This past Saturday, I bought some Ontario peaches from the market.
I was a little skeptical about them because they were so hard, but I was assured that they would ripen quickly.
I have to learn not to be so cynical. I've never had any bad advice at the market. The strawberry-rhubarb pie was amazing, the asparagus was tasty...so yummy.
Anyway, point is, Ontario peaches are out there and they're very tasty.
And, as always, the market is the best.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Filling the summertime void
It's not like I have a TV, but I still feel the void that is the summer.
My online sources for noise in the background of my life run a little dry in the summer, so I turn to shows that I probably wouldn't watch otherwise.
I've started watching Big Brother and while waiting for the next episode, I'm getting up to date on the UK version.
It's definitely a show that you don't really need to pay attention to, so, perfect to meet my needs. When I'm wandering around my place, doing odds and ends it's nice to have something on in the background. Big Brother is that show.
BBUK also has nostalgic value as I would watch it in London (and other parts of the UK) just before going to bed. I usually traveled to the UK in the summertime, so it was always on. It was on Channel 4 - the channel that seemed to show lots of trashy and over the top shows.
My online sources for noise in the background of my life run a little dry in the summer, so I turn to shows that I probably wouldn't watch otherwise.
I've started watching Big Brother and while waiting for the next episode, I'm getting up to date on the UK version.
It's definitely a show that you don't really need to pay attention to, so, perfect to meet my needs. When I'm wandering around my place, doing odds and ends it's nice to have something on in the background. Big Brother is that show.
BBUK also has nostalgic value as I would watch it in London (and other parts of the UK) just before going to bed. I usually traveled to the UK in the summertime, so it was always on. It was on Channel 4 - the channel that seemed to show lots of trashy and over the top shows.
A new 'do
I'm still shopping around for the perfect stylist in the city and I'm not sure if I'll ever find one.
While my hair is important, I'm pretty blase about my cuts, figuring that it'll eventually grow out and changing things up every so often has it advantages even if it wasn't what I was expecting at the time.
While in Europe, I only got my hair cut in Paris. It was a thing I started for the fun of it. It's good for a giggle. I went to a different place each time, paid different amounts and ended up with different looks each time. Only once did I not like my cut and only a week later did I find out that it was actually all the rage and that I just wasn't putting enough product in to rock the style. It grew out spendidly though. I should have known...the salon was on the punk side of life. Each time I went to the salon, I told the stylist that they could do whatever they wanted with my hair, but I didn't want a style that needed to be blow-dried or have intense product put in it. I am blessed with nice, straight, shiny hair and really don't want the hassle of doing anything with it in the morning. I'm not good at imagining what looks will match with my face, so I really do leave my hair in the hand of the stylist.
Anyway, now that I'm back in the city, I'm scouting out where to go, being a little weary of how much salons are charging these days. I was willing to pay ridiculous amounts for cuts in Paris, because it was all part of the gig and money spent in Paris is all play money, right?
Before I left for Europe, I'd actually gotten my hair cut at a super luxe salon in the city (a serious splurge before my big adventure) and absolutely hated the cut. It was simple and boring and I couldn't understand what my friends who had recommended me to the stylist were smitten over. I think that's made me a huge skeptic.
Anyway, the point is, it's been a year since I've gotten a haircut and I was really looking forward to change, but not really knowing where to go. I'd scoped out a couple styles, because they always ask what you want, even though, as I said, I really have no clue what to do. I think the thing was that the luxe salon was scared to give me something different as it was my attempt to go shorter, so I ended up with something dull, as opposed to in Paris where they're more daring and really will just run with wherever their imagine takes them, hence my punk style in the summer of '06. North Americans are a little bit more reserved that way. It's harder to go out on a fashion limb on this continent. So, for the play-it-safe stylists in the city, after careful research, I thought intense layers and sideswept bangs would be the way to go.
The problem remained, where to get it done.
In my thriftiness, I looked to salon schools. After going through a couple options, I ended with an appointment this morning at Toni & Guy.
The experience was pleasant enough. I felt serious stress for my assistant (AKA "stylist in-training") and any time her mentor approached, I got nervous for her. It was interesting to watch how the education process works in a different field and find out every single step that goes into the specific cut that I ended up with. The session lasted for just over two hours, so that could be a turn off to some people, but I was just sitting in a chair, afterall. The only catch was that I really didn't have any say in the cut I ended up with. My stylist was learning and perfecting a specific cut and that was that. In preliminary chats with her, it seemed like maybe I would be able to get what I wanted out of the cut, but once in the chair, it was clear that I was getting the cut that was being taught. At this particular salon, the trainees start of with basic cuts and progress to those more abstract, so based on what you want and where you think it falls on the scale, you could probably ask for an assistant at that level. Of course, the trainees know which cuts they're working on, so you could outright ask for that too, which I'm sure I could have, but I was really just dying to get a change (any change), so I was content to go with what was being offered.
I figure with a free haircut, I'm cool with doing almost whatever. That's what I practically did when I was dishing out cash. The stylist had all the say...the only difference is that they could see my face shape first before deciding what to do. I could have potentially ended up with a cut that wasn't meant for my face (although, who's to say one of those stylists in Paris was just cutting without considering who it was for).
I'm looking forward to the next cut. It'll be nice to change up my look more often. My cut isn't the most exciting thing you've ever seen, but it's not hideous. I was hoping for a drastic change as it's been awhile since I've done anything, but, oh well.
While my hair is important, I'm pretty blase about my cuts, figuring that it'll eventually grow out and changing things up every so often has it advantages even if it wasn't what I was expecting at the time.
While in Europe, I only got my hair cut in Paris. It was a thing I started for the fun of it. It's good for a giggle. I went to a different place each time, paid different amounts and ended up with different looks each time. Only once did I not like my cut and only a week later did I find out that it was actually all the rage and that I just wasn't putting enough product in to rock the style. It grew out spendidly though. I should have known...the salon was on the punk side of life. Each time I went to the salon, I told the stylist that they could do whatever they wanted with my hair, but I didn't want a style that needed to be blow-dried or have intense product put in it. I am blessed with nice, straight, shiny hair and really don't want the hassle of doing anything with it in the morning. I'm not good at imagining what looks will match with my face, so I really do leave my hair in the hand of the stylist.
Anyway, now that I'm back in the city, I'm scouting out where to go, being a little weary of how much salons are charging these days. I was willing to pay ridiculous amounts for cuts in Paris, because it was all part of the gig and money spent in Paris is all play money, right?
Before I left for Europe, I'd actually gotten my hair cut at a super luxe salon in the city (a serious splurge before my big adventure) and absolutely hated the cut. It was simple and boring and I couldn't understand what my friends who had recommended me to the stylist were smitten over. I think that's made me a huge skeptic.
Anyway, the point is, it's been a year since I've gotten a haircut and I was really looking forward to change, but not really knowing where to go. I'd scoped out a couple styles, because they always ask what you want, even though, as I said, I really have no clue what to do. I think the thing was that the luxe salon was scared to give me something different as it was my attempt to go shorter, so I ended up with something dull, as opposed to in Paris where they're more daring and really will just run with wherever their imagine takes them, hence my punk style in the summer of '06. North Americans are a little bit more reserved that way. It's harder to go out on a fashion limb on this continent. So, for the play-it-safe stylists in the city, after careful research, I thought intense layers and sideswept bangs would be the way to go.
