I'm going to miss you Singapore!!

Day 38

Even though sleeping in is quite difficult due to the heat, today I managed it without any problem! I had a really chilled morning, sent a few life admin emails and then got myself mentally prepared for the last instalment of souvenir shopping. This time I decided to go to Little India and as it was Hari Raya, as soon as I arrived there I became completely immersed in the spirit of the area. People were either sat beneath the palm trees gossiping away or forcing their way through the numerous market stalls and little shops. I was swept away with this latter crowd as we shuffled through the bustling streets together. I had fun testing out my bargaining skills and managed to stay relatively firm (most of the time)! I say that, but I’m still not quite sure how I was persuaded to buy not one, but two, full saris... They’re really beautiful and it’s all about supporting the local economy, so it’s all great J

The streets were packed everywhere today, but a friend and I decided to visit Gardens by the Bay (the place with the gigantic ‘supertrees’), where the crowds were slightly less overwhelming. We relaxed by the water with a sushi picnic and then ventured into the ‘Cloud Forest’, one of the two domes in which a rainforest environment is recreated. As with many things in Singapore, I’d never seen anything like this place – a towering man made waterfall was lit up by purple lights and surrounded by exotic plants and beautiful orchids (the national flower of Singapore). There are numerous elevated walkways and bridges along which we could observe all of this from above, and also see MBS from yet another new perspective J Just before the exit of the ‘Cloud Forest’ there is a big screen projection of the kinds of changes which we can expect in the world with various temperature increases of up to 5ᵒC. The small film was very powerful, and rather frightening...

We strolled through the centre, feeling the refreshing evening air flow swiftly around us. We stopped to listen to some live music being played in honour of Hari Raya: the traditional Malay songs were catchy, joyous and a real pleasure to listen to (sometimes I actually prefer not understanding the language in which songs are sung...) It was a peaceful and blissful evening after which I returned home to unravel my bursting-with-colour saris.

Day 39

Happy 48^th Birthday Singapore, and here’s to many more National Days ahead!

This celebration called for another lie in, which I appreciated very much. However, there’s only so much time I can spend in my room here, so I soon relocated to a little cafe to continue my relaxation with a book.

Singaporeans seem divided as to what to do for National Day – some want to go straight into the centre to watch the parade and fireworks (which means getting trampled by the crowds) and some prefer to stay away, or even to escape to Malaysia or elsewhere. A friend had invited me along to a little house party where they would be showing all the festivities on TV, and this seemed like a great compromise! So I went along, met some more people (who were lovely but sometimes switched to speaking Mandarin between themselves), was fed lots of delicious food and saw all the National Day celebrations. The country puts a serious amount of effort into the whole event and it really shows: from the military’s precision, to the diversity of creative acts to the dazzling fireworks, Singapore certainly has a lot to be proud of. I also watched them play Mahjong, which is a Chinese gambling game. They tried to explain it to me but either I was being stupid or it really is very complicated, because even after the explanation I still felt totally clueless, so I stuck to observing.

As it turned out, this little gathering was to celebrate the host’s brother’s 30^th Birthday, which I had no idea about until they passed me a card to sign for him (not that I even knew his name!!) Before I knew it, we were all singing Happy Birthday and posing for photos with all of his family and friends. It felt very random, but I guess it just adds to the variety of my Singaporean adventures...

Day 40

Today it was time to prove anyone who thinks that Singapore is 100% urban wrong! Several of the Singaporeans who study in Cambridge and I spent the day in Pulau Ubin, which is a small island off the East coast of Singapore (which belongs to Singapore). In fact, according to official sources, Singapore consists of 63 islands; it’s just that some of them are veeery small.

We started the day with Nasi Lemak, which is delicious coconut rice with fried chicken and a fried egg (this is breakfast!!) and then took a little boat to the island. The beauty of this island is that there are only a few registered vehicles on it and no private cars can be brought on, so everyone cycles around. We rented some bikes and went ahead with exploring the island. It was covered in coconut trees, palm trees and other tropical vegetation, as well as lakes, mangroves and traditional kampong (village) style dwellings. Both the aesthetics and the feel of Pulau Ubin were a million miles away from those of the city centre and other parts of mainland Singapore... We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were still in Singapore!

We saw a cosy little Chinese temple (Fo Shan Ting Da Bo Gong Temple J) and the German Girl Shrine before stopping for some perfectly refreshing coconut juice (drunk straight from the coconut) and tasty sea food. The bikes had no gears and were slightly rusty, which along with the heat made cycling rather challenging, but our treat after the cycle was... a fish spa! This was quite a surreal experience. When we first dipped our feet in the fish pool, we couldn’t stop giggling and splashing about, but I gradually got used to it and began to enjoy it. Some of the fish were much bigger than we were expecting and we could see their mouths opening and closing as though they were about to munch our feet up whole! So, I can’t say that it was the most relaxing experience of my life, but it sure made my feet smoother (especially the toes for some reason!)

