Me Time

Today was all about me. I was being selfish and just wanted to spend some time alone. Tomorrow I meet up with the tour group and I know I won't have much space for a while, so I politely excused myself from all group activities and did my own thing :)

I started the day by calling mom and talking to her a bit, I sent her some pictures that I haven't had a chance to upload to my blog yet and she was amazed! I think I've convinced her that Singapore would be a great place for her to visit ;)

After talking I wandered out to find a post office. Same comments as before, finding places in Singapore can be a challenge! I was wandering around following Google Maps, right at the spot that it said the post office was supposed to be just not seeing it. And there were hardly any people around for me to ask for help... Eventually someone was able to direct me to the post office haha. I had to go underground 2 levels through this sketchy stairwell in the middle of a plaza. Who would have guessed! After the post office I decided to see how far I could walk underground before the "links" between the malls ran out. Quite far apparently, actually I didn't even go the full distance I could have because I saw an exit I wante. to take. I started at the Ocean Colours Financial District building and ended at the Marina Bay Sands building. Maybe 20 minutes of walking?

In the Marina Bay Sands building I decided, as persuaded by Mom earlier on the phone, that I should spoil myself a bit and get a pedicure. Tomorrow is my birthday afterall and I'll be travelling, not enjoying ;) I also got my eyebrows down because, why not? Then I had a nice lunch, no rush no need to consult anyone, it was nice! Although making a decision was tough because I really wanted a soup and sandwich. I did find a place that met my needs but it wasn't quite as good as I was hoping :p you know how some places try to make themselves seem fancy by overdoing their food with fancy items? That's pretty much what this was, but it was good! Because I was in the Marina Bay Sands I had planned on going up to the Skypark to get a 360 view of the city and an original Singapore Sling but sadly I didn't get to. I was going to but then I heard thunder and it looked like it was about to start pouring. So instead I wandered back to the hostel while giving Alanna a virtual tour of the city via a Messenger Video Call ;)

On the walk home I ran into some folk from the hostel who were heading to eat but I declined joining them and went back to catch up on some writing. Pf course while enjoying another beer :p after a while my friends returned and I stopped writing in order to be social and so goodbye to Nick, the Argentinian living in Vancouver. Maybe we'll cross paths at home! Isabela and I then went to the market again to grab a few more beers. Sounds like there are plans brewing to drink at the hostel tonight. Another Canadian girl, Monika, has friends flying in tonight and has a bottle of vodka to share with us apparently.

And lots of drinking did occur! I ended up going to bed at 5am with a 7am alarm set :/

It was interesting night with people jumping around from outside to inside and across the street for food and just random mingling, maybe 8 people at the max? We played some card games and did a lot of talking. One woman staying there tonight is an expat who needed to get away from home for a while. And oh man I will not complain about Vancouver housing prices ever again after talking to her! Currently they pay $4000/month in rent for a one bedroom just outside of the city centre!! In some places rent can get as high as $10,000. Absolute insanity. Although income is of course mich higher as well, her husband earns twice what rent costs, but still. Absurd! I really enjoyed talking with her. It's a different life here clearly... Money flows freely it seems, or if not freely then easily. Most people who live in Singapore aren't locals but expats and there's an entire "wives of expats" community that don't work and just take care of the home and go out drinking with friends etc etc. Crazy. I suppose that the majority of the people who come here for work are highly educated and very intelligent, the best of the best. Very very interesting. Would explain why so many of the locals seems to party a lot and let loose on all evenings of the week.. Work hard play hard right?

That was evident during the trips we made for food over the course of the evening. We went to McDonalds twice and to a food court type place one. Don't judge haha. Everything is close by so it's not an issue! The first McDonalds trip a very drunk guy was asking everyone if he should break his 18 month vegetarian streak for a McChicken, the second time another drunk was going around smelling everyone trying to see where the flowery smell was coming from (hint, outside lol), and the third time there was a drunk man touching peoples hair! Haha everytime that we go out in the evening we see very intoxicated locals. And we know they're locals because they either mention it or ask why we don't just move to Singapore already. Very interesting.

Anyway, at midnight all the people around the table sang me happy birthday it was so sweet! And of course I asked the Brazilians to sing in Portuguese because it reminds me of home when the family does the same <3 I guess because of the time change I'll get almost 2 days worth of birthday wishes, that'll be fun ;)Read more