Penang to Singapore

So, we made it to Thailand late last night.  We had some time to blog while we were in the airport, so we'll probably post a few times in the next day or so to get you all up to speed. :)

Penang to Singapore
6/27/2011

After two full days in Penang, we made our way back to Singapore.  Since our flight was around noon, we had to leave the hostel relatively early.  After another breakfast of toast (smothered wwith Nutella that we had bought... :)  ) and coffee, we packed our stuff yet again and headed out to catch a bus to get us to the airport.  The bus was just down the road from the hostel, so it worked out fine.  In case I hadn't mentioned it before, our hostel was on "Love Lane".  Aww, how nice... :)

Where we stayed.. :)

The flight was supposed to land 20 minutes early (not bad for a 1:20 flight), but we had to circle the airport a few times before we were able to land and then we were stuck on the tarmack waiting for other planes to get out of their gates for us to pull in.  But, our captain (who seemed a little peeved at the delays) kept us posted on what was going on, so it wasn't as annoying as it could have been...  Once we got off the plane, we caught the subway to our hostel.  The Beesy Bus was booked, so we had to either catch a bus or take the subway.  The subway was easier, faster, and cheaper, so that was an easy decision.  By the time it was all said and done, we made it to our hostel around 3:30.

Now, a quick explanation about our time in Singapore.  The BioDesign program I will be doing at Stanford next year just started a new program in Singapore, called the Stanford Singapore BioDesign Program (SSB for short).  So, I contacted the SSB Fellows to see if they would be available or interested in meeting up.  They were very excited about the possibility, so we started planning a few months ago.  Then 2 weeks ago, they tell me that there is a big conference in Singapore and invited me to tag along with them for some of the festivities.  In fact, Dr. Thomas Fogarty, a world-renowned surgeon who invented balloon catheters, was going to be part of the events.  In fact, the SSB program was actually hosting Dr. Fogarty during his whole visit to Singapore!  So, I was floored about the opportunity to hang out with the SSB fellows at these events, but the only problem was that I didn't bring nice clothes!  My travel shorts, T-shirts, and Vibram shoes wouldn't cut it...  So, one of the SSB fellows (Henry) generously offered to let me borrow some pants and a button-up shirt for the two days.  Which is where the actual story picks up. :)

So, when we got to the hostel, I checked my email and Henry offered to drop the clothes off at our hostel so I wouldn't have to find him in the middle of Singapore.  So, Bridget ran out and got some Tandoori chicken (an Indian dish) and a 2-liter of Sprite for lunch/dinner/snack while I waited for Henry.  After we got the clothes handed off, Bridget and I headed "out on the town", so to speak. :)  We took the subway downtown and planned to wander around and walk back to the hostel.  We got off the subway in Chinatown and started our self-guided tour. :)

There were some nice temples mixed amongst the restaurants, condo buildings, and discount shops.  There was even a night market going on!  The prices weren't as cheap as Malaysia and we didn't buy anything.  We grabbed some dinner at a Korean restaurant just outside of Chinatown on our way to the more fancy area of downtown Singapore.

We didn't have a chance to wander all over the fancy downtown area, but we made it to the Marina area.  There were tons of restaurants and hotels lining the canal (Singapore has a small river).  The bright lights strung across the bridges danced on the water as ferry boat tours passed by.  We walked past the "lion-mermaid" statue that is quite famous in Singapore.  It sprays water out its mouth too, which makes it a little more interesting.

Lion-Mermaid statue

Across the bay was the Bay Sands Resort.  This is a hotel and casino, an "integrated resort" as Singapore calls it.  This is comprised of three buildings with a skydeck on top, connecting all three buildings.  It looks like someome took a big boat and dropped it on top of these three buildings.  Seriously!  Check it out below!

Bay Sands Resort (click to enlarge)

Across the bay from the Sands is the Esplanade, which is a cool performing arts center.  It actually looks like a Durian, which is kind of funny.

Esplanade

And the rest of the skyline was amazing.  So many tall buildings with lights all over.  It was pretty neat.

Part of the skyline

And a few other random pics, just for good measure. :)

Cool angle pic

Us out on the town! :)

By the time all of that excitement was over, it was like 9:30PM, which is really close to Bridget's bedtime, so we headed back to the hostel for some sleep.  The walk was probably 20-30 minutes, but everything was so new, that it was still a nice walk.  :)

So, I've decided to stop my shoe tally for a few reasons.  First, the vast majority of people I am around don't speak English (or don't want to talk to me), so they just point and stare, smile, or giggle.  Second, since I'm more concerned with looking at the sights and not people-watching the people people-watching me, I miss most of the people who are interested in my shoes.  So, the finally tally is heavily skewed to the point and stare/smile/giggle category for the people who don't talk to me and heavily skewed to people-think-I'm-cool for the people who talk to me.  And that's a wrap. :)