The problem remained, where to get it done.
In my thriftiness, I looked to salon schools. After going through a couple options, I ended with an appointment this morning at Toni & Guy.
The experience was pleasant enough. I felt serious stress for my assistant (AKA "stylist in-training") and any time her mentor approached, I got nervous for her. It was interesting to watch how the education process works in a different field and find out every single step that goes into the specific cut that I ended up with. The session lasted for just over two hours, so that could be a turn off to some people, but I was just sitting in a chair, afterall. The only catch was that I really didn't have any say in the cut I ended up with. My stylist was learning and perfecting a specific cut and that was that. In preliminary chats with her, it seemed like maybe I would be able to get what I wanted out of the cut, but once in the chair, it was clear that I was getting the cut that was being taught. At this particular salon, the trainees start of with basic cuts and progress to those more abstract, so based on what you want and where you think it falls on the scale, you could probably ask for an assistant at that level. Of course, the trainees know which cuts they're working on, so you could outright ask for that too, which I'm sure I could have, but I was really just dying to get a change (any change), so I was content to go with what was being offered.
I figure with a free haircut, I'm cool with doing almost whatever. That's what I practically did when I was dishing out cash. The stylist had all the say...the only difference is that they could see my face shape first before deciding what to do. I could have potentially ended up with a cut that wasn't meant for my face (although, who's to say one of those stylists in Paris was just cutting without considering who it was for).
I'm looking forward to the next cut. It'll be nice to change up my look more often. My cut isn't the most exciting thing you've ever seen, but it's not hideous. I was hoping for a drastic change as it's been awhile since I've done anything, but, oh well.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Brain's on holiday
My brain's been on holiday for almost three weeks and I need to somehow find it in me to get back to work.
I gave myself a well-deserved break from work for a week, but since then, I haven't been motivated to return. I do have things that I could and should be doing, but other things have gotten in the way. You know, sleeping, eating, relaxing, sunning, walking and all that kind of thing.
That pinched nerve thingy didn't last long enough to make a difference (thanks for asking, Sarah!). I did end up making it to dance class that night and although my movement was a little limited it felt better for me to get out and attend an amazing class (I know that no one will care, but tonight's class was AMAZING. Our teacher's going away for a month and he definitely left on a high. I love, love, love the class). By the next night, I was pretty much back to 100%. Just a little sore, but true to form, the pinched nerve went away as quickly as it came.
I took a couple days to organize and clean at my parent's place and it's a sham that the strike is going on, as there was lots to be put into the blue box. I'm a self-professed pack rat with the mindset that everything has some sort of sentimental value or that it will have a use in the future so I just had to get into the purging groove. I finally said good bye to many things from my experiences in Europe, time as an undergraduate, teenager and even as an elementary school student. I had kept EVERYTHING and for the most part, it was well organized, but was taking up some serious space.
I convinced myself that I'm a good enough educator that if I ever ended up teaching science or elementary school, I could create my own activities and not rely on the fantastic things that my teachers had done with me. I convinced myself, that I really didn't need my daily homework assignments and notes of how to conjugate Latin verbs. I convinced myself that I didn't need to keep all of the many boarding passes from all of the different flights that I've been on (because the stamps in my passport and the souvenirs that I've bought will remind me of where I've been) and the list goes on.
I did keep a couple special memories from my academic career including childhood artwork and a couple assignments which I knew would be nice to look at in the future. I'll probably have to cut down the pile in the future, but having just purged ~90% of my stuff, I figured I deserved a little leniency.
Some of my belongings were hard to say goodbye to, but I reminded myself that someone out there needs it more than I do. I keep thinking that one day, I'm going to have a freak out and regret getting rid of something, but I'm trying not to think about it.
Anyway, that's what I spent a couple days doing, so I really haven't done any work in quite some time. Unfortunately, there are some deadlines coming up so I do need to get into gear. I know once I get going, I'll be fine - it's just getting going which causes me grief.
I've made an appointment early in the morning in an attempt to get me out and about and ready to work for the rest of the day. It's an appointment that I'll probably end up writing a post about. I've even made my lunch already.
I've been experimenting in the kitchen this past little while. Of course, with my weekly visits to the St. Lawrence Market, there's always an incentive for me to use up the fresh produce and I've recently borrowed a blender-type contraption to mix things up a bit (no pun intended).
I don't have the habit of snacking on pieces of fruit, so the novelty of this blender has increased my number of servings a fruit a day in the form of juices and smoothies. This morning I also used the blender to make pesto sauce and this past weekend I made a potato/carrot/ginger soup. I'll be making another soup this weekend.
Maybe I should go to bed a little earlier today, seeing as how I'll probably have to set my alarm clock for the first time in a while.
I gave myself a well-deserved break from work for a week, but since then, I haven't been motivated to return. I do have things that I could and should be doing, but other things have gotten in the way. You know, sleeping, eating, relaxing, sunning, walking and all that kind of thing.
That pinched nerve thingy didn't last long enough to make a difference (thanks for asking, Sarah!). I did end up making it to dance class that night and although my movement was a little limited it felt better for me to get out and attend an amazing class (I know that no one will care, but tonight's class was AMAZING. Our teacher's going away for a month and he definitely left on a high. I love, love, love the class). By the next night, I was pretty much back to 100%. Just a little sore, but true to form, the pinched nerve went away as quickly as it came.
I took a couple days to organize and clean at my parent's place and it's a sham that the strike is going on, as there was lots to be put into the blue box. I'm a self-professed pack rat with the mindset that everything has some sort of sentimental value or that it will have a use in the future so I just had to get into the purging groove. I finally said good bye to many things from my experiences in Europe, time as an undergraduate, teenager and even as an elementary school student. I had kept EVERYTHING and for the most part, it was well organized, but was taking up some serious space.
I convinced myself that I'm a good enough educator that if I ever ended up teaching science or elementary school, I could create my own activities and not rely on the fantastic things that my teachers had done with me. I convinced myself, that I really didn't need my daily homework assignments and notes of how to conjugate Latin verbs. I convinced myself that I didn't need to keep all of the many boarding passes from all of the different flights that I've been on (because the stamps in my passport and the souvenirs that I've bought will remind me of where I've been) and the list goes on.
I did keep a couple special memories from my academic career including childhood artwork and a couple assignments which I knew would be nice to look at in the future. I'll probably have to cut down the pile in the future, but having just purged ~90% of my stuff, I figured I deserved a little leniency.
Some of my belongings were hard to say goodbye to, but I reminded myself that someone out there needs it more than I do. I keep thinking that one day, I'm going to have a freak out and regret getting rid of something, but I'm trying not to think about it.
Anyway, that's what I spent a couple days doing, so I really haven't done any work in quite some time. Unfortunately, there are some deadlines coming up so I do need to get into gear. I know once I get going, I'll be fine - it's just getting going which causes me grief.
