is basically a larger, more connected version of the lightrail for my Colorado friends. Since Singapore is such a small country, you can get from coast to coast, via the MRT, in about an hour. It is cheap too, as that fare would only cost about $2.

The day after I arrived in Singapore, my friend Ivan who I met while he was studying at CU, offered to show me around. Our first stop was at a hawker center, which is basically an outdoor food court with endless amounts of choices. There are basically two things in Singapore that are inexpensive: the MRT, and food. If you eat out in Singapore, it gets pretty pricey. But at hawker centers, you can get a meal with a drink, for around $4.

On the right is bbq stingray, on the left is chut chut (snail), and below are Malaysian style noodles.

For those of you that know me well, you probably know that I’m an extremely picky eater. (i.e: I eat cheeseburgers with only the meat and cheese). So to try this type of food for the first time, was quite an adventure for me. I didn’t know that you could eat stingray until we had ordered it, but it was delicious. I had a difficult time getting the snails out of the shells, but those were good too. The crazy food didn’t stop there either, as Ivan had me try frog leg porridge later that night.

Frog leg porridge.

The frog leg porridge was good as well, and I have yet to find food in Singapore that I truly don’t like.

On the 8th Mckenna flew in to begin her two months in Singapore for work (I swear we didn’t plan it), so we’ve both been able to explore the city together. The first night we were able to see each other we went to Clarke Quay, which is situated on the Singapore River, and is a very lively place at night.

Clarke Quay.

Triangle ice cream, with some random person behind it…

The next time we saw each other we stumbled upon a theme park that portrayed Chinese folklore and Confucianism. According to Wikipedia, the place has “over 1,000 statues and 150 giant dioramas.”  This is one of the coolest/weirdest things I’ve seen while being here, and if you ever find yourself in Singapore, it’s definitely worth 30 minutes of your time to check it out.

Just one of the many statues that the park had.

And one more…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haw_Par_Villa <— Here’s the Wikipedia link if anyone wants to check it out.

Finally on Sunday, we went downtown to go to church (which was very different from church back home), and walked around a bit and found the famous Raffles Hotel.

Built in 1899, it has housed Charlie Chaplin, George Bush Sr., and Michael Jackson among others.

If anyone reading this would like to visit me and stay in the hotel, it will only cost you about $4,000/night.

Classes have begun, and it’s weird being the only westerner in some of my classes, but I’m excited for the semester to start. If anyone is reading this and wants/needs to contact me, Facebook is definitely the best way to do so. That’s all that I have for now, hope everyone back home is doing well!

Welcome to Dubai

I have made it to my room in Singapore, just so everyone knows! (Big thanks to Van for all the help)

My flight from Dallas to Singapore connected in Dubai with a nine hour layover, so I decided to explore the city. Getting through customs was a breeze, and was out of the airport under 30 minutes after landing. I decided to take the train to downtown Dubai since it was a fraction of the cost of a taxi, and was at the Burj Khalifa in about 20 minutes. Before going to the tower, I visited the Dubai Mall, which is the largest mall in the world in terms of total area. The mall had four floors, and endless amounts of shops.

The aquarium in the mall, which is the largest indoor aquarium in the world.

After walking around the mall for about an hour, I walked outside the mall to find the tallest building in the world.

Words cannot describe how tall it is. After looking up for a couple of seconds, my neck started to hurt. That’s how tall it is.

The Dubai Skyline (Minus the Burj of course)

This was the lake outside of the mall, and the surrounding buildings.

This is the only picture I was able to get of the tower from base to the top, it’s too tall to take one near it.

View from where I boarded the train to go back to the airport.

After spending 4 hours at the mall and the Burj, I was exhausted and decided to head back to the airport, where I was able to take a shower and look around the airport. My plane was delayed by an hour getting out of Dubai, but it was an easy flight to Singapore.

Goodbye gum, Netflix, and America.

The day is finally here. Tomorrow I leave for my adventure in Singapore. I remember when I first learned about the program at the National University of Singapore (NUS) that CU had offered. I was filtering through the more inexpensive study abroad programs, and stumbled upon the one in Singapore. Being completely unfamiliar with Singapore (even where it was), I began to look into it. After applying to the program in early May, I had to anxiously wait for six months. In November I found out that I was accepted, and could not be more excited.

A little about the program: I will be staying in Tembusu Residential Hall, with five other students. NUS is the the ranked as the top university in Asia, and 22nd in the world. And finally, I will be arriving in Singapore on January 5th, and leaving May 11th.

I am so incredibly excited for this opportunity, and I can’t begin to thank everyone who has helped me achieve this dream of mine. To my parents, grandpa and grandma, Nonnie, friends, and so many others, thank you so much for all that you have done for me. I can’t tell you how thankful I am.

See you on the other side of the world!