I arrived in Singapore at midnight on Wednesday morning and made it to my hotel by 1 am. So what does it feel like to travel for 30 hours? Lets just say I'm happy I only have to make the round-trip twice in the 6 month period. My long leg was just over 13 hours and for most of the flight it felt like we would never actually land anywhere. Upon landing in Tokyo, I found out very quickly that the airport is barely air conditioned and seeing as it was 93 degrees outside when we landed, I was sweating the second I stepped off the plane. In the 2 hour layover I had, I went and freshened up in the ladies room. Who knew that flushing a toilet could involve so many buttons?! The first one I pressed said Flushing Sound, which literally meant that when you hit it it makes a flushing sound...but doesn't actually get anything done. No worries, I was able to make the toilet do its job after a solid 5 minutes.
My last flight from Tokyo to Singapore was just over 5 hours but at that point getting on a plane for any amount of time was too much. I was able to close my eyes and get some rest on the flight but when you're stuck in the tiny middle seat of coach you can't actually get any good sleep.
The first 24 hours-
After getting a few hours of sleep Wednesday morning, I woke up at 6am, made a quick facetime call to Niles and then got ready for work. I saw that there was a Dunkin Donuts just across the street from my hotel and figured it be a good starting point. Newsflash - it doesn't open until 9am!! Singapore definitely doesn't run on Dunkin. Thankfully, the hotel had a plethora of options for breakfast and in my sleepy-jetlagged-daze I was able to get orange juice and cereal (such authentic Singapore food right?).
The taxi ride to work took about 30 minutes and on the way I was able to soak up more of this city. It's a busy city yet I am shocked at how much lush greenery there is all around. The best thing I can describe it as is somewhat like Florida with palm trees and tropical like plants. All of the buildings are so unique, yet it all seems to work together as opposed to the various decades of styles you see in some cities back home.
Day 1 of work went well. Mostly just setting up my computer and access as well as getting a quick tour of the facility. Lunch is in the cafe or canteen and there are two options, Muslim or non-Muslim. I opted for the non-Muslim offerings and ended up with a plate of rice, sweet and sour pork, and some random green veggie (legitimately have not a clue of what it was). The whole plate cost me $2.90 (beat that cafe's back home)! And Chinese tea is free everyday with lunch. In the afternoon, the plant was holding a Singaporean fruit bazaar. Thank goodness it was held outdoors because the main fruit being offered was the terribly aromatic and pungent smelly durian. There is a reason most Westerners do not know of this fruit and consider yourself lucky to have not had to smell, let alone try it. Singaporeans love to watch westerners try their "King of fruits" and my boss took no time in getting me to try a piece. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I don't have pictures of what it looks like but its a big coconut-like sized fruit with a spikey tough outer shell that needs to be cracked open with a sharp knife. Inside you find this weird yellowish looking stuff surrounding the seeds and you eat the yellow stuff. I took a small pinch and it was this slimy, gooey, weird texture. One bite was enough for me. It has a pungent garlic like taste and is very bitter and just plain yucky. Many people loved watching my reaction as I made quite the face when eating it. But thankfully there was mangosteen, rambutan, and cherries to enjoy after. Needless to say I won't be eating durian anything every again.
After work, Keri (the associate I am taking over for) took me to City Hall downtown. On our way down I got a quick glimpse of Marina Bay Sands Hotel (Jack Greene- it's even more unbelievable in person). For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Nam Nam and had pho, yum! After dinner we parted ways and I headed back to the hotel to get some rest and try to get onto a regular schedule. Seems that it'll be tougher than I thought to get over the time difference as my body is still not capable of getting a full nights sleep.
Hopefully day 2 in Singapore won't require as much adventure eating and will include a bit more sleep. Pictures to come!
My last flight from Tokyo to Singapore was just over 5 hours but at that point getting on a plane for any amount of time was too much. I was able to close my eyes and get some rest on the flight but when you're stuck in the tiny middle seat of coach you can't actually get any good sleep.
The first 24 hours-
After getting a few hours of sleep Wednesday morning, I woke up at 6am, made a quick facetime call to Niles and then got ready for work. I saw that there was a Dunkin Donuts just across the street from my hotel and figured it be a good starting point. Newsflash - it doesn't open until 9am!! Singapore definitely doesn't run on Dunkin. Thankfully, the hotel had a plethora of options for breakfast and in my sleepy-jetlagged-daze I was able to get orange juice and cereal (such authentic Singapore food right?).
The taxi ride to work took about 30 minutes and on the way I was able to soak up more of this city. It's a busy city yet I am shocked at how much lush greenery there is all around. The best thing I can describe it as is somewhat like Florida with palm trees and tropical like plants. All of the buildings are so unique, yet it all seems to work together as opposed to the various decades of styles you see in some cities back home.
Day 1 of work went well. Mostly just setting up my computer and access as well as getting a quick tour of the facility. Lunch is in the cafe or canteen and there are two options, Muslim or non-Muslim. I opted for the non-Muslim offerings and ended up with a plate of rice, sweet and sour pork, and some random green veggie (legitimately have not a clue of what it was). The whole plate cost me $2.90 (beat that cafe's back home)! And Chinese tea is free everyday with lunch. In the afternoon, the plant was holding a Singaporean fruit bazaar. Thank goodness it was held outdoors because the main fruit being offered was the terribly aromatic and pungent smelly durian. There is a reason most Westerners do not know of this fruit and consider yourself lucky to have not had to smell, let alone try it. Singaporeans love to watch westerners try their "King of fruits" and my boss took no time in getting me to try a piece. Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me so I don't have pictures of what it looks like but its a big coconut-like sized fruit with a spikey tough outer shell that needs to be cracked open with a sharp knife. Inside you find this weird yellowish looking stuff surrounding the seeds and you eat the yellow stuff. I took a small pinch and it was this slimy, gooey, weird texture. One bite was enough for me. It has a pungent garlic like taste and is very bitter and just plain yucky. Many people loved watching my reaction as I made quite the face when eating it. But thankfully there was mangosteen, rambutan, and cherries to enjoy after. Needless to say I won't be eating durian anything every again.
After work, Keri (the associate I am taking over for) took me to City Hall downtown. On our way down I got a quick glimpse of Marina Bay Sands Hotel (Jack Greene- it's even more unbelievable in person). For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Nam Nam and had pho, yum! After dinner we parted ways and I headed back to the hotel to get some rest and try to get onto a regular schedule. Seems that it'll be tougher than I thought to get over the time difference as my body is still not capable of getting a full nights sleep.
Hopefully day 2 in Singapore won't require as much adventure eating and will include a bit more sleep. Pictures to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment