Well, I'm certainly nearing the end of my stay in Taiwan. I leave 2 weeks from today, which I can't believe. It's amazing how these 10 months have passed by. Needless to say, I feel like a lot of reflection/remembering will be going on in the next two weeks. Maybe some of it will make it on to this blog.

I've been trying to travel a little more this semester (maybe you've noticed), and have had some great successes. Not only was it great having Ben know all about Taiwan and traveling around the island with him, Katie (my housemate) and I went on some international trips, as well. The biggest one being to Singapore a few weeks ago.

On our way!

Blurry (Hey, it was early!), but excited!

After leaving the house at 4am, we arrived in Singapore (with a short stop in Hong Kong) on Thursday afternoon. We took the rest of the afternoon and evening to explore the area around our hostel (which was great! If anyone ever goes to Singapore, ask me about where we stayed. Best hostel ever!) and finding dinner. The next day we set out to Chinatown (wait... don't we live in "China"town?) and Little India, walking the same number of hours that we had slept the night before. And let me tell you, it is mightly hot in Singapore. Heat + walking = exhaustion.

Buildings around our hostel.

The oldest, largest temple in Singapore- down the street from our hostel.


Come to Singapore, find Taiwanese food.

In Chinatown, we saw a Hindu Temple (I didn't take any pictures of the inside, so you'll have to make do with picutres of the roof), and managed to get there just in time for their noon service. I'm not sure really what was going on, but there were lots of drums and noise and people following around a man who was holding something on his head. There was also some flower throwing and singing, I believe. It definitely was the first time I've ever seen anything like that, and it was incredible.

Top of the temple.

Next up, we went to the Buddah's Tooth Relic (which we didn't actually see, since the tooth relic display was closed when we were there). While we missed the relic, we DID see the amazing roof, which had an orchid garden, a massive prayer wheel and 10,000 tiny Buddahs! I think that was my favorite part about the relic temple.

Tiny Buddahs

Each one was so small!

We also had lunch in a Hawker center, which is basically a big, open air food court. But the one we went to was HUGE and had tons of cheap, different kinds of food. AND! I got to have soy milk with the tapioca pearls (珍珠: zhen zhu), which usually come in the milk tea (珍珠奶茶: zhen zhu nai cha) here. However, since I don't drink milk, I've missed out on milk tea with bubbles. But not in Singapore! My favorite find: Mr. Bean. This shop supplied me with all the soy milk bubble tea and soy ice cream that my little heart had been missing. Singapore rocks!

Mr. Bean!

The henna art that I got in Little India.

2 people, 4 meals

Anyway, that night we had a massive dinner in an Indian vegetarian place, and went to bed early. The next day (Saturday), we went to the Colonial district, and hit up the Asian Civilizations Museum (One cool part: leaves that had had their "flesh" stripped away, so all that was left were the delicate skeletal strands holding them together. Then, the artist had painted, in gold, quotes from the Quran. Beautiful.) and then headed over to the Battle Box. This was the underground command centre of the British Malaya Command Headquarters during World War II. It's also where the decision to surrender to the Japanese on February 15, 1942. We walked through the Battle Box (which is built into the side of a hill) and got to listen to conversations that had been taped, and see these life-size dummies act out what happened during that time period. Despite the fact that our guide was rushing us slightly, it was really cool to see the actual structure and find out more about how the decision to surrender had been made.

Playing dress-up at the museum.

Singapore in the background.


Replica of the flag used to surrender to the Japanese.

After a late lunch, we walked down Orchard Road (huge shopping street) and headed to the Raffles hotel, which is a famous 19th century hotel. It was "the retreat and source of inspiration for many writers and movie stars, including Somerset Maugham, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph Conrad and Charlie Chaplin." It also was the birthplace of the drink, the "Singapore Sling," which we enjoyed out the porch overlooking Orchard Road. Most expensive drink I've ever had, but also one of the best experiences. We finished up our posh evening at a tapas restaurant.

The Raffles Hotel

Posing with the sign.

Our final hot day in Singapore, we walked over to the Fountain of Wealth, which is the largest fountain in the world. Supposedly, if you walk around it 3 times clockwise, you get good luck. So we DEFINITELY did that. While the fountain was big, it wasn't a very impressive sight. Apparently it's all lit up at night. Oh well.

Fountain of Wealth!

After the fountain, we walked BACK down Orchard Road and caught a bus to the National Orchid Garden. My favorite part: The section devoted to celebrities who had visited. Princess Diana and Jackie Chan, I can understand. But Ricky Martin?

Ricky Martin orchid.

Pretty orchids.

More prettiness.

We hurried back to our hostel to catch the shuttle to the Night Safari. Everyone said we should go on it. It WAS pretty cool- I definitely saw some animals that I've never seen before (and some were REALLY close to the little tram we were riding around on), but sometimes it felt like we were just at the zoo at night. And there were a ton of people. Still, a good experience, and I'm glad I went.

We came back to Taiwan on Monday, after an incredible trip. And now, since this post is already crazy long, I'll save the other travels to another post (in the near near future). Next up: "Travels to Tainan" and "How We Almost Went to Hong Kong."