One of the cool things about traveling is that you get to see all the different varieties and flavors each country has. A good example of that is India’s Maharaja Mac. They don’t eat beef in India so McDonalds had to come up with an alternative to the Big Mac. This chicken burger was the solution.
Dave tried it and liked it a lot! It was too spicy for me! Subway in Singapore also had variations in their local menu!
South East Asia has all sorts of flavors that Canada doesn’t… And sometimes I don’t understand why we haven’t brought these flavors out west! The cookies and cream dairy milk found in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines is one of many examples.
Sooo tasty!!!
In Singapore they also have salted caramel Magnum bars, which are to die for!!
My first treat in Singapore!
There are some strange variations too. Salted egg yolk is a really common flavour in this part of the world. You can get salted egg yolk calamari, crab and even potato chips!
I’ve heard they’re pretty good! We tried the salted egg yolk calamari and that was REALLY good!
There are other strange flavors of chips too!
Also…chips made of chicken and fish skinChili crab is basically Singapore’s National dish. It doesn’t surprise me that they have these as chips!
Popcorn is also a lot more variable than you’d imagine. I’m a fan of good old fashioned butter and salt, but in Asia, they have all sorts of sweet popcorn.
This one actually sounds pretty good
Even quick meals are more diverse in Malaysia! Back home we have Mr. Noodles and Kraft Dinner but they go beyond that here:
This is brilliant!They even come in a bowl, unlike the packaged food I’ve seen in North America (which were convenient for hiking and camping but not if you’re hungry and on the go)
Of course, I can’t forget about candy! We make a point of bringing back strange candies for our nieces and nephews every year. They seem to enjoy trying new stuff!
Dunno if I’ve ever seen anything like this in Canada!Hazel nut and green tea kit cats…
Every once in a while I find “normal” stuff from back home too. China doesn’t have a lot of imported foods so when I find sour cream and onion chips, I get excited!!!
I’d settle for Lay’s if I had to but…..They even have Ruffles!!!I’ve never seen anything like this in China. They have their own version of jerky, which is also quite tasty…. It’s just different
I don’t think it’s possible for me to write about this holiday and not discuss what’s going on back “home” in China. The Coronovirus outbreak has been a very large part of our lives throughout this entire trip. When we aren’t reading up on news ourselves, we’re in contact with people back in Suzhou who didn’t go on holiday. It’s been kind of wild.
China is in the midst of building a hospital… In 6 days. There are actually 2 of these being built because most likely, a lot more people are going to be getting sick
The virus started in Wuhan, in a wet market. People there were selling exotic meats like bat and civet, and that’s how the virus began. We had been hearing about the pneumonia-causing illness in December already, but it wasn’t actually until we got to Malaysia that things got bad. First the market in Wuhan was closed, then the city shut down. Then, several others shut down too.
Ground 0 for the Wuhan Coronovirus
We live in Suzhou, which is about 300km from the city of Wuhan. There have been only 8 cases in Suzhou and no deaths, as of now. One of the infected Suzhou residents was even cured! Still, people are very nervous about it all.
I’ve never been to Hubei province, although it’s pretty close via high speed train
Watching this go down from so far away is kind of surreal. I keep seeing photos of empty grocery store shelves and I keep getting notices of all the venues and events that are shutting down because of the virus. Everyone has basically been told to stay home. People are going stir crazy.
It’s worse in Wuhan, where the city is in complete lock down. Roads have been physically closed to stop people from getting out. Unfortunately, 5 million people left Wuhan before officials realized that this virus is so contagious. This is why it’s spread so far throughout China.
We don’t really know when we’re going to be able to go back. Our three cats are being cared for by our usual pet sitter, and we’re ok to stay here in Malaysia for a while, but it’s still a strange feeling to know that we can’t go back home because it’s not really safe to yet.
Many flights have been cancelled already
The government has been really careful over the last week. Schools are being shut down for an extra week after the holiday and non-essential businesses are closed until February 8th. There’s even been a hotline set up where people can report businesses that are trying to get their workers back to work early. It hasn’t stopped several schools from trying to get teachers to come back early to sit in empty classrooms, in the name of “getting their dollar’s worth” out of us. They don’t want us feeling like we have extra holidays…
I’m fairly concerned about the emptying grocery stores. Fresh vegetables and fruit are in short supply.
