Singapore - the world's busiest port

Well... now I really know what rainy season is all about. At lunch the other day we had a downpour that I have never seen the like of before. A wall of water just came crashing down on the outdoor restaurant where we had some chinese food. I mean seriously, there was not even any idea to walk that rain with an umbrella, it would have been torn apart instantly. When the rain had stopped, and the rivers on the streets had subsided a bit, we went to one of the tallest building in Singapore. It's called Prudential tower and Aryn and Evon actually work there.
Unfortunately we couldn't get to the top 62nd floor, because it was restricted or something, but we came pretty high with a splendid view of the Singapore skyline.

We met up with this Aussie guy, Peter, who is a somehow related to Darksideon's work. He was a really nice guy who knows a thing or two about shipping, barlife and general life in Australia. We spent some time down in Boat Quay which is a nice cosy little place completely crammed with restaurants and bars along the canal. Among the highlights was Eskibar, a cool place, literally. They hand out thick winter jackets to the customers, because the bar is so cold. Small place, but definately with charm and attitude :)

Yesterday me and Skotten went to see what Darksideon's job was really all about. A ship had docked in Singapore harbour, so we accompanied our host while he was supervising the loading of cargo bound for Perth, Australia. Peter was also with us when we "inspected" the ship and supervised the loading of the cargo. Hm, to be honest, that kind of job is not the most exciting I have ever experienced, but we got to see a midsized freighter ship. On the bridge we had a nice chat with the dutch captain over a beer, which he kindly offered us.

After a tiresome day of hard labour ( :D ) we went to this really nice place and had a New Zeeland 400g steak which was among the nicest I ever had. You could probably have eaten the steak with a spoon, that's how tender it was. :P


Today we are having dinner at home. Aryn is preparing Tom Yum soup and a number of assorted asian dishes, "YUM". It's perfect since it has been raining the entire day. Gonna have a nice relaxing evening, which might end with us going out, or maybe not... only time will tell.
And if memory fails me, then I hope the memory card on my cell phone camera won't ^^

Til next time
/Nymi

New phone number

I just found out how expensive it is to answer a call from any phone.

So, I got a Singaporian number.
Therefore I can no longer be reached on my old number.

The new number is +65 92 444 373

Monkey business

Me and Skotten have actually become more or less regulars at a local pub called "the office". The manager there is a nice guy even though I was surprised to learn that his name was Jasmine. Well, at least in Sweden that is only a name for girls. Anyway, everytime we come there, it's only a matter of seconds before the chilled Heineken is in front of us on the bar counter. It's a good place to get some information about local stuff. Like for example the food court just down the road where the "normal" people go eat. For a measly 3 sing dollars (equivalent to about 1£ or 15 SEK) u get a proper serving of curry chicken and rice, including something to drink. Not bad at all if u ask me. Unfortunately the food court is an open area which is pretty busy, so Skotten doesn't like to go there. The boring sod ;)

This weekend we went to a premiere opening of a nightclub just down the road at where we live. Martin couldn't make it though since he had been working very hard that day, and we left him sleeping on the coach. So four of us, Skotten, me, Aryn and a collegue of Aryn, Evon went to a quick stop at "the office" before going to that nightclub. It had a latino theme with a great live band that had half of the club dancing in a matter of minutes. It was in this place that Skotten met Louie and Jerry, two Singaporian guys who really knew a lot about Singapore by night. When Aryn and Evon had to leave, these two guys took me and Skotten to one of the best dancing clubs I've ever been to, "the velvet".
It's hardly no surprise for the ones that know me that I really like electro, techno and dance music. Well, this place had it all, and yours truly was extremely satisified when the night ended.

Unfortunately I was a bit late to the wakeboarding we were going to do the day after. I was exhausted from all the dancing and exercise, so I just regained some strength while the others had a day on the water. Later that evening was movie night with home delivery food and just chilling. nice!

Sunday was Zoo time!
Singapore apparently has a famous Zoo even though I must admit I had never heard of it. Now I know why it's so famous. It's a huge area divided into two parts. At day time you stroll around the "normal" zoo and watch the huge variety of exotic animals they kept there. The jaguar and white tigers was among my favourites, but there was actually so much to see that we skipped some. Instead we went to get some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and visited the most decorated toilet in the world. When I say decorated, I mean it has recieved the most awards in the world, for design, cleanliness, functionality etc. After our break at about 18 pm darkness had fallen all around us, and it was time for night safari. This is the second part of the zoo which opens after dark. Here we went with a silent tram in the dark jungle with only special dimmed lights to show the animals. It was really cool, since the animals are so much more active by night and we saw a lot of different deers, bulls, hyenas, cat animals etc in a state u normally don't see. Half way through the tour, the tram stopped and we took a stroll along the leopard night trail. This hike took us through the flying squirrel cave, and also "shiver me timbers" the bat cave. Lucky for me I was immune by wearing my Batman t-shirt and well, the others were safe too, since the bats mainly feed on fruit and had just been given a generous serving of oranges and bananas to munch on. We could come very very close to them though. I liked it alot! Anyway, the lions were still sleeping and we learned that they do that about 20 hours a day, so we didn't feel too dissapointed not seeing them in the active state like all the rest of the animals. (Aryn want's to be a lion too after learning that) :)
A great tour ended with a nice Safari lamb burger at the Bongo Burger restaurant with live shows with fire dancing and a lot lot more.

Now me and Skotten has to hurry to Martins office with our passports so we can be allowed admittance there when the heavy lifter ship arrives. Gonna be interesting exploring a really huge freighter ship when it docks.

ta ta
/Nymi