We returned to the mainland and found the perfect spot from which to do some cloud watching, not because that’s our usual Saturday night hobby, but because the sky and the sunset were truly beautiful. We then drove across the island to taste ‘the best’ laksa in Singapore. Now, I hadn’t really bought into this queuing up for ‘the best’ this and that, which is quite common practice for many Singaporeans, until I tried this laksa (it’s a complex dish, but just to give the non-Singaporeans a flavour, the main ingredients are noodles, prawns and a curry-like sauce which in this case was coconut). Yum yum yum yum yum! I can wholeheartedly say that it was worth a drive across town J

I got home quite late, and after an exciting and very long day, I was feeling quite ready to sleep. On the other hand, it was Saturday night! Soo I had a quick revitalising shower and after a day in the wilderness, I headed into civilization (Clarke Quay of course). I met my friends on the pre-drinking bridge and I’m not quite sure how this happened but instead of going out, we ended up staying on the bridge until 4.30am!! It was quite a bizarre but very funny night, because I remember meeting people from Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, Malaysia (and probably elsewhere) and having very random and entertaining conversations with them. Who knew that the bridge could be the site of so much excitement!?

Day 41

Sleep could wait – there were more people to meet and more things to do! In the morning I met up with the wonderfully friendly girl who I’d met right at the start of my trip who had jetted off to London for a month only a few days after we met. We chilled by an indoor ice rink whilst exchanging experiences of London and Singapore and sharing our plans for the future. It was a great way to spend the morning for two true chatterboxes, and it certainly put me in the mood to come home and to do some proper London exploring!

A bit later I met my other local friend and we went for a mini hike in the Southern Ridges. As I was waiting for her, a few girls from the Philippines came up to me and asked to take a photo with me... Interesting - they gathered around, all hugged me tightly and snap, snap, snap went the cameras. It made them VERY happy, so I didn’t mind (and one of them now has the photo as her Facebook cover photo!)

My friend and I climbed many steps to the top of Mt Faber (which is apparently a hill rather than a mountain) and then walked along the Henderson Waves, from which the view of the Harbour Front is quite precious. This lovely friend had previously worked at the cable car company which links Mt Faber to the island of Sentosa, so she was magically able to get us free tickets for the cable car. It was a great surprise and the view from the cable car was terrific in every direction!

Later that evening we wondered over to Keppel Bay, which is where all the private yachts are moored. The serene atmosphere here was especially noticeable, and formed an interesting paradox of being simultaneously exclusive and welcoming.

After a fabulous Singaporean weekend, I couldn’t bring myself to start packing just yet...

Day 42

Just as I thought that work was coming to an end, I met with my boss and she asked me to produce a presentation for tomorrow. That’s fine, I guess I can do that J I also tidied up all the documents which I’ve produced during my time here and transferred them to the shared folder – I really hope that some of the things will be useful to them!

At about 5pm, I was in my own little world of work when I heard, ‘Sonya, can you smell something?’ – quite an unusual office question!! It turns out that they’d prepared a little leaving surprise for me, which was completely unexpected and very thoughtful of them. We had some delicious office snacks (including some amazing fig tarts) accompanied by fruit tea, and they presented me with one of their office sustainability t-shirts wrapped into a scroll form. I’ve learnt that how much you enjoy your work and the quality of work which you produce can largely depend on the people who you’re working with, and I’m definitely going to miss working with my colleagues from OES. I’ve been very lucky to have worked with such interesting, diverse and supportive people in my first ever office job.

Feeling touched by the little office party, I headed home to do a bit of packing, which is when I realised that I’ve accumulated many more things than I had on the way here! Later that night I went into China Town and was very glad that I did, because I absolutely love cities by night, and the lantern lit streets here gave the area a very special feel which differed completely to the China Town I’d seen by day. I also saw some sort of Hindu ceremony in one of the temples, which looked very exciting (although I’ve yet to find out exactly what it was for). After running several of my final errands, I walked towards Clarke Quay and all was going smoothly until I randomly fell over (!?!) There was no one around, but I found it very funny – I can’t even remember the last time in my life when I fell over and grazed my knees!!

Anyway, Clarke Quay was glorious as usual and I took many photos (both real and mental) of the river and the colourful lights which brought the area to life with their sparkle. The moon was also beautiful that night and after deciding that my knee graze was worthy of an ice cream, I sat outside a bar called the Crazy Elephant and relished my ice cream whilst listening to their wonderful live music. I know that this place, as well as numerous others in Singapore, will stick with me for many years to come.

Day 43

My last day at work was a really busy and exciting one! First, their new intern from Tokyo arrived today. They asked me to give him a tour of the building, which brought back vivid memories of my first few days in Singapore. Only after doing three rounds of the building did I manage to find the entrance to the roof garden – I think that the Tokyo dude thought that I was a bit crazy, but I was glad to go up there again (it’s a waste having a roof garden if no one ever goes up there!)

At 10am I went to a meeting with some people from the healthy eating department to discuss our healthy-eco-canteen proposal (and I actually contributed to the meeting, yay!) After a lovely lunch, I was allowed to attend an NUS geography lecture (their term had started yesterday – in the middle of August!) One of the SAVE students who I’d made friend with kindly took me along to his lecture on ‘Globalising Asian Cities’. It was really interesting and reminded me what it’s like to be a student rather than an office worker J it also confirmed just how hard students work here – whereas I’m used to relatively manageable 50 minute lectures, this lecture was almost an epic two hours long!

