My second full day in Singapore was fantastic, hung out with my new pal Catherine that I met at my hostel. We went to the famous Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar.. you'll notice I said 'a' Singapore Sling.. they were S$22 (about $16) each.
Had a coffee.. first one since I left the UK.. mmmmmmmmm latte. Sentosa Island was our next stop, basically a huge tourist attraction full of tacky tourist things, but they had a bit of a beach there which was nice, even if it looked a bit man-made.
Back to the Chinatown night market where we had yummy wonton noodle soup and veggies... and then my good friend/former co-worker Bernie, who was passing through town on a familiarization trip, called me and we were able to get together! We had planned this for this date from before I left Canada, but when I emailed her close to the date and didn't hear back, I was afraid I had missed her.. good thing I got a mobile phone here and she was able to reach me :)
We met up after Catherine and I parted ways for the evening, had a good chat and had a yummy fruit juice at one of the stalls in Chinatown, before heading home for the night. Lots of big hugs from her as well of course.
I was able to have a chat with Matt last night to report on how well the day was going, that was nice. :)
Next morning.. brings us to right now. I slept all of 4 hours last night, perhaps I was wound up from my day.. now I' m tired :( Hopefully I'll sleep on the train tonight.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Exploring Singapore
Finally crawled out of bed at 11 this morning.. I heart jetlag.. missed the included breakfast with my hostel bed, oh well.
Met a nice girl from Perth at my hostel, we went for a wander to find lunch and have a look-see in Chinatown, and parted ways here. I spent a little more time in Chinatown, exploring the shops and finding out how to get my mobile phone hooked up, had a bubble tea, etc. Was generally less than impressed with Chinatown as a whole, turns out I missed a whole bunch.. more on that later.
My next stop was Clarke Quay, a collection of shops and restaurants along the Singapore River, quite nice, although very quiet (apparently livens up at dinner). Took a 45-minute river cruise, which wasn't all that informative or exciting, but saw some interesting things along the way.
Next stop Little India, loads of crazy shops and restaurants, spent some time sat down here just taking it all in, had an interesting yet tasty dinner (consisted of an enourmous super-flat pancakey thing with three dipping sauces), wandered the streets some more before heading back.
I decided to get off at the Chinatown station, seeing as I was familiar with how to walk back from there, and came out of the subway station right into the middle of a rather large night market, rivalled only by Hong Kong's night market. Every possible thing you can imagine, including suit-makers trying to pull me in.. already have plans for that in Vietnam. I enjoyed a nice Kiwi slushee juicey thingy, was super tasty, stopping at the mobile phone place to get hooked up before making my way back to the hostel. Met another nice Aussie, from Melbourne, had a short chat before she went off to bed.
The jetlag/super-extra-tiredness factor played havoc with my emotions towards the end of the day and I wound up having a wee cry on the phone with a loved one.. feel better now. Sometimes you just have to have a wee cry. Off to bed with me..
Met a nice girl from Perth at my hostel, we went for a wander to find lunch and have a look-see in Chinatown, and parted ways here. I spent a little more time in Chinatown, exploring the shops and finding out how to get my mobile phone hooked up, had a bubble tea, etc. Was generally less than impressed with Chinatown as a whole, turns out I missed a whole bunch.. more on that later.
My next stop was Clarke Quay, a collection of shops and restaurants along the Singapore River, quite nice, although very quiet (apparently livens up at dinner). Took a 45-minute river cruise, which wasn't all that informative or exciting, but saw some interesting things along the way.
Next stop Little India, loads of crazy shops and restaurants, spent some time sat down here just taking it all in, had an interesting yet tasty dinner (consisted of an enourmous super-flat pancakey thing with three dipping sauces), wandered the streets some more before heading back.
I decided to get off at the Chinatown station, seeing as I was familiar with how to walk back from there, and came out of the subway station right into the middle of a rather large night market, rivalled only by Hong Kong's night market. Every possible thing you can imagine, including suit-makers trying to pull me in.. already have plans for that in Vietnam. I enjoyed a nice Kiwi slushee juicey thingy, was super tasty, stopping at the mobile phone place to get hooked up before making my way back to the hostel. Met another nice Aussie, from Melbourne, had a short chat before she went off to bed.
