Ahh, Good Ole Tiger City! The day started out with the Kayler and I, we decided that it was just gonna be the two us of roaming around Singapore! The plan was to go to the zoo, therefore Kayla had decided she would be my shadow, We arrived at the MRT (metro) and Kayla had just stopped talking for a while, she said that all she was gonna do is follow me and observe how I like to travel or some crap like that. After a while she began being herself again which made my day! Great sense of humor and always smiling no matter what, an amazing person to be around when ever possible! We made it to our stop on the metro and from there we had to take a 40-minute bus ride to the zoo!
There was never a dull moment, we had a blast! As soon as we made it to the zoo, it was about that time for lunch. Kayla and I had decided to eat a restaurant right outside of the entrance of the zoo, so here is where it gets interesting! Even though Singapore is known as the cuisine capital of the world, of all things Kayler gets porridge not knowing what it was, in the mean time I had ordered chicken curry with French bread. She dug into her porridge and said that it was great, while I knew what it was I thought I’d let her keep on eating this lovely dish, after a while she asked me what porridge was made of! I had the break it to her and tell her it was pretty much blended rice or oatmeal. I offered her some of my food but she’s quite the stubborn one, she refused and kept on going with the porridge! She later gave up and decided to try some of my food, which I was more than happy to give her, she ate two to three bites and said she was done.
I knew she was still hungry but after we ate, she refused to eat anything else so we made our way into the zoo, Kayler was really looking forward to seeing giraffes and while walking towards them she asked me what my favorite animal was and like any guy I was pretty much stumped! It took me 10 minutes to tell her I’d let her know by the time we left the zoo. We got to the giraffe’s and I never thought someone would be so ecstatic to see an animal we would see in South Africa at a Zoo in Singapore, but as long as she was happy, so was I. We took plenty of pictures at every animal and slowly moved on.
At the center of the zoo we went into some sort of green house where animals would come up to you and not be afraid at all. It was essentially like a petting zoo, you could get as close as you want to the animal but I don’t think petting was allowed! We then made it quickly out of the zoo and by the time we had reached the exit I told Kayla my favorite animal would have to be penguins, although we never made it there to see penguins, they just seemed to be the only animals that seemed awesome at the time!!
We left the zoo and I knew Kayler was starving, she was to stubborn to tell me so we went ahead and made our way into Ben & Jerry’s! I bought some really good Ice Cream and moved along in to the air conditioned KFC. Kayla and I had decided we would go watch a movie. We both wanted to see Safe Haven so we ended up trekking from one end of Singapore to the other to find out that it wasn’t going to release till the next day. Of all the movies playing in the theater we ended up watching a movie called Parker! Surprisingly it was a decent movie and Kayla and I got a kick out of it! So far the Valentines date I had owed Kayla was going great! Or that’s what I thought, who knows what was going through her head! After the movie we had decided to eat dinner at a hawker center! This was by far the cheapest food in Singapore and it was decent. Food cost around 4-6 dollars and the portions were huge! We ordered a big order of fried dumplings and a lot of noodles!
As soon as dinner was over we got some fruit juice and made our way back to the Metro, it was time to start heading back towards the ship! We had a long train ride back in to the city; we were probably the furthest out in Singapore than any other SAS kid. It took nearly 50 minutes to get back to the Marina Cruise Bay center and at that point I was in the mood for brews! We were in the middle of down town and I had just started walking in one direction and that was towards the marina sands bay hotel. I was ready to get a Tiger and possible a Singapore slinger. We walked for a good 30-45 minutes blasting the Jambox while walking down the streets of Singapore. As soon as we found a cab we got in and told the guy we needed to get to a bar. He was a native and he was really expressive as far as descriptions and talked in a very unbearable condescending way but at the same time it showed his love for Singapore!
We were dropped off at the Marina Sands Bay Shopping center; it was time for find some Tigers! We walked around the mall for what seems like hours until we came across a place called Café B! Up until this point my day was probably one of the best yet! Don’t know what Kayler was thinking but she seemed to be having a good time! We ordered 3 rounds of 750 ml Tigers and 2 Singapore Slingers right on the pier.
At 9 o clock there was a light show on the pier that no one had seen but the two of us, it was absolutely beautiful! Water, bubbles, and lights were everywhere it was amazing! The show had lasted around 30 minutes and in that time our minds were blown! I’d have to say the bill at the end of the night was out of this world but it being a valentine’s date it was well worth it! I had to be back on the ship by midnight since I had a field lab the next morning, while on the other hand sitting at the pier and drinking for Kayla was just the pre-game. From what I heard, she went out and partied like a boss!
The next morning I woke up and it was time to learn about the Japanese occupation of Singapore. My history class was amazing to begin with but after going to the places where the Japanese had attacked and where soldiers had stood it really made an impact about the way I view history. I was standing on land where blood had been spilt for the defense of Singapore and it’s people! Two professors were guiding us at the national university of Singapore. The day was pretty much an over glorified lecture but at the same time I had learnt a lot, by the end of the field lab we went to a cemetery where a fraction of the soldiers had been buried. As we arrived I had began scrolling through the names that had been chiseled on to the memorial and I had just then realized how many Indian immigrants were apart in defending Singapore and what it had meant. Although the field lab was absolutely eye opening it was quite depressing at the same time know that so many had died due to the Japanese ruthlessness. The two days we had in Singapore were absolutely amazing and now that I look back on it there’s not one thing I would change. Had the best time of my life those two days!
Next post is Burma!!
-Raj Patel