I've made an appointment early in the morning in an attempt to get me out and about and ready to work for the rest of the day. It's an appointment that I'll probably end up writing a post about. I've even made my lunch already.
I've been experimenting in the kitchen this past little while. Of course, with my weekly visits to the St. Lawrence Market, there's always an incentive for me to use up the fresh produce and I've recently borrowed a blender-type contraption to mix things up a bit (no pun intended).
I don't have the habit of snacking on pieces of fruit, so the novelty of this blender has increased my number of servings a fruit a day in the form of juices and smoothies. This morning I also used the blender to make pesto sauce and this past weekend I made a potato/carrot/ginger soup. I'll be making another soup this weekend.
Maybe I should go to bed a little earlier today, seeing as how I'll probably have to set my alarm clock for the first time in a while.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Slow day
I woke up this morning, with an hour of extra sleep ready to hit the ground running. All of these grand plans, and seemingly on track, until I got up from my desk chair ready to cross the next thing off my list. I am in complete pain.
I think I may have pinched a nerve somewhere near my right shoulder blade. How? By sitting in front of my computer. It was fine before I sat down and now it's not. What the heck.
The pain has been consistently bad and while a couple little things that I've done to try to alleviate this inconvenience have lessened the pain for a few brief moments, it's still there and I feel utterly useless.
I'm praying in the next two hours, it will miraculously get better so that I can go to dance class and feel some sort of accomplishment for the day, but it's not looking good.
This sucks. It really sucks. I've got things to do, places to be and I can't turn my head to the left.
I've wasted the whole day, my patience is wearing thin and of course, I'm in pain.
I think I may have pinched a nerve somewhere near my right shoulder blade. How? By sitting in front of my computer. It was fine before I sat down and now it's not. What the heck.
The pain has been consistently bad and while a couple little things that I've done to try to alleviate this inconvenience have lessened the pain for a few brief moments, it's still there and I feel utterly useless.
I'm praying in the next two hours, it will miraculously get better so that I can go to dance class and feel some sort of accomplishment for the day, but it's not looking good.
This sucks. It really sucks. I've got things to do, places to be and I can't turn my head to the left.
I've wasted the whole day, my patience is wearing thin and of course, I'm in pain.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (May 8th - 10th, 2009)
My trip to Asia was too short, but what can you do. I'm sure I will get the chance to go back again.
I was fortunate to go to KL for a weekend with someone who really knows the area. I was a tourist, canoodled with locals and ate not nearly as much food as I wanted. Surprisingly, my stomach has its limits.
I'm just going to get it out of the way - KL also has its share of ridiculous malls. I did, however go into one of the cheaper malls which reminded me of Pacific Mall. It was here that I was tempted to buy a couple pieces of clothing, but the fact that we weren't allowed to try anything on led me to put the stuff down as quickly as I had picked it up. Darn it. I wish I had the
talent of staring at clothing and guessing if it'll fit. The other thing that threw me off (because I'd never encountered it before) was the fact that all of the dresses would have been miniskirts on me, which isn't really my style. I suppose I am a giant by Asian female standards. Too bad, because there
were some really cute pieces. Darn, darn, darn.
In one of the of the nicer malls, there was a Club Monaco store. Knowing that I enjoy their style, my friend told me to go in to marvel at the prices. I think it was at least twice as much as it costs here in Canada. I couldn't believe it! I wonder if people over there think that it's a really chic brand and are willing to shell out the big bucks for the stuff.
I didn't get a picture of it, but the mall food courts are just as ridiculous as their shopping malls. The amount of choice was incredible, the portions were impressive, the presentation and everything was so much more involved than here in North America. I guess everything there is over the top.
The first night, we went to Petaling Street. This is what I was hoping to see in Singapore. I was energized by all of the people, the vendors calling out to you and the different kinds of things that they were selling. I've seen my fair share of counterfeit luxury
goods, but I'd never seen fake Tiffany stuff before. They even packaged them in light blue boxes. I had to laugh out loud. Another trend I noticed in Asia was polo shirts by Ralph Lauren. Not that polo shirts are anything new, but I'd never seen the ones with the gigantic logo on the front. I saw so many people wearing them (some fakes amongst them), that I had to ask what was going on. It was explained to me that these particular polos are popular because of the big logo, and well, these people love to flaunt their brand names. Designer malls, logos plastered all over their body...ahh, it's all coming together. I may love designer stuff, but it's not for the name that I love it, its for the style, detailing and quality. This is also where I bought some of the fruit that I sampled.
Our hotel room had a great view. We looked directly at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which was perfect for the giddy tourist in me. This is one well lit building. The CN Tower is better now than it was before the lights, but I'm sure that it could be improved upon. We giggled at the fact that there was a shuttle golf cart that took us from the hotel to the KLCC. We did take it a couple times when it was too hot outside, until we found that the doors of the air-conditioner convention centre were open and created a nice little pathway between where we needed to go.
On the ceiling of our room was this little sign telling us where Mecca was. I thought that was really neat. Not really surprising if you think about it, but it's not something that I'd ever seen before, so it made me stop for a second. I wonder if other cultures come to North America and get thrown off by finding a bible in their hotel room.
From atop the KL Tower, I could see the pollution and admire the skyline of the city. I didn't find these shots very interesting until I compared them to similar shots from Taipei 101 (coming up in a later post) and you can really see the different between cities. Let's just say, KL seems pretty grey and dingy.
Outside the KL Tower was a small zoo which mainly had different reptile and amphibians. I had never seen a frog this fat before, so I had to snap
a shot. I would have been interested to see it move. All of the animals had placards stating the species name and where they naturally live. I got a little giggle seeing the raccoons in there. Native to North America. Nice. Another funny moment because over there, raccoons are foreign so it would be interesting to see them in captivity. I wonder which animals we have on display here they would think is so banal that they don't both putting them in zoos.
A couple shots of Merdeka Square. I learned something from this pit stop. Jersey material is really light and bouncy. Sometimes I like taking fun action shots...probably not the best when wearing jersey dresses. It was a good laugh.
Next stop was the Central Market where I went in ready to buy souvenirs and my special purchase of the country. By this point, I was disappointed that I couldn't find anything special in Singapore and vowed not to leave KL without something. Luckily I found what I wanted, engaged in a little bit of bargaining (I never really now how far I can push it, and let's be honest, with the attitude of wanting to buy something, you don't want to push too hard) and left a happy camper. I had kinda wanted to buy a batik sarong, but they turned out pricier than I had expected and instead got something else.
