Singapore

Spotted in Singapore

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We had a long weekend in honor of Labour Day and Wesak Day (a Buddhist holiday). Mitch and I left the planning too late, so I flew down to Singapore for the weekend. If we’re still in Asia next year, we will make it a point to know when the holidays are! Just like in the US, if you want to travel on a holiday weekend, you book your travel months in advance before prices increase and availability decreases.

As you might know, this was my sixth trip to Singapore. (You can find my notes on previous trips here, here, here, here, and here.) Each time I go, we spend less time in tourist land and more time just doing normal things like a normal couple who lives in the same city. We run, we buy groceries, we go for walks, we hold hands. When Mitch visits me, we spend a lot of time cooking because that’s something he can’t really do in Singapore. (Seriously, people, it’s the little things.) This time, though, we did two touristy things!

Singapore has a really amazing zoo with multiple parks. Last time I was in Singapore, we went to the Night Safari with Mitch’s mum. This time, we went to the River Safari, which is a really interesting concept. It’s basically a zoo and educational center built around the world’s major rivers – Nile, Amazon, Mississippi, Yangtze, Congo, Mekong, and Ganges. Very cool and I highly recommend it! Another cool thing about the River Safari is that they have pandas! One was hiding, but two were out and about!

Red panda
Adorable red panda! I didn’t know they were so small.
Red panda 2
It was climbing and running and jumping around like a squirrel. I wonder if they’re related?
Panda
This panda started out hiding behind a rock but we got lucky!
Panda 2
“Lumbering” is honestly the best way to describe this panda . . . they are very large, larger than I expected.
Panda 3
I just thought this was a cool shot.

The other touristy thing that we did actually might not even count as a tourist thing.There’s a reason people go to Singapore for urban life and to Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia to go to the beach! That’s what Mitch and I wanted to do, but we couldn’t afford it by the time we figured out it was a long weekend. Singapore is not known for its beaches, and that’s for a good reason. They’re man-made and on the Straits of Johor, a major shipping lane. The horizon is blocked by oil refineries. The sand isn’t soft because the ground underneath it isn’t real. There aren’t crashing waves, either. But Sentosa’s beaches did give us a day to walk along the sand, pop in and out of the water, and take in a ukelele festival complete with food trucks. (Get this: There was a coffee food truck. Amazing.) A Singaporean we met at a party this weekend told me that going to the beach on Sentosa was a nice way to spend a day about once a year. She’s right. I didn’t even take pictures!

Sentosa made me miss childhood summers on Myrtle Beach something fierce, but I was glad we went. There’s just something about sun and sand and water that has always put me in a very happy place.

As always, Mitch and I had a wonderful time together. Hopefully soon, I’ll be able to stop saying that because it won’t be news.

More travel is in the works! I’ll keep you posted.

Malaysia

It’s the little things.

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This weekend was quiet but lovely. Mitch came to visit me (and was stopped by immigration on his way back to Singapore!) and we spent a couple days cooking, eating, and pairing wine, beer, and cocktails with our food. We also had a FaceTime chat with three of our friends from home, which was a lot fun. It’s so strange to me that I was actually home just over a week ago.

We also finally found an independent coffee shop in Seremban! This is very exciting because coffee culture is one of the things that I look for in new places. Bros Cafe has the brick-and-wood industrial feel that I love, complete with lightbulbs strung from the high ceilings. This time, the lightbulbs are enclosed in French press coffee makers! It’s really neat. Bros serves coffee, juice, Korean coffee beverages, and Korean desserts. There’s free water, too, which is a huge plus and a rare find. Another rare find, which Bros Cafe also has, is a clean bathroom! Mitch and I knew we’d made a good find when our coffee came to us presented like this:

Americanos at Bros Cafe - Definitely going to make myself a regular there!
Americanos at Bros Cafe – Definitely going to make myself a regular there!

Mitch and I went to Bros Cafe twice this weekend. When we walked in today, the barista recognized us and gave us a coffee card with four stamps filled in. “Two from yesterday,” she told us.

Four stamps, thanks to a kind barista with a good memory!
Four stamps, thanks to a kind barista with a good memory!

Coffee culture is one of the things I’ve been missing terribly and now I’ve found a hipster cafe in little Seremban. Score!

It rained a lot this weekend, and not just in the afternoon! We had rain during the day and thunderstorms at night, too. This is the hot season and I’m told that the 4pm rain is still normal, but it seems that we’ve had quite a lot other than that. Anyway, we were rewarded for our patience with the weather by a beautiful sunset . . .

Sunset

. . . and a stunning rainbow!

The rainbow was so large that I couldn't get it into the frame.
The rainbow was so large that I couldn’t get it into the frame.
Notice the double arc. One of my friends told me that rainbows are always in pairs, though we can't always see both of them. Who knew?
Notice the double arc. One of my friends told me that rainbows are always in pairs, though we can’t always see both of them. Who knew?

Hope you’re having a wonderful weekend! Have a great week ahead!

On My Mind

There and Back Again

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Well, I did it.

I left my home and family and friends and got on a plane that took me back to Malaysia. The biggest challenge in returning is leaving people who love and care about me. I’m not saying I don’t have friends here; I do, and they’re amazing people who I trust, love, and have enriched my life in countless ways. But, to use a cliché as I did in my last post, there’s no place like home.

Readjusting to the routine that I have in Malaysia is probably going to take about a week. When I got back from Spain in January, I called my dad crying at 2am when I couldn’t sleep because of jet lag, depression at having returned at all, and a deep sense of loss. My dad told me that I was not, under any circumstances, allowed to make any important decisions for a week. He told me that it’s completely normal to feel sad and out of sorts after a vacation and that exhaustion didn’t help. He told me to get myself through the week by focusing on school, working out, and spending as much time with others as possible. (I don’t do well alone; I ruminate on everything and talk myself in circles.)

My dad was right. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was back into the groove of daily life, over my jet lag, and feeling much better. So I decided to keep at it in Malaysia rather than book a flight home, which is what I wanted to do when I called at 2am.

This time, I managed to make it until 6:00 this morning before getting in touch with my parents. I’d already been awake for over an hour when I finally gave up and gave in to what I knew would make me feel better. Hearing the voices of loved ones generally has an uplifting effect on me. This morning, however, I was simultaneously comforted that it’s so easy to keep in touch with home, and also sad because I had a fresh reminder of everything I was missing. As I knew it would, though, the brief talk cheered me up and gave me the strength to start my day. Even though I felt alone, I wasn’t. Home is simply a phone call away, and I needed to make that phone call to remember that.

The next few months are going to be my last in Malaysia. I don’t know what’s coming next, but I will make the most of my remaining time here. I made the decision to move here and to return (twice!) and it would be a shame to waste the opportunity I asked for.

Photos, travels, musings, and ideas on education by someone trying to make the world a better and more peaceful place