The jetlag/super-extra-tiredness factor played havoc with my emotions towards the end of the day and I wound up having a wee cry on the phone with a loved one.. feel better now. Sometimes you just have to have a wee cry. Off to bed with me..
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sweaty Singapore..
OK.. I'm jetlagged so this will be short. The flight was not nearly as painful as I thought it might be.. Qantas is just lovely. They gave me an emergency exit row seat.. had extra legroom :)
Made it to Singapore and into the city without any major drama, got off at the right subway station... oh.. a side note.. this one deserves its own separate paragraph:
Their subway system is called SMRT!!! LOL. S-M-R-T, I am so smart..
anyway.. after much (ok, maybe only 15 minutes) wandering around looking lost, and a friendly Singaporean asking if I needed help, I got in a taxi and found my accommodation. I had to go back out to find money, cash only the nice lady said.. so off I went to the cash machine, picked up some food as well. Somehow I decided that spicy instant noodles would be a good thing to eat in this weather, LOL.
OK, I'm going to bed. Bye for now!!
Made it to Singapore and into the city without any major drama, got off at the right subway station... oh.. a side note.. this one deserves its own separate paragraph:
Their subway system is called SMRT!!! LOL. S-M-R-T, I am so smart..
anyway.. after much (ok, maybe only 15 minutes) wandering around looking lost, and a friendly Singaporean asking if I needed help, I got in a taxi and found my accommodation. I had to go back out to find money, cash only the nice lady said.. so off I went to the cash machine, picked up some food as well. Somehow I decided that spicy instant noodles would be a good thing to eat in this weather, LOL.
OK, I'm going to bed. Bye for now!!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Off to Singapore tonight..
Had a fantastic day yesterday, David showed me all around the harbour at Portsmouth, plus a bit of the city, was bloody cold but sunny :)
Went to a yummy Turkish restaurant for dinner.. have never had it before, was super tasty. Ate entirely too much.
Rainy today, so have just been staying inside and getting ready to head to the airport..
Might be a couple of days before I'm back online.. flight is very long, and by the time I arrive in Singapore I'll be ready to drop into bed I'm quite sure.
Bye for now.......
Went to a yummy Turkish restaurant for dinner.. have never had it before, was super tasty. Ate entirely too much.
Rainy today, so have just been staying inside and getting ready to head to the airport..
Might be a couple of days before I'm back online.. flight is very long, and by the time I arrive in Singapore I'll be ready to drop into bed I'm quite sure.
Bye for now.......
Friday, October 3, 2008
Back to the homeland.
My final day on Santorini was nice and super relaxing.. ate breakfast by the pool, met two nice couples just arriving at the hotel who were from Vancouver, put my feet in the Mediterranean, got packed up and Stelio the hotel owner took me to the airport.
Stelio and his wife Eva were absolutely lovely and I will most certainly be back to stay at their hotel.
One of the ladies from the bunch that I met from Vancouver reminded me to call my mother often and be safe.. obviously she's a mom, LOL.
No dramas on the flight, security at the itsy-bitsy Santorini airport doesn't exist, a lady was seeing some friends off, they had gone through security and she hadn't. She asked the sole security guy if she could go through and wait with them, he said no problem, for a little while. She didn't go through the metal detector or anything. LOL.
The Greek islands were just wonderful and I can't wait to get back there.
My friend David met me at Stansted airport in London. Major shock to the system as I stepped outside, it was bloody cold!! Yay October. haha
David is a friend that I met in Victoria about 10 years ago, but haven't seen since I moved to Vancouver in 1999. He's an English fellow, lived in Canada for a long time, and decided to move back to the UK. Very nice to see him again :) He lives in Southsea, near Portsmouth (a part of Portsmouth really), on the south coast of England. Was about a 3 hour drive from the airport.
We stopped along the way for a nibble and something to drink... arrived about 1130pm, had tea and a chat, and after a shower dropped into bed...
Stelio and his wife Eva were absolutely lovely and I will most certainly be back to stay at their hotel.