So I try to experience different things when possible. I forget where I'd heard about this, but I never imagined having a chance to try it. My feet were pretty mangled up from wearing bad footwear during the trip, so I was worried about whether or not I'd be able to try it, but the lady told
me it would be fine. Actually, I think that was the least of my concerns. I was terrified about how it would feel having fish basically eat the skin off of my gross feet. Although they bear battle scars of many experiences that I've had in life and usually I'm proud of stuff like that, I'm actually quite embarrassed about the state of my feet. It's also very difficult for me to find footwear which fits and made my mangled feet look presentable. I've also been told that I'm picky, but that's just another opinion. Anyway, in Singapore, I'd seen quick a few different spas out and about and many of them advertised the fish thing. Here, the price seemed right, and I didn't really know when else I'd get a chance to go for it, so with great fear, I paid the steep price of 5 ringits (I jest) and braced myself for what was to come. I kid you not
when I say that it took me 5 minutes to put my feet entirely in the water. This first picture where the fish are blinded by the flash (oops) give you a sense of just how many fish there are. There were two tanks available for feet (there was one for hands too) and this one contained small fish about 4cm in length. Their nibbles were extremely ticklish, which I am not good at dealing with. It was so bad that I started shaking. A LOT. I kept dunking my toes in, and as soon as the fish would swarm, and they really did swarm, I had to pull my feet out. Finally, I started getting used to the sensation, although it did take a lot of effort for me to keep my mind off of what was going on. The passerbyers thought I
was a hoot to watch. For the last couple of minutes, I wanted to try the tank with the bigger fish (10cm). These fish felt more like they were scratching my feet. It was like you could feel their little teeth scraping the dead skin off of your feet. It took awhile for me to get used to them as well. They really pick at every part of your feet, even between your toes. It's funny to see the fish swarm to your feet when you first put them in, but once your feet are a little bit cleaner and especially if someone else puts their more dead skin covered feet into the tank, the fish loose interest in your feet and swarm to the new feet. Did it work? Well, my feet definitely looked a lot cleaner afterwards. My skin glowed and was a little smoother, but by the end of the day, they looked grubby again. That's what you get from wearing flip flops and walking for hours on end. It was a wild experience. One that I would not spend hundreds of dollar on, like they probably charge here in North America for fancy spa treatments, but if I go back, I'll probably try it again. Maybe I'll get used to it a little bit faster and get my full money's worth. Anyway, an experience I won't forget. So neat.
I know this will sound strange, but I got a real kick out of the pedestrian crossing signs. The little green man would walk as a nice leisurely pace when the light first changed to green. As the countdown got closer to zero, the green guy would speed up until by the end he was running as fast as his little pixelated legs would take him. Tee hee.
Some locals just hanging out.
The durian gets its own stall. I didn't see anyone buying any, and I wasn't ready to buy an entire fruit. I also figured that I wasn't allowed to take it into the hotel. Wow, just seeing these pictures makes me remember how they smelled...and tasted.
Around the corner from the durian vendor was a little street that has restaurant after restaurant. I don't even remember if any of them had indoor seating, but we definitely sat at a fold-away table and stools that encroached on the side of the street. By the end of our meal, I think the
seating area took over most of the street - I think it was a tight fit for a car to get through. The more people showed up, the more table and stools that appeared out of nowhere. It was neat. I liked how friendly and informal the atmosphere was. I was eating with locals, so I don't know if I would have had the same experience if I was there on my own, but I don't remember seeing any menus. There were stalls set up between the seating area and the building itself with signs describing foods such as noodles, satays, fried fish, veggies, etc. Plate after plate of really tasty food kept coming out and as each plate arrived,
we paid for it. No need to worry about tipping here, I suppose. Once you were done eating, you just took off. I got to eat some different kinds of foods. More noodles, along with real satay and gado gado. My fellow diners were careful not to order food that was too spicy for fear that I wouldn't be able to stand it. How nice. I can't understand how they eat such spicy food in that heat. I was proud to have tried everything including the spicy things, and I'd like to think that I can handle more spicy food than I could previously. The upsetting thing is that I really do enjoy the taste of spice, but my body disagrees.
Lastly, at the airport, there was a Bulk Barn sort of store. It had gummy candies as well as different dried fruits. It also had free sampling. So,
curious me, decided to try all of the different things that I'd never seen or heard of before. I wasn't being greedy, I merely wanted to try some things that were different. It was a pretty store, probably mostly due to the fact that there were lots of people sampling stuff. I admit, I ate a couple gummies because I was hungry and wanted to remember the taste of cola, but for the most part, I really was just trying different things.
I suppose this needs a little explaining. When I was young, my mom used to get packaged of dried cuttlefish from Taiwan. I loved the stuff. I couldn't get enough of it. So this store had a whole room dedicated to this stuff. The room was not due to the popularity of the stuff, but to enclose its smell. Yes, there were signs telling you to keep the door closed and blah blah blah, but I marched right in and did my fair share of "sampling" inside. So tasty!
I was fortunate to go to KL for a weekend with someone who really knows the area. I was a tourist, canoodled with locals and ate not nearly as much food as I wanted. Surprisingly, my stomach has its limits.
I'm just going to get it out of the way - KL also has its share of ridiculous malls. I did, however go into one of the cheaper malls which reminded me of Pacific Mall. It was here that I was tempted to buy a couple pieces of clothing, but the fact that we weren't allowed to try anything on led me to put the stuff down as quickly as I had picked it up. Darn it. I wish I had the 
talent of staring at clothing and guessing if it'll fit. The other thing that threw me off (because I'd never encountered it before) was the fact that all of the dresses would have been miniskirts on me, which isn't really my style. I suppose I am a giant by Asian female standards. Too bad, because there 
were some really cute pieces. Darn, darn, darn. In one of the of the nicer malls, there was a Club Monaco store. Knowing that I enjoy their style, my friend told me to go in to marvel at the prices. I think it was at least twice as much as it costs here in Canada. I couldn't believe it! I wonder if people over there think that it's a really chic brand and are willing to shell out the big bucks for the stuff.
I didn't get a picture of it, but the mall food courts are just as ridiculous as their shopping malls. The amount of choice was incredible, the portions were impressive, the presentation and everything was so much more involved than here in North America. I guess everything there is over the top.
The first night, we went to Petaling Street. This is what I was hoping to see in Singapore. I was energized by all of the people, the vendors calling out to you and the different kinds of things that they were selling. I've seen my fair share of counterfeit luxury
goods, but I'd never seen fake Tiffany stuff before. They even packaged them in light blue boxes. I had to laugh out loud. Another trend I noticed in Asia was polo shirts by Ralph Lauren. Not that polo shirts are anything new, but I'd never seen the ones with the gigantic logo on the front. I saw so many people wearing them (some fakes amongst them), that I had to ask what was going on. It was explained to me that these particular polos are popular because of the big logo, and well, these people love to flaunt their brand names. Designer malls, logos plastered all over their body...ahh, it's all coming together. I may love designer stuff, but it's not for the name that I love it, its for the style, detailing and quality. This is also where I bought some of the fruit that I sampled.
Our hotel room had a great view. We looked directly at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which was perfect for the giddy tourist in me. This is one well lit building. The CN Tower is better now than it was before the lights, but I'm sure that it could be improved upon. We giggled at the fact that there was a shuttle golf cart that took us from the hotel to the KLCC. We did take it a couple times when it was too hot outside, until we found that the doors of the air-conditioner convention centre were open and created a nice little pathway between where we needed to go.
On the ceiling of our room was this little sign telling us where Mecca was. I thought that was really neat. Not really surprising if you think about it, but it's not something that I'd ever seen before, so it made me stop for a second. I wonder if other cultures come to North America and get thrown off by finding a bible in their hotel room.
