We left the U.S. on Monday afternoon, and after a 10+ hour flight we arrived in Japan for a short layover. Right away I could feel the culture difference when trying to order coffee and the lady taking my order had no idea what I was saying. After several hand motions, I was finally able to order a simple cup of black coffee.
After about an hour in Tokyo Narita airport, we flew to Singapore. Upon arriving in Singapore, I could immediately see what all the hype about the country was. Walking through the airport, I felt like I was in a very fancy shopping mall.
After going through immigration, getting our bags, and riding the bus, we finally arrived at the Adventist Health Center. Unfortunately, there was a bit of confusion in finding our rooms and it took about an hour to finally get in our room. We quickly set our bags down and hopped in bed to get a few hours of sleep before starting our day full of events.
After sleeping for 3-4 hours, we hopped into two vans, with our driver Rafee, and drove over to a mosque. Unfortunately the mosque was closed for maintenance. I was very disappointed about this because just from outside I could see how interesting the mosque would have been. Due to the unexpected change of plans, we simply walked around the Malay village and took in Singapore for our first time. It was very interesting to see the differences between the streets of Singapore and the U.S. The streets were cleaner, the cops dressed differently, and even the graffiti looked different.
After this we went to the Malay Heritage Centre, where we got to play some typical Malaysian games, which were very much like playing the American game of hackysack. Walking through the museum I really liked the collection of small boats and seeing the progression of technology throughout the years. Afterwards we went and had a typical lunch as a group. The food was delicious, filled with exotic spices that I had never tried before. Some of us were a bit hesitant to try the food at first, but we all turned out to really enjoy the meal.
After the meal we went and visited the laying down Buddha, which really reminded me of the Buddhas in Thailand. Our driver Rafee was kind enough to take a picture of our group and print a copy for all of us.
We then drove over to a small park and went on a short hike to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the city and breathe some fresh air. We walked along a beautiful wooden bridge that had a very modern look to it.
Post-hike, we drove to the Peranakan museum, where we walked around learning about the Peranakan culture and its importance in the Malaysian&Singaporean society. It was interesting to see that Lee Kuan Yew was actually a Peranakan himself. There was one gallery that I really enjoyed, which had several portraits of different kinds of Peranakans and included a quote from each of them talking about their culture. I also enjoyed walking around looking for small stamps to punch into the little brochure given to us at the entrance, it was a nice motivator to see the whole museum.
In addition to the Peranakan museum, we also walked over to the Singapore National Museum, where we got to enjoy some modern pieces of art, as well as sit and rest for a little bit.
By this time we were all extremely exhausted and hungry, so we took the MRT to chinatown and met with some of Dr. Perumal's colleagues at a small 2nd story restaurant in the middle of chinatown. It was nice to finally sit down, relax, and enjoy delicious food with the group. After finishing our meal, we all walked outside and took a seat as Dr. Perumal ordered us some desserts that looked like shaved ice, but with a few additional ingredients on top.
After (somewhat) enjoying the desserts, we walked to the closest MRT station and rode back to the Caldecott station and walked back to the Adventist guest house. My overall impression of Singapore was that the city is very clean, and beautiful. I love the mixture of city life and nature, it's definitely somewhere I would consider living for a few years. Although I truly enjoyed our first day in Singapore, I am extremely jetlagged and am now going to sleep. Enjoy some pictures from the day here at the bottom.
Louis (Andrew) Ugalde
No comments:
Post a Comment