Then I went straight to a meeting with the people from the bookshop in which I’d been working on designing a sustainability corner with green books, speakers and workshops. Although it’s sad that I won’t be around to see the final outcome, I was very glad to see that things were starting to take shape and that the people from the bookshop seemed on board. Maybe I’ll have to fly back for the sustainability workshop J And from there I parted with my colleagues, thanked them for everything and said farewell for now. I hate goodbyes – I’ve got so used to working here that it still feels like I’ll wonder straight back into my mini office tomorrow...

Back at my residence I met my friend for the most delicious avocado milkshakes ever. Even though I’ll be seeing him in Cambridge, I still found saying goodbye quite emotional... Then I continued on my round of farewells. I went into Clarke Quay to see my main bunny hopper friend and to thank him for keeping me well exercised, amongst other things. Finally, I met up with a few other friends, including my number one ladies night girlie and a few brilliant people who I’ve been out with several times. It really made me wish that I’d met these people earlier in my trip, because it seemed way too soon to be parting...

We went to a really funny stand up comedy night in which most of the comedians based their jokes around local cultural stereotypes (of the Filipinos, the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, and so on). The fact that I understood most of the references made me feel like I’d spent the last six weeks properly immersed in Singaporean life!

By the time I got home, there was no point sleeping – I still had packing to do and as I had to leave at 4am to catch my plane, I was worried that I’d sleep straight through and miss my flight if I went to sleep.      

Which seamlessly flows into Day 44...

I finished packing, returned the spaceship key and then dragged a big suitcase, a smaller bag, my rucksack (and of course my straw hat) through the crazy accommodation. A big thank you to the lovely uncle who was guarding the residence and kept me awake by chatting to me while I waited for my taxi. For non-Singaporeans: here, as a sign of respect, everyone addresses all elderly people as ‘uncle’ and ‘aunty,’ and I had fully embraced this tradition by now.

I have to say, driving past MBS on the way to Changi airport was pretty emotional. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that view from the 57^th floor... In the airport I realised that I was rather hungry and here I showed another sign of true Asian-ness: at 5am I ordered wanton noodle soup with fishballs and chilli J

As soon as I got on the plane to Dubai, I fell into a super deep sleep. A few hours later, I woke up and watched ‘The Impossible,’ which is based on a true story of a family surviving the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. It was very powerful and I cried quite a lot (I really hope that it wasn’t too awkward for the little boy sat next to me!)  

My five hour stay over at Dubai airport flew by surprisingly quickly. After the usual perfume spraying and looking through all the duty free things which I’d never buy, I kept relocating between different seating areas to keep things varied. I finally settled down in the cosy Costa arm chairs and enjoyed their snacks, which had a lovely Middle Eastern twist to them.

Before I knew it, I was boarding the flight to Heathrow and I was already starting to feel the British vibes. Despite how surprisingly at home I’ve felt in Singapore, I sure have missed Europe, and especially my fabulous family and friends!! I slept a bit on the plane, but mostly enjoyed making the most of my window seat - I love window seats so much! It was so exciting flying over Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey and all the other countries. I saw the actual Tigris River (I was simultaneously following our route on the map on the screen J) and endless deserts and mountains... Hello there magnificent Geography!

So, the journey was painless and actually quite enjoyable. I love flying, both when going away and when returning home, which means that there are no excuses not to come back to South East Asia – there are still so many countries which I absolutely must explore!! But for now, I say a huge thank you to Singapore... For your hospitality, for all the new experiences which you’ve given me, for the incredible people which I’ve met here, for all the out-of-this-world food and for a generally unforgettable six weeks. As I prepare to face severe avocado milkshake withdrawal symptoms, I bid you farewell for now Singapore, and most sincerely hope that our paths will cross again!    

An epic peanut adventure :)

Day 32

I was only in the office for about an hour today, but only because there was important green auditing to be done! In the morning a colleague and I went to the second NUS campus to check that all the recycling bins were in place and that people were using them. For some reason, one set of bins had been moved, which meant that we had a mini recycling bin treasure hunt to find where it had got to J Although it was great news that the bins had things in them, I was quite concerned (and confused!) by the amount of plastic bottles in the paper bin, the number of cans in the plastic bin and the amount of paper in the cans bin. The bins are right next to each other!! So, part of the recycling problem is actually a reading problem...

I met a friend for an Indian lunch (which I ate with chop sticks of course), and in the afternoon I was introduced to another sort of auditing: an NUS tradition called ‘Rag and Flag’ is when every department and hall of residence designs huge ‘floats’ (big pieces of decor) and then there’s a competition which involves these floats, dancing, music, and so on. Anyway, 20% of the judging criteria is based on how environmentally sustainable the teams have been in the design of their float, and our job was to assess this. To be honest, I was too much in awe of how creative and skilful the students had been in designing their floats to be concerned with sustainability. These things looked incredible!! I just felt like a mean inspector when questioning them: soo then, may I please ask you where you sourced this cardboard from, and what do you plan to do with these can lids when the competition is over? Haha – sustainability is a must in life, but so is beauty and creativity.