All of this is leading to some panic, of course. There are a lot of rumours going around and quite a bit of misinformation. People are abandoning their pets and freaking out on other expats in the Wechat groups too. I’ve seen name calling and full on melt downs. People are scared and they want other people to be scared too so that they don’t feel so alone.
Of course, some people are creating memes in their spare time, which I think is a lot more productive than going over worst case scenarios in your head.
I’ve been trying very hard to stay calm. I’ve dealt with anxiety since I was a teenager and one of the best ways I know how to cope is to surround myself with positive people. I choose my friends carefully. But… I also feel like I have a role to play as an expat community leader in Suzhou. I am either the owner or administrator of multiple Wechat groups, and thousands of people use these groups to get information. I need to make sure that I’m there, providing good information and stopping bad information from spreading.
I’ve been trying to encourage people to stay calm, stay isolated and stay clean.
Still, I’m lucky. I’m facing this from the safety of a country that has been mostly unaffected by the virus. I have a reliable person taking care of my pets and the ability to stay abroad for a little while longer, although, to be honest I’d much rather be home, safe and sound with my furry family.
I just want to be home, curled up with Oliver
For now, I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing: staying up to date with facts, washing my hands frequently, using hand sanitizer when necessary, and staying out of crowds. It’s all I can do.
Good advice!
Here are a couple more coronavirus memes to brighten a rather gloomy post:
There are lots of these ones floating around including one of a guy who cut a hole in his mask so that he could smoke out of it During Chinese New year, these red envelopess are given out with money in them. Of course this year, with masks being in short supply…. This is a great gift!Probably my favorite meme so far. Chinese people love to tell others to drink hot water…. For everything. Cold water is bad for you…. Hot water will cure fevers, ear infections, pneumonia and probably Coronovirus too
My next post will be about traveling to the jungle! Stay tuned! (I’m almost caught up!?)
The 6th day of our holiday was spent on Sentosa Island; a major tourism attraction in Singapore. We booked our tickets for the cable car ride ahead of time, and decided we’d figure out what we wanted to do when we got there.
The view was beautiful from the cable car!Singapore
Upon arrival, we quickly realized that without tripling our budget for the day, there was no way we’d be able to do it all, so we settled on 2 of the lower prices options (proving you can do Sentosa on a limited budget).
There is a Universal Studios on Sentosa islands and also a Madame Tussauds.
One thing we learned after walking around for a while was that transportation on the island is mostly free. There is a ‘hop on and off” type bus which costs 25 Singaporean dollars per person (the conversion is almost the same as Canadian dollars), but there is also a monorail and shuttles that can help you get around the island as well.
One of the buses we used to get around the Island
Our first stop was the Trick Eye Museum. It was pretty hot out so we figured we should spend the peak of the day indoors, where it was air conditioned.
Now, I’m sure part of my problem with this museum was my understanding of what it was. When I hear ‘trick eye’, I mostly think of optical illusions. I was expecting silly mirrors, maybe some amateur magic or just good old fashion tricks of the eye. But the museum only had 1 or 2 of those types of displays. The rest were all basically the type of thing you can do with phone apps like Beaty Cam and Instagram. Taking photos of myself with bunny ears or in a ballerina outfit isn’t really something I’ll do for free… Let alone paying $25 each to do it.
There were a few cute onesThere was nothing ‘trick’ about this one. I just squeezed between a statue’s arms…This one was actually pretty good. It was an actual trick Eye display
There were definitely a few good laughs, mostly in the ones that required videos.
Dave told me roughly where they were and I played alongKeep in mind that none of these special effects worked without looking through an app. So we were just goofing around in front of large posters
It didn’t really help that my phone couldn’t even run the app. I have a Oneplus6, so I’m not sure what the problem was. Even Dave’s phone glitched quite a bit. All in all, I wouldn’t visit a museum like this again. It’s too bad too, because there were other things I wanted to do, but after dropping $50 for us to spend 45 minutes there taking selfies… We didn’t have the budget to do other stuff we would have enjoyed more.
