Singapore 2012

This month, I travelled to Singapore for the first time. It is a long flight (about 18 hours plus layover in Japan), but totally worth it. Singapore reminds me a little bit of New York City because of its endless shopping possibilities and the beautiful skyline. It also reminds me a little bit of Las Vegas because people are out and about at all hours (this makes a lot of sense because it is cooler only at night) and because of what I have heard about the island of Sentosa off the coast of Singapore (I didn't have time to actually go there). It is very clean, very safe, most people speak English (so it is easy to communicate), the water is safe and the food is absolutely amazing. The only drawback is that it's really expensive. The hotels in the popular areas are expensive - like staying in Manhattan - and restaurants (other than hawker stalls or food centers) are pretty pricey.

That being said, I mostly ate at the food centers/hawker stalls because this is where the best local food can be had - for about $5 a meal! It is completely safe to eat at the food centers - each food stall is rated online and most are very clean and safe. The food centers reminded me a little bit of food courts in American shopping malls, but each food stall specialized in only 1-2 dishes and the food was much better than eating at a food court in an American shopping mall. I got in the routine of walking around the entire food center to see all the options and either picking what looked best to me or standing in line for the dishes that all the locals were waiting for. One of my favorite meals was from a food stall called JJ Yong Tau Foo in the ION Food Center which served a Chinese noodle soup in which you could pick what you wanted in your soup and they would cook it right in front of you. It was delicious, fresh, and really filling!

Singapore is really small. It only takes about 1 hour to drive from one end to the other. That's smaller than most US cities!! This is why it is extremely expensive to drive a car in Singapore - it is an attempt to limit the number of people driving and causing congestion. I was surprised to learn that in Singapore it costs over S$60,000 for a 10-year driving certificate. Cars cost much more than in the US - like S$200,000-S$300,000. And insurance will cost you about S$1000 per month. This is why most of the cars I saw on the roads in Singapore were nice cars - like BMW, Audi, Mercedes, etc. It seems mostly white collar workers are able to afford to drive a car in Singapore, therefore those who can afford it buy nice cars. Most people take mass transit (bus or train) or a taxi.

Singapore is crowded, but not Thailand-crowded (Thailand will always be by baseline for this until I experience some place even more crowded than Thailand - which I hope never happens, but I digress...). Because of its size, they build UP to accommodate all the people. One of the funniest things for me while I was there was trying to navigate through the shopping centers on Orchard Road. The shopping centers are all interconnected by underpasses and overpasses, nothing is labelled, and depending on which shopping center you are in the connection will be on a different floor. The ION Orchard shopping center was 8 floors (4 above ground, 4 below ground) and every single time I went in, it took me at least 20 minutes to find the place I wanted to go and at least 20 minutes to find my way back out. I suppose it's smart - once they get you in, you are prone to buy more if you can't get out!! I can only laugh at myself for getting lost in the mall - multiple times!

While I was in Singapore, I also had a chance to visit the Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens are free (except the Orchid Garden, which is only a $5 entrance fee). In the gardens, there are all kinds of tropical flowers and plants. One of the coolest parts was the Ginger garden - an entire garden devoted to different types of ginger plants. I learned a lot and got to see beautiful flowers I've never seen before. If I go back to Singapore, I will definitely return to the Botanical Gardens. In fact, if I go back, I already have a list of places I want to see and things to do! Here is a link to my Flickr album from Singapore!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamers818/sets/72157629543567106/

First hike at Latourell Falls

Today was one of those rare days in the spring in Oregon when the sun shines all day long and the threat of rain becomes a [somewhat] distant memory. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful, sunny & warm day by going for a hike in the Columbia Gorge. Rob picked one that was relatively short because it was our first hike of the season, and it was awesome! We went to a lesser-known place called Latourell Falls, off of the old scenic highway. The hike was about 2.5 miles and has an elevation gain of 520 feet.

We took Sheena along and she loved every second. She sniffed everything along the trail and was good when passing other people [I'm a proud dog owner!!]. Trillium was in full bloom all along the trail - the most I have seen since we've moved out here. The trail is a nice loop. We hiked it backwards - starting from Latourell falls, under the scenic highway, then up a steep climb to the first viewpoint. From there we hiked down to the second waterfall, Upper Latourell Falls. Then it loops back to the first waterfall where we started.

It was cool because unlike other waterfalls I've seen since we've been here (maybe around 20?) Latourell Falls has distinct basalt columns. The entire cliff is made up of the basalt, which is incredibly thick. I've seen basalt around the Gorge before, but not in the columnar structure like Latourell Falls. This is the same type of rock you can see in the famous "Giant's Causeway" in Northern Ireland. Basalt gets pretty crumbly over time - which is why falling rocks are a hazard in the area and the cliffs aren't entirely safe. We saw a group of people standing at the top next to the falls - on a cliff that was detached underneath from the crumbling basalt.

This is a hike I will definitely return to again. It's just as cool as Eagle Creek, without the obnoxious visitors and steep drop-offs along the trail, which is better for Sheena's safety too! We had an awesome day. Check out our photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamers818/sets/72157629400788860/