Weekend in Singapore

So I started my weekend in Singapore by doing something I have never done before. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do when you travel, right? Okay, get this... I took a Zumba class. I have put this off for well over a year now because, let's face it, this white girl can't dance. I was fortunate enough to have gym access every day on the base, so I took note of their class schedule and showed up for their Friday morning "Group Exercise" class, which was a sneaky title for Zumba. I figured, hey, if you're gonna try dancing to Latino music in public, best done in a public you will never see again. There are no pictures or video from this little side excursion, but I will admit... it was fun. Okay, I said it. Moving on!

I spent the rest of the day at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I brought my Bible study and journal and had a great writing/reading session surrounded by nature. This was my view from the fabulous cafe I had lunch at. Total Feng Shui.

 The water in Singapore was not even close to the beautiful water of Guam...

But they had much more beautiful and somehow different flowers.

Again, the water... yikes! But Guam could never pull off something as pristine and tidy as this. And not just at the Botanic Gardens, but all over the island there was beautiful landscaping. Singapore to me was like a cross between Coronado (pristine, perfect, beautiful) and Washington, DC (functional, productive, efficient... that's the city, people, not our federal-level politics I'm referring to).

Anyone tired of the self-pictures yet? Oh wait, I am!

Luckily someone jumped in and insisted on taking a picture of me...

yay... one without my armpit in the picture.

 So backing up a bit, I once again had ridden "my bike," to the train station... that is, the bike available to me from the lodge where I was staying. I parked and locked it among these neat rows of well orderly standing bikes. I felt quite like a local, even if old white bread didn't quite look like one (there were zero European-looking people on the trains I was riding). Coming back from the Botanic Gardens, I was shocked and appalled to see this sight:

Anyone from Coronado knows what's going on here. The bike I rode a total of twice managed to get yanked! I was actually pretty grateful they left the lock there, so I had confirmation that it was indeed stolen and not just in some forgotten parking spot (I would have looked forever just to make sure). Bummer dudes! I showed the clipped lock to our liaison on base at a party that night and he said that bike theft almost NEVER happens because the fines for getting caught are so severe. Le sigh. Lucky me. I lived in Coronado, bike theft capital of the world, for five years and never had a problem, but I ride a bike in Singapore twice and it gets stolen. They insisted I not worry about it, as being the lodge's bike, they could just use whatever fund and buy a new one (thank goodness...).

One of the guys bought the item he is holding... any guesses?

Speaking of Coronado, Saturday we headed back into Singapore proper to have lunch with friends currently deployed on an aircraft carrier who happened to be in town on their port call. Awesome coincidence in timing! Introducing Ben (center) and Mason (right), husbands of my friends Kristi and Mary (in Japan) respectively. We ate lunch at Maxwell Center, one of the famous hawker centers in Chinatown, then went shopping together in the market. I have seen Kristi and Mary multiple times each since we all moved from Coronado in 2010, but always when the guys were deployed. So it was fun to see them, though still a bummer that they were there in Singapore on deployment instead of home with their families. Luckily they only have a few more weeks to go. Come on Thanksgiving!

PS... Mary & Kristi... I saw what you are getting from Singapore! 

Not telling though :)

What's more fun than traveling from one small tropical island to another small tropical island? Hopping to yet another island, of course! After our exceptionally fun lunchtime rendezvous, Nick and I peeled off and headed to the northeast corner of the island to Changi Village Ferry, where we took a ferry to an island off Singapore called Pulua Ubin. This island is touted to be rustic Singapore, what Singapore looked like before the big city and highways and trains took over the equatorial landscape.

The bumboats at Changi Village Ferry Terminal... 

so named because they bump into each other

Once on the island, Nick insisted on getting a bicycle built for two... cute, right?!

Cute... until the easy paved road became a tiny, sandy, 

uphill/downhill mountain bike trail... holy crap! 

Oh how I wish we had video of us riding up and down the mountain bike trail on this rickety bicycle built for two that had no gear shifts and was NOT suited for this kind of rugged trekking. I have never wished I was wearing a helmet more than during this ride!

Some nice views along the way

 Chek Jawa Wetlands, with what I believe is Malaysia in the background.

Nick is tired of the self pictures... yet I insist

Wild boar family coming out in search of food

Nice sunset views

They have boonie dogs here too! 

Though I must say, I didn't see a single stray dog on mainland Singapore...

Our ride back "home" took a lot longer than expected. We found ourselves at a different train station than usual... and ran into this Singaporean Flash Mob! No seriously, this crowd of people were all dancing in unison to the live band playing... it was kind of remarkable. And no, it wasn't the electric slide. Still perplexed by this one! 

That about wraps up our time in Singapore. And, unless some unexpected surprise emerges, likely wraps up this very exciting season of traveling in Asia (at least for 2011!). Since June, I have managed to hit up The Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, and now Singapore. Add that to Japan from last year, and it's been quite the tour! It goes without saying that I am VERY fortunate to get to do all of this traveling. But I also know there's a deadline looming in the future when being a four-hour flight to so many exotic, foreign cities will be a thing of the past. Nothing quite so motivating as a deadline... and nothing quite so inspiring as an opportunity to see a new slice of the world.