After work I went straight to the Asian Civilisations Museum with another colleague. It was so interesting, but far too ambitious to try to cover India, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia (as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Taoism and Confucianism) in just a few hours. I’ll have to go to the countries themselves instead J We went for a delicious Mexican meal by the riverside (to balance out the Asian aspects of the evening) and with all our chit chat, we lost track of time completely.

However, as we were in the Clarke Quay area, hearing the clock strike midnight meant that the night was only beginning. I met a few of my friends on the bridge where everyone pre-drinks and then we went out (to a club on the ground rather than on the 57^th floor for once). It’s all about having versatile outfits which can be worn for work, museums, restaurants and clubs! The night was long, and a lot of fun...

Day 33

I’m not too sure how much sleep I had but it wasn’t very much. In the morning I met with SAVE and we had fun planning some games for incoming freshers who are interested in environmental issues. We also tested out a campus nature trail and found a super long highlighter green snake, which was luckily no longer alive.

In the afternoon I met my Singaporean-Londoner friend (I feel like at the end of the trip I should reveal who is who – this may seem shocking, but these people have actual names and much more interesting personalities than ‘bunny hopper’ or ‘home friend’). We went to an extremely remote and relatively wild part of the country – yes, these places do exist in Singapore! It’s a mangrove area called Sungei Buloh which is located in the very north-west of Singapore and is filled with extensive lakes and mangrove vegetation. We were extremely entertained by the mud-skippers, which I’d never ever seen before. Either it was the lack of sleep or the wild vibes of the mangroves, but these creatures appeared hilarious to us, with their chaotic ways of sliding through the mud and their crazy eye rolling.

Apparently this place also has wild crocodiles but we didn’t see any (although I stopped at every branch sticking out of the water and managed to convince myself that it was one). I also convinced myself that the little roots/twigs sticking out of the mud looked like mini giraffes and that it was as if we were on a helicopter looking down at them. It was completely plausible at the time, I promise! J

Anyway, I’m very grateful to my friend; firstly for taking me to this place and secondly for putting up with my continuous conversations about mini twig giraffes. We had a super soba noodle dinner and then I decided to be sensible and have a much needed Saturday night in.  

Day 34

Today was a wild and wonderful day in every sense of the words. I spent the whole day at the zoo with a girl from work and her friends and after a few hours break, I met another friend and we hit the night safari. So, I was chilling with the beasts from 9am until midnight.

The Singapore Zoo is amazing, mostly because there are so few cages and because all of the paths are lined with palm trees and other tropical vegetation which really makes you feel like you’re in the middle of the jungle. I saw many exciting creatures like a tree kangaroo, a Malaysian tapir, a proboscis monkey (along with millions of other monkey species) and was very entertained by Pedro, the performing seal. I was also greatly amused by the fact that everyone was gathered around the ducks taking endless photos – apparently ducks are considered very exotic creatures here.

I was a bit saddened by the polar bear whose partner had died not long ago and now he was left alone in this crazy tropic climate. There was also a bit of a scary moment when a huge blue bird crashed straight into my face. This bird was twice the size of my head!! But apart from that moment of panic, our zoo trip was most enjoyable.

The night safari was different to anything I’ve ever experienced before. It was actually quite frightening at times (even more so than the big blue bird!) At first we took a tram ride through the safari and then took the walking tour in which we could get scarily close to some of the nocturnal beasts. There were so many animals which I never knew existed, and they all seemed to be staring right at me, about to pounce. Even when we saw the red flying squirrel, which may have been quite cute and cuddly during the day, we were ready to run. But the most disconcerting thing was perhaps the sounds of the rainforest by night: the chirping crickets, the rustling leaves, the howling wolves, the grunting boars... And when I heard the hyenas laughing, I’m sure that I momentarily stopped breathing.

The night safari was an amazing experience, but I would not want to get stuck in a real jungle by night...     

Day 35

I took my point about walking to work to the extreme today; I walked the full way. This sounds dramatic, but it actually only takes 20 minutes!! However, as there’s a free campus shuttle bus, this seems insane to most people at NUS. Unfortunately I chose a bad day to do this because I got caught in a huge thunderstorm and turned up to work completely dripping wet (but still first J). I spent the next three hours drying off.

Over lunch we got into a long discussion about horoscopes and Chinese zodiacs, which was really interesting. It turns out that everything is much more complex than I previously thought! One of my lovely colleagues read out each of our horoscopes and then we considered which of the attributes were accurate. I was really enjoying it until my horoscope said that Aquariuses are contradictory people (what does that even mean!?) As my afternoon research went on, I got occasionally distracted with horoscope checking – it’s really addictive!

In the evening I went for a relaxing walk in the local Kent Ridge Park and then went to Vivo City, the shopping centre by the harbour front, for a little night time browse.   

Day 36

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Dad J

Just as I began to settle down to some work today, my colleague said ‘let’s go then’... Apparently we were meant to attend something somewhere (I remember reading the email but I guess it hadn’t quite registered, oops!) It turned out to be a rather exciting event – it was a competition for students to design phone apps for the NUS staff and students. So we walked around and each team pitched their apps to us, and then we had the privilege to vote for the best one. Now, I’m not an app expert in any way, shape or form, but even I was convinced that some of their apps could come in handy. Our job was of course to investigate which apps could contribute to campus sustainability J Even though most of them had little (or nothing) to do with sustainability, I was extremely impressed by how professional and well executed the apps were (and it’s always fun to get out of the office to spread the green message.)