From atop the KL Tower, I could see the pollution and admire the skyline of the city. I didn't find these shots very interesting until I compared them to similar shots from Taipei 101 (coming up in a later post) and you can really see the different between cities. Let's just say, KL seems pretty grey and dingy.Outside the KL Tower was a small zoo which mainly had different reptile and amphibians. I had never seen a frog this fat before, so I had to snap
a shot. I would have been interested to see it move. All of the animals had placards stating the species name and where they naturally live. I got a little giggle seeing the raccoons in there. Native to North America. Nice. Another funny moment because over there, raccoons are foreign so it would be interesting to see them in captivity. I wonder which animals we have on display here they would think is so banal that they don't both putting them in zoos.
A couple shots of Merdeka Square. I learned something from this pit stop. Jersey material is really light and bouncy. Sometimes I like taking fun action shots...probably not the best when wearing jersey dresses. It was a good laugh.
Next stop was the Central Market where I went in ready to buy souvenirs and my special purchase of the country. By this point, I was disappointed that I couldn't find anything special in Singapore and vowed not to leave KL without something. Luckily I found what I wanted, engaged in a little bit of bargaining (I never really now how far I can push it, and let's be honest, with the attitude of wanting to buy something, you don't want to push too hard) and left a happy camper. I had kinda wanted to buy a batik sarong, but they turned out pricier than I had expected and instead got something else.So I try to experience different things when possible. I forget where I'd heard about this, but I never imagined having a chance to try it. My feet were pretty mangled up from wearing bad footwear during the trip, so I was worried about whether or not I'd be able to try it, but the lady told
me it would be fine. Actually, I think that was the least of my concerns. I was terrified about how it would feel having fish basically eat the skin off of my gross feet. Although they bear battle scars of many experiences that I've had in life and usually I'm proud of stuff like that, I'm actually quite embarrassed about the state of my feet. It's also very difficult for me to find footwear which fits and made my mangled feet look presentable. I've also been told that I'm picky, but that's just another opinion. Anyway, in Singapore, I'd seen quick a few different spas out and about and many of them advertised the fish thing. Here, the price seemed right, and I didn't really know when else I'd get a chance to go for it, so with great fear, I paid the steep price of 5 ringits (I jest) and braced myself for what was to come. I kid you not
when I say that it took me 5 minutes to put my feet entirely in the water. This first picture where the fish are blinded by the flash (oops) give you a sense of just how many fish there are. There were two tanks available for feet (there was one for hands too) and this one contained small fish about 4cm in length. Their nibbles were extremely ticklish, which I am not good at dealing with. It was so bad that I started shaking. A LOT. I kept dunking my toes in, and as soon as the fish would swarm, and they really did swarm, I had to pull my feet out. Finally, I started getting used to the sensation, although it did take a lot of effort for me to keep my mind off of what was going on. The passerbyers thought I
was a hoot to watch. For the last couple of minutes, I wanted to try the tank with the bigger fish (10cm). These fish felt more like they were scratching my feet. It was like you could feel their little teeth scraping the dead skin off of your feet. It took awhile for me to get used to them as well. They really pick at every part of your feet, even between your toes. It's funny to see the fish swarm to your feet when you first put them in, but once your feet are a little bit cleaner and especially if someone else puts their more dead skin covered feet into the tank, the fish loose interest in your feet and swarm to the new feet. Did it work? Well, my feet definitely looked a lot cleaner afterwards. My skin glowed and was a little smoother, but by the end of the day, they looked grubby again. That's what you get from wearing flip flops and walking for hours on end. It was a wild experience. One that I would not spend hundreds of dollar on, like they probably charge here in North America for fancy spa treatments, but if I go back, I'll probably try it again. Maybe I'll get used to it a little bit faster and get my full money's worth. Anyway, an experience I won't forget. So neat.
I know this will sound strange, but I got a real kick out of the pedestrian crossing signs. The little green man would walk as a nice leisurely pace when the light first changed to green. As the countdown got closer to zero, the green guy would speed up until by the end he was running as fast as his little pixelated legs would take him. Tee hee.
Some locals just hanging out.
The durian gets its own stall. I didn't see anyone buying any, and I wasn't ready to buy an entire fruit. I also figured that I wasn't allowed to take it into the hotel. Wow, just seeing these pictures makes me remember how they smelled...and tasted.
Around the corner from the durian vendor was a little street that has restaurant after restaurant. I don't even remember if any of them had indoor seating, but we definitely sat at a fold-away table and stools that encroached on the side of the street. By the end of our meal, I think the
seating area took over most of the street - I think it was a tight fit for a car to get through. The more people showed up, the more table and stools that appeared out of nowhere. It was neat. I liked how friendly and informal the atmosphere was. I was eating with locals, so I don't know if I would have had the same experience if I was there on my own, but I don't remember seeing any menus. There were stalls set up between the seating area and the building itself with signs describing foods such as noodles, satays, fried fish, veggies, etc. Plate after plate of really tasty food kept coming out and as each plate arrived,
we paid for it. No need to worry about tipping here, I suppose. Once you were done eating, you just took off. I got to eat some different kinds of foods. More noodles, along with real satay and gado gado. My fellow diners were careful not to order food that was too spicy for fear that I wouldn't be able to stand it. How nice. I can't understand how they eat such spicy food in that heat. I was proud to have tried everything including the spicy things, and I'd like to think that I can handle more spicy food than I could previously. The upsetting thing is that I really do enjoy the taste of spice, but my body disagrees.Lastly, at the airport, there was a Bulk Barn sort of store. It had gummy candies as well as different dried fruits. It also had free sampling. So,
curious me, decided to try all of the different things that I'd never seen or heard of before. I wasn't being greedy, I merely wanted to try some things that were different. It was a pretty store, probably mostly due to the fact that there were lots of people sampling stuff. I admit, I ate a couple gummies because I was hungry and wanted to remember the taste of cola, but for the most part, I really was just trying different things.
I suppose this needs a little explaining. When I was young, my mom used to get packaged of dried cuttlefish from Taiwan. I loved the stuff. I couldn't get enough of it. So this store had a whole room dedicated to this stuff. The room was not due to the popularity of the stuff, but to enclose its smell. Yes, there were signs telling you to keep the door closed and blah blah blah, but I marched right in and did my fair share of "sampling" inside. So tasty!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Darn it
There's no way
I'm still in disbelief that all of the figure skating events at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games are sold out. That can't be right. Even the Compulsory Dance.
Singapore (May 4th - 8th, 10th, 2009)
In my naivety, I expected Singapore to be a bigger version of Chinatown. For my first time going to Asia, I had these wild expectations, and not that they fell short, but I didn't clue into the fact that it would be Singapore, of all places in Asia that I would be first arriving to.
My impression of Singapore is that it's nice. I don't know if I'd be my first choice place in the world to live, I mean, it had some nice qualities to it, but there were some other things that I don't know if I could get used to. I'll probably talk a little bit about them in this post.
The best thing about this trip was having the chance to see friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, catching up and seeing where their life has taken them.
So without further adieu, here's Singapore...