There was some weird stuff in that place!
Our second stop was Fort Siloso. We got there only 40 minutes before close so we didn’t get to see much, but it was a nice walk anyway.
It was a British fort during the second world warSome displays were set up to help create ambience
On our way out of fort Siloso, we stumbled upon an Asian food market, so we decided to walk around.
Delicious, delicious food!
The market wasn’t quite open yet but all the businesses were getting set up. Part of setting up included taking photos of all the food offerings from each shop. That was sort of neat.
Representatives from each food stall came for the photo shootThey also all said as prayer before getting started
The trip back via cable car was equally beautiful during the sun set.
Pretty Sun set!
All in all, I enjoyed our trip to Sentosa. If we had doubled our budget ($200 instead of $100) we could have done a lot more, but when you go on holiday as much as we do, you’ve gotta give up some things. Singapore is overall quite an expensive country, so I wasn’t super surprised at the costs, but was disappointed in the value in some cases.
I did get to see baby peacocks, so that was pretty awesome!
We didn’t have much time in Singapore, but we knew there were a couple of things we simply had to do and see. One of those things was Gardens by the Bay.
A photo taken from the bridge going into GBTB. Strange floating eggs. This whole area feels otherworldly.We knew we were going to enjoy this place even before we got there. So much green!!
You’ve probably seen Singapore’s super trees in photos before but nothing compares to seeing them in person. These solar powered beauties range from 25-50 meters tall. They are beautiful, provide shade in the heat and act as a huge tourism pull for the city. Best of all, it’s free to visit Supertree Grove, even during the nightly light show!
Un-edited. Such beautiful colors!!The trees are quite large!
Still, it’s definitely worth spending a bit of money to see the rest of the park. The Flower Dome is a beautiful area full of plants, flowers and trees from all around the world. Best of all, it’s climate controlled, giving you a break from the hot Singaporean sun.
Blooming flowers everywhereSo much colour!!A beautiful shot Dave got of a bird in the flower domeThis flower was artificial but so beautiful!
There are various themes set up throughout the dome, with Alice in Wonderland being my favourite. Everything was so well done and so well maintained!
The first one we spotted was the Cheshire cat. I dressed as this iconic cat for Halloween this year!The Queen of heartsPooh and Piglet: another theme found within the Flower Dome
Another amazing sight was the wood carvings seen throughout the dome. They were beautiful works of art.
This one was huge!So much detailProbably my favorite carving
The Cloud Forest is also well worth a visit. With an artificial waterfall and so many flowers and plants to appreciate, this area is a lovely way to spend some time. The air smells so fresh and it’s relaxing being surrounded by so much vegetation. We really enjoyed our time there.
It smelled like heaven in the cloud forest!Everything was beautiful and green!!
The Cloud Forest had some really interesting displays as well. It didn’t seem as big or as impressive as Flower Dome at first glance, but then we realized that in The Cloud forest, you go up!
They had Venus fly traps in this areaThey also incorporated Lego into some of the gardens. See if you can spot the plastic flowers!
The skyway is yet another beautiful way to experience the garden. I am still dealing with quite a bit of pain in my foot, so I decided to skip that attraction and Dave went solo while I stretched out my tired muscles. He got some beautiful shots.
The view from aboveThe Marina Sands Hotel the background: one of Singapore’s most iconic buildingsThe bridge that takes you from one Supertree to the next
The most amazing feature at Gardens by the Bay is their nightly light show. They do this every night at 7:45 and 8:45. We caught the late show and it was incredible!
The eggs at the entrance of the park light up at nightThe view from the lookout point is spectacularThere was an eerie song playing with the eggs. It felt like we were in another world
Even without the show itself, GBTB is an amazing sight at night. When the music starts though, it’s breathtaking. The park was full of people admiring this spectacular presentation of lights and music. It exceeded my expectations.
This was before the light show even began!The trees slowly changed colorSo beautiful!!