In the evening, my friend who had criticised last week’s dim sum took me to a place where I could try the real deal. I have to say that after this version, my dim sum standards have been raised infinitely... A special mention goes out to that chilli crab dim sum; just heavenly! We then moved swiftly into the Long Bar in the Raffles Hotel, which is where the notorious Singapore Sling originated. Here we were taken on a real colonial journey into 19^th century Singapore... The funniest and most unexpected aspect of this bar is that they provide every table with huge boxes of peanuts in shells, and everyone knows to throw the shells on the floor. So, the bar is carpeted in a magnificent layer of peanut shells which crunch and crackle with every step. Why not? J It was a really wonderful night, which was described by my friend as an ‘epic peanut adventure’ - I couldn’t have put it better myself!    

Day 37

The day had finally come for the NUS Rag Day – the day when all the departments and halls of residence display their beautiful floats and perform their routines for to the world to see. I was lucky enough to catch some of the performances and was completely blown away. The students’ talent shone through in every possible way – the decor, the costumes, the choreography, the dances and the music were just astonishing! The stage was alight with colour, and it was very difficult to return to work...

Could it really be time for another ladies night already? Yes J this week we did it even more properly than usual, because we started off in one club (which had truly brilliant decor including fluffy toy animal backsides sticking out of the walls), moved swiftly on to another and ended up at a third one called Pangaea – geography really is everywhere! We’d managed to work our magic and get on the guest list for this last one, which meant come in and help yourselves to yet more free drinks. They really treat their ladies well here! If anyone is wondering how ladies nights affect the quality of Thursday’s work, this week’s was totally acceptable because the next day was Hari Raya, which meant no work and lots of sleep!   

A bit of work and a lot of laughter

Day 26

The rain was so intense and non-stop today that I had no choice but to be a proper Singaporean tourist (or at least one who reads the Lonely Planet). This meant visiting the National Museum and then venturing into Orchard Road, which is a street not just of many shops, but of many shopping centres, some of which have 12 floors and stretch on for what seems like forever. It’s a scary place I tell you!

I really enjoyed the museum – first I joined in with a public tour led by an extremely sweet and entertaining lady and then wondered around independently. Although Singapore may seem young at first glance, looking deeper reveals a rich and fascinating history like no other. I loved the creative and diverse design of the museum which included a 360 degree video themed ‘daily life in Singapore’ in which you could experience markets, temples, jungles, investment banks and so on (it could complement my blog quite well actually J) There was also a gallery showing amazing photographs of Singapore in the 1940s, which have been donated by National Geographic – this means that my crazy collection of National Geographic magazines may be useful in 90 years!

Then I moved onto Orchard Road (I had avoided this shopper’s paradise for so long, and everyone from Singapore seemed very confused by this). Inevitably I got lost within the humongous shopping centres and had to keep coming out for some fresh air once in a while. I’ve never seen so many Guccis or Chanels on one street, but I did also find a mini roof garden on the 12^th floor of one of the shopping centres, and an amazing modern art gallery.

Back at home, I decided to take an early evening nap - being a proper tourist is tiring! This was the perfect boost of energy before a super night... A ‘new’ friend (who it strangely feels like I’ve known for ages) introduced me to yet more people and we laughed the night away on a great rooftop bar, and moved smoothly from classy cocktails to beer (also classy of course!)

Day 27

I decided to embrace tourist life once again today by spending the morning shopping for souvenirs. I chose China Town for this so that the ‘made in China’ souvenirs could be that little bit more authentic! J

Now, before I came to Singapore, I knew embarrassingly little about the country, but I did know about the Infinity Pool, and had put it on my ‘to do’ list long ago. However, when I got here I was very disappointed to find out that only the people staying in the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel could swim in it…

But luckily there can be a way round these things, and sometimes it really is about WHO you know. One of my Wednesday night exercise pals (who are actually architects rather than bankers and appropriately specialize in ‘green’ architecture, although I haven’t done an audit of their buildings so I can’t confirm) knew somebody who was staying at the hotel and had a visitor pass for Sundays. Soo he very kindly lent me his pass and up I went to the 57^th floor, and straight into the infinity pool.

The sky was a radiant blue and even thought the pool was too busy for actual swimming, I was more than happy to just float and gaze at Singapore from above. Just WOW J there were many palm trees up there as well, under which I enjoyed some perfect me-time with my book, stopping to take the occasional dip in the pool. Swimming up to the edge is actually quite scary, but once you get there, you forget all about that and really do feel on top of the world.

I stayed to watch a glorious sunset and eventually came back down. The ambience on the ground was equally wonderful, with city lights dazzling along the river and highlighting the city’s architectural delights. I watched the light-water show (which also features fire, music and… bubbles!) and then crossed the river to watch the next show from a different position, from which I could see the laser beams being emitted from the one and only MBS (I think I’ve seen it from every possible angle now!)

After a day like no other, I went to bed with a huge smile on my face. I’m incredibly glad and very grateful that I was invited to join in with bunny hopping on my second day in Singapore.

