Despite getting stung by 5 bees/wasps/insects at once, an overabundance of humans, and being hounded by children and young men to buy the same pack of postcards and guidebook approximately 1000 times (I mean if I really want one would you think it’d be something I’d have a hard time obtaining, amirite?), Angkor Wat was epic.
Today, I aggressively and involuntarily got my shoes shined by a nine year old Vietnamese boy.
Able to post on Facebook, but unable to actually READ Facebook in Ho Chi Minh City. One way might actually be better anyway.
Best dressed by default. hell yeah!
Sentosa Island and the southernmost point of Continental Asia
Hey again. So a few weeks ago I went to Sentosa Island, where I swam in salt water for the first time in my life, and set foot on the southernmost point of continental Asia. I think that means you can drive to it, not part of the mainland because it was an island.
They had a dry luge so we decided to check it out. Here is a picture of us with our stylish helmets.
On the way up we took this chairlift which gave us a pretty good view.
Here we could see what we were in for, but everyone seemed to be going so slow so we weren’t really prepared. It was actually pretty fast.
We were also treated to a nice view of one of the beach areas.
One last thing we saw were these vaguely racist statues of various racial stereotypes. To me they seemed quite out of place.
So there you have it. For more information about Sentosa you can check out the wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentosa and you can view the full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arbitrarymotivation/sets/72157625909455616/show/
Until next time!
Ninja Turtles cheerleading routine? No wonder there’s more than one boy on the squads here.
Today I posed for my first “OMG I want to take a photo with you because you’re white” photo.
Chinatown has a Tintin store
past four days
My passport info page is fading from being photocopied so much.
Thaipusam in Little India
Last Wednesday I caught word of the Thaipusam festival taking place in Little India the next day, so some of the other exchange students and I decided to go check it out. It’s an event during which devotees carry elaborately decorated burdens called kavati on their shoulders and are connected through piercings. Cheek and tongue piercings are also common. They do this to ask their god Murugan for assistance in life.
Check out some wikipedia articles for more information:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murugan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kavadi
Here is a link to a slideshow of the full set of photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arbitrarymotivation/sets/72157625770774299/show/
First couple of days!
Hello everyone. This will be my first real post of my trip in Singapore now that I am all set up with computers and softwares. Please bear with me as I juggle catching up with what I have done with doing more things. My plane ride was very long, coming from chilly Canada to sunny Singapore. Around 24 hours total. In flight movies and terrible food took its toll, but soon enough I was at the Changai Airport and took the long cab ride across the island to Nanyang Technological University where I will be studying until the end of May.
Before even leaving the country, I was experiencing new culture.
My first whole day here, I didn’t take a single picture, but that’s okay because I was still doing administration type things, and the next few days were spent exploring a lot of places. The NTU campus is very nice looking. There are many plants, and to free us from the heat and rain, most of the walkways are covered. There are also many interestingly designed buildings.
The Chinese Heritage Centre.
Inside the Chinese Heritage Centre, a statue of Mr Tan Lark Sye, founder of NTU.
This arch commemorates the founding of the school in 1955. I also found some older renditions of it.
Also inside the Heritage Centre was an old Chinese boardgame designed to teach proper behavior to schoolchildren.
The next day, my roommate’s NTU buddy, Qunkai took us to a hawker centre and showed us around some of the Marina Bay area.
My new favourite food. Oddly enough it’s called carrot cake.
The Merlion!
The Esplanade Opera House
That’s all for now. Stay tuned for the next update where I will post photos from Thaipusam. For the whole set of my first few days, check out the flickr slideshow at http://www.flickr.com/photos/arbitrarymotivation/sets/72157625768396273/show/
Swam in the ocean for the first time today. Siloso Beach, Santosa, Singapore
In Canada, drink prices are doubled or even tripled for popular festivals. In Singapore, during popular festivals, drinks are given away for free. We got Lychee juice, Chrysanthemum tea and Sean and Luis were given a strange bag of white liquid that tasted like cheese.