If you’re going to Singapore, you simply can’t skip Gardens by the Bay. It’s a delightful place. It’s so well maintained and clean and there’s so much to enjoy!
They exploded with color!The trees were coordinated with each other as well as with music. The night we saw the show, the music was a WaltzSo pretty!
Finally, here’s a lovely video for you to enjoy!
For best effect, watch the video with the sound on! It’s really quite amazing!
Be sure to check back soon! I have a few other posts on the go and now that I’m in the relaxing rainforest… I’ll have more time for writing!
I’ve grown spoiled with China’s high speed trains, and I figured our trip to Singapore would be a quick one, given its proximity to Kuala Lumpur. I was wrong…
China’s high speed trains are incredible. They’re fast, cheap and can take you just about anywhere on the East coast!
A few years back, Singapore cancelled the train coming directly from Malaysia’s capital, leaving only two options: bus or plane.
After our experiences in Laos (where they sell motion sickness pills at every pit stop), I was a bit nervous about the bus…
For this trip, I tried very hard to minimize the number of flights we booked. Flying is not great for the environment, but we aren’t left with many other options during our holidays in this part of the world. South East Asia doesn’t always have the best roads, so flying is often our best (and safest) option.
With poor infrastructure and winding mountain roads to worry about, driving can be hazardous in South East Asia
We ended up looking into both options and saw that although flights are generally very cheap going from KL to Singapore, they quadrupled over Chinese New Year. The buses were more expensive too but still cheaper overall, so we decided to take the longer (and more environmentally friendly) option for this trip.
The plus side of driving is that you get to see more of the country. I’ll never forget the drive from Vang Vieng up to Luang Prabang. Breathtaking!
We arrived a half hour before our scheduled departure, as recommended by the booking website (we used www.easybook.com). We were a little annoyed when we tried to board the bus with our full cups of coffee, only to be told they weren’t allowed. We drank as much as we could and left our half-full coffees behind, much to our chagrin.
The bus was clean and about half empty. With buses going to Singapore nearly every hour, I imagine they don’t often fill all the way up.
These are all the companies making the trip daily. Each company makes various trips throughout the day.
There are a lot of different bus companies making this trip, but we decided to go with The One Tours. They rated well online, while some of the other companies had awful reviews. Some bus drivers refused to even take passengers all the way into Singapore, leaving them stranded at the border. Aside from our wasted coffees, we were very happy with our experience and I’d recommend The One Tours without hesitation.
This is what our bus looked like. Lots of space and comfy seats
Because there is a border crossing, this trip into Singapore has a few stops (in addition to regular rest stops). The first stop is to leave Malaysia. You’re stamped out and sent on your way. The process doesn’t take long as long as you don’t have anything to declare. We had to put our bags through an x-ray machine but it wasn’t nearly as much of a hassle as at the airport.
Singapore is a very small island. The bus drives over a bridge to get there. No ferries!
After “leaving” Malaysia, you actually need to get back on the bus for a few more minutes until you reach customs on Singapore’s side. Here, you’ll get stamped in, asked a few questions and then be on your way!
It’s all very simple if you’re lucky enough to be Canadian. I’m sure it isn’t as easy with other passports. You’ll want to check your government website ahead of time, just in case you need to apply for a Visa before you arrive
I should note that each bus company does pick ups and drop offs at different locations. We were dropped off near a hotel in Singapore, where we were able to get onto WiFi to order a Grab (like Didi or Uber). It turns out that we could have gotten cheap roaming on our Malaysia Sim cards if we had done it before leaving, but once we were in Singapore it was too late, so of course, we had to get a Singaporean sim card too.
Each of these companies has different pick up and drop off points so make sure to double check once you’ve booked!
If you’re planning to take the bus out to Singapore, I can reassure you that it’s nothing like Laos or The Philippines . There will be no live (or dead) farm animals on your bus and the seats are comfy. Best of all, it’s a safe and reliable way to get around.
No one was sitting in either of the seats next to me. A very relaxing journey!
My next few posts are going to be long ones! I’ll be writing them on the bus ride back to Kuala Lumpur! Check back soon!
