Finally!

Got the keys for my apartment today...and my furniture gets moved in on Saturday. More pictures of the apartment to come!

Singapore's Botanic Gardens

On my 4 day weekend for CNY, I managed to make a trip out to the Botanic Gardens.  It's a little oasis in the middle of the city...a la Kensington Park in London.  When I started walking through the park it was mostly sunny with some clouds and then within maybe 25 minutes, the sky turned black and it started pouring. 

I didn't truly believe people when they said that it could rain here; but after getting stuck in the park, I'm a believer.  When it rains, it pours!

The only refuge was at a restaurant in the middle of the park where I attempted to wait out the downpour.  An hour and an Irish Coffee later (why not?), it was still pouring, but I decided to make a run to the nearest bus station since it would have taken forever to try and get a taxi.  I finally made it back to my apartment soaking wet, but looking forward to heading back there when there isn't a cloud in the sky!

Here are some highlights from the Gardens:

There is an amphitheater in the distance where they'll have free concerts on weekends every now and then.

A few from the National Orchid Gallery.  They had about every different color of orchid you could imagine and a few of them were named for famous people (Princess Di, Nelson Mandela, etc).  I have no idea if these are some of those, but they were pretty!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Chinese New Year!

The official start of Chinese New Year was last weekend and lasts for 15 days.  This year is the Year of the Snake (lucky me) and there have been celebrations going on throughout Singapore for the past few weeks.  We got a nice 4 day weekend though, so I can't complain!  

It's been very interesting to learn about the customs of Chinese New Year: hongbaos (the red envelopes with money given out by married couples to single people, especially children); presenting not one, but two mandarin oranges to someone as a symbol of abundance and good fortune; participating in a 'Lo Hei' or prosperity toss of different types of ingredients as a 'Good Luck' appetizer at a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner.

One of my coworkers took me into Chinatown a week before the official start of CNY.  There were a bunch of street vendors selling everything from chopsticks to candies and cakes to jeggings for people to buy as CNY gifts.

There has been a carnival in Marina Bay as well called River Hongbao.  They have some of the same games and rides that you'd find in the states, but there were some pretty elaborate decorations too.

Here are some pictures of the fireworks that they did for the start of CNY:

Marina Bay

For my first month in Singapore, I'm staying in the Marina Bay area.  Prior to the 1970s, there was nothing here except for ocean.  The Singapore government started to reclaim the land and built an artificial bay where they could develop a downtown area to compete with Hong Kong and other Asian hubs.  

Here is what it looked like around the early 2000s (I think):

And here's a part of what it looks like today: 

The 3 buildings with the sail on top of it is a casino called Marina Bay Sands where the entry free for locals is $100 each visit, but for visitors it's free with a passport.  There are a ton of shops in there as well (oh hey, Banana Republic! So nice to see you and your twice the cost of the US clothing).  I guess they want the tourists to go spend the money that they just won...

There's even a floating Louis Vuitton store:

I'm currently staying about 10 minutes away on the other side of the bay at The Sail at Marina Bay.  Here is a picture I took of the two towers that make up The Sail:

I'll only be able to call this area 'home' until Saturday when I move into my new place!

First Impressions...

Hello everyone!  First off, let me just say that this is my first ever attempt at a blog, so bear with me!  

I've been here for almost a month now and it's actually flown by pretty fast.  I hope to be settled in to my permanent apartment in a week or so and sleeping in my own bed has never sounded better than it does right now!  

A few first impressions on Singapore:

1. They love to shop - seriously, I love to shop too but this country takes it to a whole new level.  I've never seen more stores in my life!

2. They love to eat...apparently shopping makes Singaporeans hungry?!?

3. What global recession? See item #1

4. Cranes, cranes and more cranes...brand new construction projects everywhere you look

5. Singapore could show the United States a thing or two on how to be efficient...immigration, mass transit, government projects...

I'm sure I'll have more of these as I get to know Singapore a little better!