One of the ladies from the bunch that I met from Vancouver reminded me to call my mother often and be safe.. obviously she's a mom, LOL.
No dramas on the flight, security at the itsy-bitsy Santorini airport doesn't exist, a lady was seeing some friends off, they had gone through security and she hadn't. She asked the sole security guy if she could go through and wait with them, he said no problem, for a little while. She didn't go through the metal detector or anything. LOL.
The Greek islands were just wonderful and I can't wait to get back there.
My friend David met me at Stansted airport in London. Major shock to the system as I stepped outside, it was bloody cold!! Yay October. haha
David is a friend that I met in Victoria about 10 years ago, but haven't seen since I moved to Vancouver in 1999. He's an English fellow, lived in Canada for a long time, and decided to move back to the UK. Very nice to see him again :) He lives in Southsea, near Portsmouth (a part of Portsmouth really), on the south coast of England. Was about a 3 hour drive from the airport.
We stopped along the way for a nibble and something to drink... arrived about 1130pm, had tea and a chat, and after a shower dropped into bed...
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
best day ever
.. well, it's up there anyway
woke up in a crap mood.. but as i have learned.. get outside asap and all is well. better, anyways. Had to go to the hotel manager because my toilet.. ahem.. wasn't taking everything away.
i rented a wee scooter today and pretty much saw all of Santorini (probably did 100km)
Was out to the east end of the island, saw the lighthouse, red sand beach (more like red cliff & rocks, not much of a beach), Fira, Oia (pronounced ee-ah), and lots of wee villages in between, + way up the highest mountain right in the middle of the island.
Oia was my favourite, at the far western end of the island. It did have it's share of tacky tourist stuff, but not as much as Fira. Oia is known for it's sunsets, facing west right over the ocean with no obstructions.. so after wandering through the town, I found a good perch to watch/take 25000 photos, and there I sat for a hour waiting. The spot gradually got more and more full of people basically doing the same.
Motored back in the dark, after stopping back in Fira, I really really wanted some Greek worry beads, and I had seen some earlier that I liked so I picked them up. Got a wee bit lost and ended up almost at the airport, but found my way again (island isn't that big, not to many places to go wrong!), gassed up the scooter (not a major purchase, lol) and back to Perissa Beach.
Found a yummy place called Grandma's Recipes for dinner, had a chicken pita gyro and yummy Greek salad. A very nice girl from Boston was working there and was very chatty.
Glad I had such a great day.. I've had some bouts of loneliness and homesickness, but not today.. hopefully the toilet will be fixed, LOL.
This is my last night in Greece.. I'll be back for sure, but bringing someone along next time :)
woke up in a crap mood.. but as i have learned.. get outside asap and all is well. better, anyways. Had to go to the hotel manager because my toilet.. ahem.. wasn't taking everything away.
i rented a wee scooter today and pretty much saw all of Santorini (probably did 100km)
Was out to the east end of the island, saw the lighthouse, red sand beach (more like red cliff & rocks, not much of a beach), Fira, Oia (pronounced ee-ah), and lots of wee villages in between, + way up the highest mountain right in the middle of the island.
Oia was my favourite, at the far western end of the island. It did have it's share of tacky tourist stuff, but not as much as Fira. Oia is known for it's sunsets, facing west right over the ocean with no obstructions.. so after wandering through the town, I found a good perch to watch/take 25000 photos, and there I sat for a hour waiting. The spot gradually got more and more full of people basically doing the same.
Motored back in the dark, after stopping back in Fira, I really really wanted some Greek worry beads, and I had seen some earlier that I liked so I picked them up. Got a wee bit lost and ended up almost at the airport, but found my way again (island isn't that big, not to many places to go wrong!), gassed up the scooter (not a major purchase, lol) and back to Perissa Beach.
Found a yummy place called Grandma's Recipes for dinner, had a chicken pita gyro and yummy Greek salad. A very nice girl from Boston was working there and was very chatty.
Glad I had such a great day.. I've had some bouts of loneliness and homesickness, but not today.. hopefully the toilet will be fixed, LOL.
This is my last night in Greece.. I'll be back for sure, but bringing someone along next time :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)