The Raffles Hotel. Seeing architecture like this was really nice, but I wasn't expecting seeing this in Asia. Stuff like this confused me a bit, until I thought about the history of the area. I wanted to walk around the inside of the hotel and even see some of the rooms, but I was good and didn't go where I wasn't supposed to. I took a picture with the doorman, just like any good tourist should.
Here's the first example of what I don't like about the city. When I first saw this building, I thought that it looked cool and that it would probably be a convention centre or something. Nope, it's a shopping
mall. I should have known, seeing as how it's located on Orchard Road. And the mall doesn't stand out from the rest, they're all huge and contain so many different shops. You know how there's a Tim Hortons at every corner? Well, in Singapore, there's a Gucci or Prada at every corner. It was really bizarre. You'd think I would have been in heaven, but I actually found it overwhelming. This mall looked crazy - there was a super huge escalator that led from street level (outdoors) into the mall. I can't describe how strange this street was with their uber-commercialisation. I think I just made up a word.
I did like having a chance to visit different types of religious centres. This is a small Buddhist temple that I'd actually spent an afternoon in. It's a small world, and going to Asia for the first time means that there are many things that I had to do. I'm probably going to talk more about the feeling of belonging, going home and understanding myself better in a future post, but spending the afternoon in this temple was really an experience that I will not forget any time soon.
The temple is located in the Joo Chiat area which I wanted to see to hopefully get a butter feeling of the culture of Singapore. Part of why
I didn't fall in love with the city is that I could figure the place out. It was a mix of different cultures just like Toronto, but didn't really have that same 'we love multiculturalism and that's why our city is amazing' feel that Toronto has, and I also got the sense that it was very ex-pat business person-centric. I don't work in the financial district for a reason. So Joo Chiat houses a lot of Peranakan culture and you can see what their architectural style is in this picture. I like the colours of the buildings.
One regret of the trip is that I never got a chance to eat laksa. For the first part of the trip, my body was trying to adjust to the sweltering heat (+30 degrees for sure, and with the humidity, I don't even want to think about how hot it was). I'm sure that my body was overheating and it didn't really know how to regulate my body temperature. I was prepared with the right attire, but nothing can prepare your body for a shock to the system like that. I was lucky not to get heat stroke, but I was getting some crazy symptoms of the significant shock to my body. I was so intrigued with how my body was reacting. I'm such a nerd. Anyway, so for the first little while I was too hot to eat much at all, let alone laksa. Add to the fact that I'm not really good at eating spicy foods (I'm told that my face changes to quite interesting colours) and there was so much other food that I wanted to try as well. Next time. I HAVE to go
back. There was also a shop that sold rice paste goods (I guess that's what you'd call it). I bought a couple sweets to try (had fun trying to understand what it was that I bought - I really was proud of my ability to communicate, but I know that I could be better) including a plastic cup of that snot green stuff you see in the picture. It's a spread that you put on bread although I would be happy to eat it like pudding. It tasted like the custardy part of an egg tart. I also found out that people call those banana leaf wrapped things 'dumplings'. I guess that's fine, I mean, I don't know what else I'd call them, but I'd never had to call them anything in English before and I'd always though of dumplings as being those things similar to wontons, but I suppose you need an English name for everything at some point.
A nice panoramic shot taken from somewhere I could see myself hanging out. At the bottom, you can see water...that's actually a pool and we're on the top of a building. So cool. Anyway, here, you can see Singapore's version of the London Eye, the durian shaped Esplanade buildings and the colourful seating for the F1 race.
Now a smattering of pictures from the Singapore Zoo. P.S. I love animals and zoos.
I tried to get in as many feeding sessions as I could. It's a nice way to see the animals close up and how they interact with the keepers. This zoo is pretty special because a lot of the animals' habitat overlaps with that of the visitors, so you really do have a chance to get a lot closer to the animals (which you can see in a couple pictures that I really did - my camera doesn't have an amazing zoom lense or anything).
I think they'd just had a row.
Double fisting. Nice.
I enjoy watching primates. I think a lot of us do, because we're closely related so we want to better understand ourselves or see some of our characteristics in them. It was the first time that I saw a lot of these species, obviously as this is a different part of the world with a different climate than at the zoos that I'd already visited.
This little one looked so comfy.
Not the most flattering position, but when you've got food going into your belly, who cares? Why do we need to be so prim and proper anyway?
I see bum bums!
Is it mean that I wanted to grab their tails and pull?
I was chatting with one of the orangutan keepers about how at the Toronto Zoo the keepers give nursing female lowland gorillas Guinness. They thought I was crazy. He even called over one of his colleagues to tell him what I'd said and they laughed at me. Boo. I swear I wasn't making up the fact that they did it and I don't like being made fun of. At all.
Someone's grumpy bears.
They had a huge netted tent set up where all of the animals living within it could roam free and roam free they did. I don't think that I'd been that close to a sloth before and at one point, I almost stepped on a lizard. And the lemurs were bopping around. I wanted to play with them, but I really didn't think I was supposed to interact with the animals. Anyway - here's more pictures.
This picture makes me laugh.
Why do so many of the animals look like they're ignoring each other? Some sort of marital dispute I'm sure.
More animals hanging around. Also, I admit that I youtubed the video of the zoo worker getting mauled. I only watched about 5 seconds, before needing to stop.
Back in the city, I did a LOT of walking. I think I underestimated how much my feet would hate me for wearing flip flops for the first time this year and walking crazy distances. Oops.
I didn't go into this mosque. As much as I wanted to, I just didn't feel right about it. It looked very nice from the outside, though.
My feet were so tired that I needed to sit down somewhere. I guess that's one thing that those crazy malls are good for. Yes, this is the interior of a mall.
Heading into the core of the city. By the water is a ton of restaurants which tourists love, but the ex-pat men in suits love to go after work to
have a couple drinks. I have to admit, it's a nice atmosphere, but it just seemed weird. I think I'm just not used to boozing culture. I used to love going out after work to sit by the lake and stare at the mountains and have a drink at the same time, but I can't really describe why...this atmosphere just seemed different. That building in the middle of the picture with the block cut out of it - that's where that panoramic shot with the pool was taken. Right where that cut-out area plant filled area is.
Look at all the air conditioners. My friend told me that the reason they have so many malls is that people need somewhere to go to get out of the heat. Okay, I admit I did it too. At the end of my stay in the city, I'd actually caught a cold from the overly air-conditioned zones.
Wandering around the esplanade. And at the time, wondering when I would have the courage to eat a durian.
Some shots from the Singapore Flyer:
You know, if I had never lived in Europe, I probably wouldn't be so mesmerized by water. Growing up in the the suburbs, I probably would have transitioned into any old high-rise int he city and been happy with a city view. I don't think I'd ever seen so many ocean liners in a harbour before. I liked it. I also like seeing Indonesia in the distance.
I can't believe how much construction there is going on in this city. I suppose there's constructing here in this city too, but I found this view to be shocking. It's all part of a grand plan that the city has to fix up the waterfront. I guess Singapore is really growing, but with that over-commercialization thing that bothers me. I feel like if I go bad in a couple of years, it'll be so much more Westernized than it already is and that I won't be able to feel any sort of culture to the city.