Day 28

Monday’s at work are so quiet. It feels like every single person in the office is so busy lamenting the weekend that they can’t bring themselves to talk to anyone else. I had a great day of research though! Firstly I hunted down all the recent books about sustainability which have been praised (so that we can recommend selling them to the university book shop). There are so many! I was especially surprised at how many there are which have been written by highly successful business people about how the future of business lies in sustainability and how being socially and environmentally sustainable is the only way forward... Let’s just hope that they’re right! And there were so many others, including an absolute gem called ‘Eco-wolf and the Three Pigs,’ about a wolf who protects the forest from being cut down by three high energy wasting and highly consumerist pigs!

Then I tried to design potential workshops which could be held in the university about how to live life in a more eco-friendly manner, which was also great fun. Again, there are so many ways to do this (I strongly recommend that everyone should type in ‘75 ways to live sustainably Kentucky’ into Google and have a read! Do it!! Please J)

In the evening I did something which I vowed never to do in Asia – I had Italian food!! But I was with a Singaporean and it wasn’t in a touristy area (and I then bought a crazy amount of local fruit), soo I think it’s justified...

Day 29

Today I finished my report on healthy and eco-foodcourts which aims to integrate healthy eating and sustainable eating messages across the NUS campus. I love the diversity of projects which I’ve been involved with during my time here. There was also a staff meeting with the student environmental society SAVE – Students Against the Violation of the Earth! So cute J I found the meeting quite funny, firstly because I spoke from a staff point of view whilst knowing that I’m just a little student myself, and secondly because Singaporeans use acronyms for everything (HDB, CBD, NUSSU, NEA, SWCBC... ETC) so at times I had no idea what was going on!

Anyway, in the evening SAVE invited me to join them for dinner so we enjoyed chatting in a much more informal environment and then I sat in on their meeting in which they planned some groovy green things like Climate Action Day and an eco-bazar.

Later still, my friend picked me up and we drove to a public house (an actual house for the public rather than a Pub) called the Pinnacle at Duxton. Following a mini trek through the car park to find the right place, we took the elevator up to the roof garden on the 50^th floor. It was so peaceful up there and the breeze, which is usually rare in Singapore, was very welcome. There was even a ‘beach’, although its authenticity was dubious - it was actually some concrete deck chairs and big rocks next to a sign which read ‘beach’. I guess it’s all about using your imagination...

Then I was introduced to the concept of Singaporean parking coupons, which I found quite entertaining because it involves setting your own time by pushing out circles from a piece of paper (that might sound bizarre, but check out this official website http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10327p.nsf/w/CarPark1TypeOfCoupon and all will become clear as can be.) We had a midnight snack of dim sum and rice porridge, which according to the food expert was terrible but I couldn’t tell – clearly there is still work to be done in terms of my Asian food critic skills...

Day 30

Did I mention that I’m always the first or second to arrive at work? I don’t know why but I’ve just got used to arriving at 8.15 and just chilling out for a bit (by which I mean getting straight into hard work of course).

I met with the boss today and all of a sudden it seems like I’ve got SO much work to do. This is what happens when I’m too keen to get involved with all things green! I don’t mind of course, but I really do have to crack on with all my presentations, reports, posters, campaign plans… One new project which she’s given me is to come up with a proposal for a ‘sustainability corner’ in the NUS bookshop, not just the books and events but all the décor, set up and themes as well. Fun stuff!

There was no crazy exercise today because the architects were busy working super hard, but tonight was ladies night once again, so there were of course other plans on the agenda. We started off in a lovely bar and then moved onto Ku De Ta (the club at the top of MBS – clearly I just can’t get enough of this building!) Crazy dancing with these wonderful girls was fun as always, and as one of the girls is French, we were introduced to lots of French people. Seriously, which nationality or culture cannot be found in Singapore?

Post clubbing snack: what else but a Vietnamese dragon fruit J  

Day 31

Every morning I try to vary the journey to work by getting off the bus either one, two or three bus stops before mine and walking the rest of the way. Today was clearly going to be a wild day when I decided to get off four stops before mine. I arrived at work very smug because I actually beat my bus to work (mostly because I don’t have to make a circle around ‘Computing Drive’ when I walk, but still!)

A few colleagues and I were given the task to come up with a ‘recycling blitz’ today, which we took to mean go and discuss ideas over avocado milkshakes. Our first challenge was to decide what is meant by a ‘recycling blitz’ and only then could we move on to planning the actual thing. I won’t give away the details (this is top-secret private and confidential stuff!) but we had a really fun morning planning a recycling flashmob which will feature synchronized can crushing AND MORE.

We were invited to a conference lunch by the Office of Health and Safety today, which was great – free king prawns and cray fish without having to listen to a single talk about chemical waste disposal (although I’m sure that the talks were just as interesting as lunch J).

In the evening I met up with my local buddies who took me to a Malay market – still shopping, but a very different type of shopping to the kind offered by the glamorous air-conditioned shopping centers which dominate Singapore. What can I say? Shopping to Arabic beats is pretty fun, especially when it also comes with culinary treats and good company.   

