My friend Alex invited myself and a couple other girlfriends from school to visit her home in Singapore. Her parents were going to be out of town so there would be enough space to stay with her and hang out with she and her grandma. So, last Wednesday, immediately after summer school ended, we all hopped on a plane to Singapore. We arrived quite late, so just sat around her home and had a lovely Chinese-Singaporean dinner (that is Alex’s background). The next morning, the four of us, accompanied by “Ma” (Alex’s grandma), went to Orchard Road in the middle of the city to do some shopping and sightseeing. We also tried a wide variety of different foods, from noodles, to laksa soup, to spring roles! Yum! In the evening, we went to Arab street to sample some Middle Eastern food and feel. We sat there for hours drinking tea, playing cards, and giggling like little school girls! 
The next morning we woke up early to take a boat out to Pulau Ubin, the last remaining Singaporean village. We rented bikes and explored the little island for a few hours. Upon returning to Singapore, we ate South Indian food and walked around Little India. That night, we went out on the town to explore the clubbing culture. It was a really strange experience because all the clubs are all next to each other, all with different themes (Cuba, hospital themed, ancient China…) and it felt sort of like a theme park. Very surreal feeling. After we got sick of walking around and NOT buying overpriced drinks, we decided to do the reverse bungee jump. Instead of falling down, you are launched up and you spin freely in the air. It was so crazy scary but really cool once I did it! Singapore initiation, said Alex.
The next day we went to eat Chinese dim sum, which is a style of Chinese food where you order a lot of little bite sized dishes and they come out in bamboo bowls with lids. It’s a neat way to eat because you get to try a lot of everything. Yummy! Then we did some last minute driving and shopping before we drove to Kuala Lumpur, where Alex’s family has a condo. The drive took four hours and went through some very lush, tropical scenery. We reached Alex’s brand new condo, went out to eat indian-malaysian food, came back and watched a movie, and passed out. The next day we went to visit some of Alex’s relatives that live in KL, and then we drove downtown and saw the famous Petronas towers. There is a mall, courtyard, and giant park right beside the towers, so we walked around there for several hours and did some major people watching. It was so fun that we did it again the next day (but not before swimming in the condo’s pool!). We also took advantage of the fact that there was an oven and beautiful kitchen in Alex’s condo by cooking a vegetarian lasagna and baking cookies. Gosh, I’ve missed having an oven!!
Overall, it was a really nice 6 days. I got to see two cities I likely would never have seen otherwise. And I got to spend some very innocent girl-time with my friends. Both cities were interesting in different ways. Singapore is interesting because of its size and modernity. I could never live there though – I think the people are too cosmopolitan and materialistic for me. And KL was one of the most multicultural places I’ve seen. It was hard to tell who was a local Malay because there were so many Asians there. It was also much more Westernized and modern than I was expecting, so that was a surprise. It was also quite nice that Singaporeans and Malaysians speak such great English. It was a welcomed change from Thais!
A great week full of both excitement and relaxation. Now, it’s back to school!
The next morning we woke up early to take a boat out to Pulau Ubin, the last remaining Singaporean village. We rented bikes and explored the little island for a few hours. Upon returning to Singapore, we ate South Indian food and walked around Little India. That night, we went out on the town to explore the clubbing culture. It was a really strange experience because all the clubs are all next to each other, all with different themes (Cuba, hospital themed, ancient China…) and it felt sort of like a theme park. Very surreal feeling. After we got sick of walking around and NOT buying overpriced drinks, we decided to do the reverse bungee jump. Instead of falling down, you are launched up and you spin freely in the air. It was so crazy scary but really cool once I did it! Singapore initiation, said Alex.
The next day we went to eat Chinese dim sum, which is a style of Chinese food where you order a lot of little bite sized dishes and they come out in bamboo bowls with lids. It’s a neat way to eat because you get to try a lot of everything. Yummy! Then we did some last minute driving and shopping before we drove to Kuala Lumpur, where Alex’s family has a condo. The drive took four hours and went through some very lush, tropical scenery. We reached Alex’s brand new condo, went out to eat indian-malaysian food, came back and watched a movie, and passed out. The next day we went to visit some of Alex’s relatives that live in KL, and then we drove downtown and saw the famous Petronas towers. There is a mall, courtyard, and giant park right beside the towers, so we walked around there for several hours and did some major people watching. It was so fun that we did it again the next day (but not before swimming in the condo’s pool!). We also took advantage of the fact that there was an oven and beautiful kitchen in Alex’s condo by cooking a vegetarian lasagna and baking cookies. Gosh, I’ve missed having an oven!!
Overall, it was a really nice 6 days. I got to see two cities I likely would never have seen otherwise. And I got to spend some very innocent girl-time with my friends. Both cities were interesting in different ways. Singapore is interesting because of its size and modernity. I could never live there though – I think the people are too cosmopolitan and materialistic for me. And KL was one of the most multicultural places I’ve seen. It was hard to tell who was a local Malay because there were so many Asians there. It was also much more Westernized and modern than I was expecting, so that was a surprise. It was also quite nice that Singaporeans and Malaysians speak such great English. It was a welcomed change from Thais!
A great week full of both excitement and relaxation. Now, it’s back to school!
aya - it’s been a looooong time, but i’m glad you are enjoying yourself!!
i loved reading this post – the “lush scenery” you talk about on the way to KL was totally a flashback.
i took a long distance bus from penang to KL and all we saw were thick thick jungle-ish vegetation.
and then the rest areas where they sell fruit and goodness 🙂