The merlion in the harbour and a shot of the architecture of a bridge that I thought looked pretty nifty.
This was the first Hindu temple that I'd ever visited and unfortunately my strongest memory of the place is that of pain. Silly me, didn't think of the fact that the stone floor of the temple would be scalding hot in the sun. As we had to take our shoes off by the door, I had to scamper from shaded area to shaded area while everyone else seemed perfectly fine walking around the area. I liked looking at the sculptures on the building.
Inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, I was in complete awe. I couldn't believe how different temples could look. Visiting all of these different centres of worship made me wish I knew about each religion. It also reminded me how lucky I am to have experienced all of this.
Both of the temples are located in Chinatown, which was swarming with tourists. This is where I found the market that I finally found some interesting fruit to sample. I liked the tables set up for Chinese chess. Every city seems to have something similar. As the only female lingering in the area, I felt a little out of place. I wonder why it was all men?
Another favorite memory of this area is just chatting with the locals. It was clear that I was a tourist (in so many ways), but I liked being able to comminicate with them even if I wasn't as eloquent as I wanted to be. Every time I travel, I always try to learn a little bit of the language I think it makes a big difference in how I'm received as well as my own experience of the area.
At the National Museum of Singapore, they were having a special exhibit on the costumes of Christian Lacroix. It was an exquisite exhibition. The drawings were incredible (I would like to one day have an original sketch of anything framed in my place) and not having the
costumes behind glass made for such a better experience. I don't think that I've ever seen a display using netting. I wonder why more places don't? Security, perhaps. I also want a beautiful gown. Or at least I want to touch one to feel the material that was used and the intricate detailing. Gorgeous.
More tourist photos. I can't help it. I love being a tourist.
One last shot of the interior of a mall. I can't beleive that I didn't buy anything from Singapore. Maybe it was because I was turned off by the crazy malls. I was seriously considering purchasing a bag that I regret
not getting while in Europe, but they didn't have the one I wanted (I don't know if they ever will again - apparently they're changing the style a little bit in upcoming seasons). I'm seriously pining for this particular bag. Nothing else really stood out to me - I mean, I can get Prada, LV or Gucci almost anywhere around the world, so why would I be more tempted to get it from Singapore? I do have to admit that it was nice to walk into a Massimo Dutti store again.
This is one of the many hawker food markets in the city. I guess like a food court of sorts. I couldn't believe how cheap the food was, and how good at tasted as well. I couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit juices and noodles. I tried a lot of different types of food from different cultures
and of flavours that I wouldn't necessarily have tried here in the city. There were some dishes that reminded me of home, and others that looked too interesting to pass up. I think this night, I had hoped for a basic noodle and roast duck plate, but the vendor had already sold out (it wasn't even that late) and was cleaning up to go home. I ended up getting a noodle soup just like what I'd grown up with and something called murtabak. There were too many onions in it for my liking and they'd mixed up the order and given me one with mutton which I'm not terribly fond of. Oh well, it was still neat to try. I think I tried two different fruit juices that night as well. I should rally invest in a mini=blender and go fruit juice crazy.
How sad for the durian. Can't take it anywhere. This is part of the reason why I never had the chance to eat it in Singapore - I didn't know how to transport it home effectively. I didn't want to walk the streets of the city for a whole afternoon with the stench coming from my bag and as you can see, you're not allowed to take it on public transport buses nor on taxis.
My impression of Singapore is that it's nice. I don't know if I'd be my first choice place in the world to live, I mean, it had some nice qualities to it, but there were some other things that I don't know if I could get used to. I'll probably talk a little bit about them in this post.
The best thing about this trip was having the chance to see friends that I hadn't seen in a long time, catching up and seeing where their life has taken them.
So without further adieu, here's Singapore...
The Raffles Hotel. Seeing architecture like this was really nice, but I wasn't expecting seeing this in Asia. Stuff like this confused me a bit, until I thought about the history of the area. I wanted to walk around the inside of the hotel and even see some of the rooms, but I was good and didn't go where I wasn't supposed to. I took a picture with the doorman, just like any good tourist should.Here's the first example of what I don't like about the city. When I first saw this building, I thought that it looked cool and that it would probably be a convention centre or something. Nope, it's a shopping
mall. I should have known, seeing as how it's located on Orchard Road. And the mall doesn't stand out from the rest, they're all huge and contain so many different shops. You know how there's a Tim Hortons at every corner? Well, in Singapore, there's a Gucci or Prada at every corner. It was really bizarre. You'd think I would have been in heaven, but I actually found it overwhelming. This mall looked crazy - there was a super huge escalator that led from street level (outdoors) into the mall. I can't describe how strange this street was with their uber-commercialisation. I think I just made up a word. 
I did like having a chance to visit different types of religious centres. This is a small Buddhist temple that I'd actually spent an afternoon in. It's a small world, and going to Asia for the first time means that there are many things that I had to do. I'm probably going to talk more about the feeling of belonging, going home and understanding myself better in a future post, but spending the afternoon in this temple was really an experience that I will not forget any time soon.The temple is located in the Joo Chiat area which I wanted to see to hopefully get a butter feeling of the culture of Singapore. Part of why
I didn't fall in love with the city is that I could figure the place out. It was a mix of different cultures just like Toronto, but didn't really have that same 'we love multiculturalism and that's why our city is amazing' feel that Toronto has, and I also got the sense that it was very ex-pat business person-centric. I don't work in the financial district for a reason. So Joo Chiat houses a lot of Peranakan culture and you can see what their architectural style is in this picture. I like the colours of the buildings.
One regret of the trip is that I never got a chance to eat laksa. For the first part of the trip, my body was trying to adjust to the sweltering heat (+30 degrees for sure, and with the humidity, I don't even want to think about how hot it was). I'm sure that my body was overheating and it didn't really know how to regulate my body temperature. I was prepared with the right attire, but nothing can prepare your body for a shock to the system like that. I was lucky not to get heat stroke, but I was getting some crazy symptoms of the significant shock to my body. I was so intrigued with how my body was reacting. I'm such a nerd. Anyway, so for the first little while I was too hot to eat much at all, let alone laksa. Add to the fact that I'm not really good at eating spicy foods (I'm told that my face changes to quite interesting colours) and there was so much other food that I wanted to try as well. Next time. I HAVE to go 
back. There was also a shop that sold rice paste goods (I guess that's what you'd call it). I bought a couple sweets to try (had fun trying to understand what it was that I bought - I really was proud of my ability to communicate, but I know that I could be better) including a plastic cup of that snot green stuff you see in the picture. It's a spread that you put on bread although I would be happy to eat it like pudding. It tasted like the custardy part of an egg tart. I also found out that people call those banana leaf wrapped things 'dumplings'. I guess that's fine, I mean, I don't know what else I'd call them, but I'd never had to call them anything in English before and I'd always though of dumplings as being those things similar to wontons, but I suppose you need an English name for everything at some point. 
A nice panoramic shot taken from somewhere I could see myself hanging out. At the bottom, you can see water...that's actually a pool and we're on the top of a building. So cool. Anyway, here, you can see Singapore's version of the London Eye, the durian shaped Esplanade buildings and the colourful seating for the F1 race.Now a smattering of pictures from the Singapore Zoo. P.S. I love animals and zoos.