This is a bit of a long post, but only because there's so much fun to share :)

Day 17

The adventures begun before I’d even got to work today. As I walked into the kitchen to get my breakfast, I saw all my apple cores from yesterday’s apples thrown across the kitchen as if it had been hit by the wildest thunderstom. But after a moment, I saw the culprit. A rather large bird had managed to get into the kitchen through the window and was flapping around like crazy. So for the second time in my life, I took on a bird until it eventually flew out. (The first time was when a pigeon flew into my room at uni and I forced it out using my big clock, and this time, I had to use someone else’s frying pan... So again, almost like the Friends episode where Rachel manages to capture the pigeon! But I wasn’t quite so skilled sadly).

Work was slightly less eventful – I worked on my report about student engagement and read some really interesting theories about how to (sneakily) change people’s behaviour. For lunch our office decided to have a staff outing, which was quite exciting actually. We got into a car and off we drove out of the university campus and to a huge traditional food court, which was (of course) very yummy.

And the evening was equally tasty, as I went back to the Thai restaurant which I’d visited in Holland Village in my first few days here. This time, I was with another friend from home (Singapore is definitely the meeting room of the world at the moment!) We had a really great catch up and exchanged every thought and impression of life in Singapore whilst laughing away and sipping ridiculously bright pink dragon fruit juice.

Day 18

I actually managed to finish off some things at work today, which felt quite good! Over lunch time, we somehow managed to develop an extensive spy plot about one of our colleagues, which may sound a bit random but for some reason was absolutely hilarious (because it involved him stealing one of the huge paper owls from the university’s sustainability campaign along with other equally GREAT plot lines – I think that says it all about our novel writing ability really!)  

After work I went to an exhibition about heritage in Singapore which my friend had taken part in. It was so interesting to read more about some of the areas which I’d been to, and to hear the narratives which have been sidelined by my guide book!

I can’t stay in my room for too long because it’s quite warm, and this meant that it was time to find yet another new place to explore. Everyone keeps saying that Singapore is so safe that I could just get off at a random train station and see what I find. I was also getting a bit tired of using the map and planning routes, so I decided to test this theory out! In terms of safety, it was 100% true. But in terms of what I found... I found a huge area of warehouses, cranes and other building related things and ended up walking along a footpath lining the motorway for quite a while. I guess it was yet another side to Singapore which I hadn’t seen yet! But eventually I came to a cool area which I recognised to be close to the centre, where there were lots of very fancy hotels and elaborate buildings (so the plan wasn’t completely silly J)

Back at home, it was after midnight – the perfect time to do some laundry! I wondered around the crazy accommodation until I found the washing machines. The machine swallowed up my money several times without switching on (who knows what I was doing wrong) but was happy to take money from my transport card – I don’t know what the link between transport and washing is, but my clothes emerged clean!

Day 19

The weekend was here again, and the sky was a brilliant blue (it had been a bit stormy the past few days). This was great news because we’d arranged to go to the beach today, so it was sun cream on, sun hat in hand and off I went. We strolled across the footbridge to Sentosa, the island which is home to the Universal Studios along with many other things, and there we found Palawan beach. The sand is all imported, but when I saw how wonderfully white and soft it was, I didn’t really mind. And there were palm trees of every shape and size! J

I was introduced to another lovely local and the four of us just spent the day relaxing on the beach until our hearts were content. The water was refreshingly gentle and they decided to bury me in the sand (which was very hot, but also very funny). As the day went on, we walked along the shoreline to see the other beaches of Sentosa. We stopped at Siloso beach, where we watched a sunset which looked just like the postcards of incredible tropical beach sunsets which I’d seen (only much better!)

When it got late, we wondered back to mainland Singapore and had an amazing dinner on the roof of the Vivo shopping centre, from which we could observe the flickering lights of Sentosa along with the perfectly clear night sky.

Day 20

Today I took a trip back to the Botanical gardens, which seemed like a different world to the gardens which I’d got lost in on a night at the beginning of my trip! This time, they appeared pristinely maintained and filled with plants to suit every personality. My personal highlights were definitely the healing garden and the ginger garden (who knew that there were so many different types of ginger!?) My friend and I had fun following the winding paths until it was time to find retreat from the scorching sun (in the form of lunch J)

I spent the afternoon in a café with my book, which was exactly what I needed. I’m reading Memoirs of a Geisha, which I’m finding to be a beautiful and very moving read. Then I met a friend from home to explore Geyalng – an area in which everyone seemed to be relishing life amongst the colourful market stalls and endless local eateries. As well as seeing a few temples, here I experienced a tropical fruit education like never before. I finally tried Durain (which is considered ‘the king of fruits’ here), along with so many delicious others (longan, lychee, mangosteen…), some of which I previously didn’t even know existed!

We took the train to another station – Lavender – for a deliciously nourishing noodle-soup dinner and then wondered through the residential area, getting a feel for local life. After a weekend of basking in the sunshine and yet more Singaporean fun, a long sleep was very welcome indeed.  

Day 21

Hmm I think I managed about one hour of proper work today. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, we had the whole week ahead to get things done (and the boss was on leave... Not that this last reason has anything to do with it J)! At around 10ish, the girls from our office and I went out for a yummy fruit snack, then I replied to some very important sustainability-related (and Facebook mediated) correspondences and before I knew it, it was lunch time. Naturally, to fit the mood of the day, we had a rather long lunch and used our time wisely to discuss every world issue which came to mind. I’m finding Malaysian politics especially interesting (mostly because of the entertaining way in which one of my colleagues tells all of his stories)!

