Not too much has been happening since I've got back into Singapore from CNY. I am starting to finalize everything to Vietnam and we booked a small ferry trip to Indonesia next weekend.
Indonesia is close enough to see here. There are many large and small island you can get to from Singapore via ferry. The beaches are beautiful and there are small and big towns, so whatever kind of beach vacation you can have its there. We are staying in a very rural-type beach area in Bintan Island, Indonesia the weekend of the 18th of Feb. Just Alma and I, relax in the water, snorkle, see local culture, etc.
I've been looking at Vietnam hotels, nice 3 star hotels run from 5-20 USD /night. Wow. So cheap! There are many hotesl to chose from in Hue, which is surprising because it is not THAT Big of a city, but you are close to the river, the bridge, and all the main sights. Got the DMZ and city tour booked, and we are taking the city tour on motorbikes! We keep hearing thats apart of the Vietnam experiance, the motor bike haha. So I went to the embassy on Wednesday to get my via. Online, they said it cost 25USD (like high 30's Sing $$).They are only opened from 9-12 every morning. I had class, so I got off the MRT/bus at 1130. It seemed like an easy walk down a side road, however there was construction going on and all of the street signs were covered. I decided to grab a cab because I was scared I wouldn't be able to make it in the 30 min that I had. He drove 1km down the road hahaha. But the embassy was located a short distance off the main road in the millionaires neighborhood. MAN, these were some huge houses! Multiple tories with large grecian collums near the front, water fountains the the round-a-bout driveways, all complete with entry gates. Then you come upon this not so nice looking building with a tiny gate and the smallest "Vietnam EMbassy" sign. I walked up, there were people otu from just hanging out. IT looked like someones house. Now I've never been in an embassy before, but this was not that I expected. You walk into a room and there were two open rooms off to the side and that was it. No welcome desk, no visitors only, no signs. I stood and looked around and a guy called me in to the room. He was standing in from of a shelf, no desk, no uniform, and asked me what I wanted. I told a visa and handed him my paperwork. He said it cost 84 Sing$ for a single entry. Well, thanks for the bad webs site info! I handed him my stuff and he said it would take 1 week, handed me a reciept, and that was that. Took 3 seconds.
I'm starting to miss food. Now, at first I thought it was that I missed American food, but its not. Since I havent lived in the dorms for a long time, and that time was short, I cooked all my meals all the time, for Townsend and I especially. I'm so used to eating what I want, when I want, and cooking it. I'm sick of this food more because I get the same choice everyday all the time and that is it. No variety. And its ALLL rice + meat. Maybe they'lll have veggies that I can recognize every now and then. The "western" food is stuff like chicken and spagetti, very odd. And they have chicken fingers, and that's pretty much it. There is a subway, which is good. Canadian Pizza, which is NOT a Canadian fast food joint as I've asked my Canadian friends who live in West Canada. Its not good anyway, there is no cheese, its all veggie, meat, or Hawaiian. All over town, what choices..... McD's is here too. You can get an ice cream cone for 40 cents US. Now, I don't eat this at home, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I ordered a spicy chicken sandwhich. I took a bite, and it was the bad meat. I mean, I know its McD's, but when you order chicken from a fast food place, it atleast looks white. This was the bad gross dark brown/grey slimy meat, it was so gross..... I didn't finish it.
Speaking of food, there are two Muslim girls in my Islam class that I have befriended. They were talking to me about the variety of food in Singapore, as thye are both locals. They were also very excited to hear about my trip to KL, because there was a lot of halal food. So, Muslims have to eat halal-approved food. So there are halal-approved resteraunts here. Apparently, there are not very many in Singapore, but KL is the place to be for food fodr them, as they have a huge population. It made sense, as I was remembering there was no pork on my TGI Fridays menu. There were beef sprinkles (bacon), beef ribs, etc.
Alma and I also noticed something else in KL, the variety of coverings for a Muslim women. It all depends on which school of law the family follows; there were burkas, the complete covering of everything except the eyes, we saw a good handful of that around KL. The majority of women there, as well as Singapore, cover everythign but that face. This means shoes, pants, long sleeves, and head wraps. Sometimes they wear sandels. In KL, we also saw some Muslims women who had their arms exposed, wearing short sleeve clothing. I cound't find online why this is it. I also learned that in places like Turkey and France, it is illegal for Muslims to Hajib (this covering) in public and private schools.
Just something I noticed the other day. So unlike China, were people constantly wanted to take photos of us, Singaporeans see Caucasian everyday, or atleast a couple times in their life. There have been a handful of tourists that will stop us to take photos with us, which is slightly odd, but no harm done. But, there are still a good number of folk, usually away from NTU, like in Little India or on public transportation that like to stare. Most of them will continue to stare when we catch them glaring, its quite off. I was in line waiting for the bus the other day getting my visa, and a Caucasian lady got off the bus. As I watched her, she did a double take at me. I kind of laughed, I wasn't wearing everything out of the ordinary. After she left, another Caucasian lady came to wait at the bus stop. I looked at her. Then I did again to check out her purse (it was cute). I realized, even we do double takes at Caucasian ! They are such a rarity, considering how used to it we are at home, that Indians and Chinese people here in Singapore aren't the only ones double looking at us.
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