I tried to get in as many feeding sessions as I could. It's a nice way to see the animals close up and how they interact with the keepers. This zoo is pretty special because a lot of the animals' habitat overlaps with that of the visitors, so you really do have a chance to get a lot closer to the animals (which you can see in a couple pictures that I really did - my camera doesn't have an amazing zoom lense or anything).
I think they'd just had a row.
Double fisting. Nice.
I enjoy watching primates. I think a lot of us do, because we're closely related so we want to better understand ourselves or see some of our characteristics in them. It was the first time that I saw a lot of these species, obviously as this is a different part of the world with a different climate than at the zoos that I'd already visited. 
This little one looked so comfy.
Not the most flattering position, but when you've got food going into your belly, who cares? Why do we need to be so prim and proper anyway?
I see bum bums!
Is it mean that I wanted to grab their tails and pull?
I was chatting with one of the orangutan keepers about how at the Toronto Zoo the keepers give nursing female lowland gorillas Guinness. They thought I was crazy. He even called over one of his colleagues to tell him what I'd said and they laughed at me. Boo. I swear I wasn't making up the fact that they did it and I don't like being made fun of. At all.
Someone's grumpy bears.
They had a huge netted tent set up where all of the animals living within it could roam free and roam free they did. I don't think that I'd been that close to a sloth before and at one point, I almost stepped on a lizard. And the lemurs were bopping around. I wanted to play with them, but I really didn't think I was supposed to interact with the animals. Anyway - here's more pictures.
This picture makes me laugh.
Why do so many of the animals look like they're ignoring each other? Some sort of marital dispute I'm sure.
More animals hanging around. Also, I admit that I youtubed the video of the zoo worker getting mauled. I only watched about 5 seconds, before needing to stop.
Back in the city, I did a LOT of walking. I think I underestimated how much my feet would hate me for wearing flip flops for the first time this year and walking crazy distances. Oops.
I didn't go into this mosque. As much as I wanted to, I just didn't feel right about it. It looked very nice from the outside, though.
My feet were so tired that I needed to sit down somewhere. I guess that's one thing that those crazy malls are good for. Yes, this is the interior of a mall.
Heading into the core of the city. By the water is a ton of restaurants which tourists love, but the ex-pat men in suits love to go after work to
have a couple drinks. I have to admit, it's a nice atmosphere, but it just seemed weird. I think I'm just not used to boozing culture. I used to love going out after work to sit by the lake and stare at the mountains and have a drink at the same time, but I can't really describe why...this atmosphere just seemed different. That building in the middle of the picture with the block cut out of it - that's where that panoramic shot with the pool was taken. Right where that cut-out area plant filled area is.
Look at all the air conditioners. My friend told me that the reason they have so many malls is that people need somewhere to go to get out of the heat. Okay, I admit I did it too. At the end of my stay in the city, I'd actually caught a cold from the overly air-conditioned zones. 
Wandering around the esplanade. And at the time, wondering when I would have the courage to eat a durian.Some shots from the Singapore Flyer:
You know, if I had never lived in Europe, I probably wouldn't be so mesmerized by water. Growing up in the the suburbs, I probably would have transitioned into any old high-rise int he city and been happy with a city view. I don't think I'd ever seen so many ocean liners in a harbour before. I liked it. I also like seeing Indonesia in the distance. 
I can't believe how much construction there is going on in this city. I suppose there's constructing here in this city too, but I found this view to be shocking. It's all part of a grand plan that the city has to fix up the waterfront. I guess Singapore is really growing, but with that over-commercialization thing that bothers me. I feel like if I go bad in a couple of years, it'll be so much more Westernized than it already is and that I won't be able to feel any sort of culture to the city.
The merlion in the harbour and a shot of the architecture of a bridge that I thought looked pretty nifty.
This was the first Hindu temple that I'd ever visited and unfortunately my strongest memory of the place is that of pain. Silly me, didn't think of the fact that the stone floor of the temple would be scalding hot in the sun. As we had to take our shoes off by the door, I had to scamper from shaded area to shaded area while everyone else seemed perfectly fine walking around the area. I liked looking at the sculptures on the building.
Inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, I was in complete awe. I couldn't believe how different temples could look. Visiting all of these different centres of worship made me wish I knew about each religion. It also reminded me how lucky I am to have experienced all of this.
Both of the temples are located in Chinatown, which was swarming with tourists. This is where I found the market that I finally found some interesting fruit to sample. I liked the tables set up for Chinese chess. Every city seems to have something similar. As the only female lingering in the area, I felt a little out of place. I wonder why it was all men?Another favorite memory of this area is just chatting with the locals. It was clear that I was a tourist (in so many ways), but I liked being able to comminicate with them even if I wasn't as eloquent as I wanted to be. Every time I travel, I always try to learn a little bit of the language I think it makes a big difference in how I'm received as well as my own experience of the area.
At the National Museum of Singapore, they were having a special exhibit on the costumes of Christian Lacroix. It was an exquisite exhibition. The drawings were incredible (I would like to one day have an original sketch of anything framed in my place) and not having the 
costumes behind glass made for such a better experience. I don't think that I've ever seen a display using netting. I wonder why more places don't? Security, perhaps. I also want a beautiful gown. Or at least I want to touch one to feel the material that was used and the intricate detailing. Gorgeous.
More tourist photos. I can't help it. I love being a tourist.
One last shot of the interior of a mall. I can't beleive that I didn't buy anything from Singapore. Maybe it was because I was turned off by the crazy malls. I was seriously considering purchasing a bag that I regret
not getting while in Europe, but they didn't have the one I wanted (I don't know if they ever will again - apparently they're changing the style a little bit in upcoming seasons). I'm seriously pining for this particular bag. Nothing else really stood out to me - I mean, I can get Prada, LV or Gucci almost anywhere around the world, so why would I be more tempted to get it from Singapore? I do have to admit that it was nice to walk into a Massimo Dutti store again. This is one of the many hawker food markets in the city. I guess like a food court of sorts. I couldn't believe how cheap the food was, and how good at tasted as well. I couldn't get enough of the fresh fruit juices and noodles. I tried a lot of different types of food from different cultures
and of flavours that I wouldn't necessarily have tried here in the city. There were some dishes that reminded me of home, and others that looked too interesting to pass up. I think this night, I had hoped for a basic noodle and roast duck plate, but the vendor had already sold out (it wasn't even that late) and was cleaning up to go home. I ended up getting a noodle soup just like what I'd grown up with and something called murtabak. There were too many onions in it for my liking and they'd mixed up the order and given me one with mutton which I'm not terribly fond of. Oh well, it was still neat to try. I think I tried two different fruit juices that night as well. I should rally invest in a mini=blender and go fruit juice crazy. 
How sad for the durian. Can't take it anywhere. This is part of the reason why I never had the chance to eat it in Singapore - I didn't know how to transport it home effectively. I didn't want to walk the streets of the city for a whole afternoon with the stench coming from my bag and as you can see, you're not allowed to take it on public transport buses nor on taxis.
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