After work I'd arranged to meet a local Singaporean friend who I study at uni with. Him and his friend promised me a 'foodie adventure', which is exactly what I got! Not that I want to keep writing about the food here, but it's just so good J I especially loved the presentation of rice in woven palm leaves! After several stops at different munching places, we walked through the local area and I enjoyed the relative peacefulness of the place compared to the busy and exciting central areas. The evening flew by, and luckily I just made the last train home!

Day 22

Back to work today! I had a mini meeting with my boss in which I filled her in on some of my ideas and findings, and she gave me yet more things to work on. At least having lots of things to do means that I can choose which ones to work on depending on my mood... However, sometimes online research is very conducive to distractions, especially when I click on the 'related pages' which are only veeery distantly related to the topic I'm working on.

To celebrate a colleagues birthday, we went to a fancy Chinese restaurant for lunch. My food education is deepening further as I'm learning that there isn't just 'Chinese food', but different types of food in different regions (food + geography = perfect!) 

I've brought my flute to Singapore but somehow only got round to playing it today. And even that didn't last long because my room was just too hot! So I went for a lovely long walk around the university campus instead, and then had a great skype chat with my super-sis.

Day 23

Having lots of projects to be working on means that I have to decide which one to start with, which is tricky! First I worked on developing some 'sustainable living tips' for their sustainability postcards (which are so cute!) and then did some work on my Eco-foodcourts project.     

I decided that I couldn’t abandon my bunny hopping buddies, so despite the ridiculous heat, off I went into Clarke Quay after work. I survived another week, even though everyone admitted that today’s routine had been even more of a killer than usual. BUT I didn’t mind because tonight I had something to look forward to afterwards – I knew that I would be spending the evening at the club at the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Now, this is no ordinary hotel, but arguably the most iconic and architecturally stunning hotel in Singapore. The club is in the sky park on the top, which is floor 57, and I think that says it all. The view of the night-time Singapore was absolutely mesmerising! And to add to the greatness of it all, it was ‘Ladies Night’ which meant free entry and a free drink, to a place which is usually very expensive. What can I say, go ladies, and thank you very much! J

I met two wonderful girls in the lift on the way up and we had an amazing time dancing before I found my other friend. We moved on to another club a bit later (bearing in mind that this is Wednesday!) and had fun there too, but there is nothing quite like that view on the top of MBS...

Day 24

I actually woke up before my alarm and made it to work before 8.30am. Who needs sleep? But I dooo... My level of productivity wasn’t great today, but I tried my best (haha) J I had delicious Indian food for lunch (and they again laughed at me because I ate it with chop sticks, which is weird... apparently!)

In the evening I went to see a film screening of Les Miserables, which was just the right thing for tonight. I wasn’t convinced by the singing at first, but then I got into it and enjoyed it very much... And of course my friend and I walked home filled with emotion and a strong desire to sing all the songs rather loudly (which is exactly what we did.)

Day 25

Today was the actual birthday of one of my colleagues, so we went out for a great lunch (again!!) For his birthday I made him a mini person/robot out of fully recycled materials J so today was quite chilled once more (again, this is clearly unrelated, but our boss was on leave today too...) On the way to the lunch place, my colleague and I actually managed to come up with some great Eco-foodcourt messages, so let’s assume that some important work got done today. And anyway, it’s Friday, which means that there needs to be a work pause (even in the world of eco-warriors, who have a duty to spread their message wherever they go and whatever day it may be... which is what I’m trying my very best to do actually).

In the evening, I realised that life can be a very funny thing; even though I’ve thought this many a time before, I never cease to be amazed at some of the things which happen.

I’d seen a poster for a soloist violin concert for this evening, and at the last minute decided to go along. I went straight from work and it took me a while to find the place, but finally I arrived (10 minutes late, having ran from the train station and having managed to step in some paint and slightly anger the painters in the process). The venue was a wonderfully cosy music and arts centre which had only recently been set up. Luckily the concert hadn’t started yet, and a lovely lady welcomed me in and showed me around the place.

The concert was very moving and a real treat, both to the ears and to the soul. Then, as I looked around, I soon realised that the event had a rather familiar Russian feel to it. As it turned out, the performer was Russian and that many Russians were behind the setting up of this centre. The violinist’s Dad is a professional flautist (yay!), and on top of all of this, the performer’s friend who came to watch the concert is a Singaporean who now lives in London!! Such a small centre, and so many unbelievable links... So I chatted to everyone (in Russian and English) and enjoyed the grandma’s delicious Russian cooking – so now I’ve had Russian food here too!!

After the concert there was an art workshop, in which they sat us all down at easels and taught us about drawing apples (of all things!) It was fun, and really interesting to learn some proper drawing theories and techniques. Then the violinist, his London friend (who also turned out to be a musician) and I carried on our conversations in a great little bar, where there was soothing live jazz and tropical cocktails. So there we are, I’ve now met the Singaporean-Russians, and what I’d planned as a short concert and a quiet night in, turned out to be a really special evening after which I only just made the last train home (again!)