Singapore Trip: Part 1

So a few months ago Bob and I went to a seminar about a short study abroad opportunity for the engineering students at BYU. It was a three week trip to Singapore. I thought it looked incredible, but I knew it was expensive so I had kind of pushed it our of my mind. But Bob had a different idea. He wanted me to go. I guess in his eyes he felt like I should take an opportunity like this, because who knows when we'll end up having kids--this could be the only chance I ever get to do something like that. I was concerned about the price, but he said we'd figure it out.

And so we have. My group left around 6:00am on Monday morning, May 17th. We flew to San Francisco and then toured a few places. First IDEO (which, the company has changed over the years--it used to be mostly a design firm, but they've gotten into business consulting now, improving the ways companies work).

Then Stanford. Can I just tell you, that school is HUGE!!! Seriously, we were driving through campus for about 30 minutes before we got to the building we were visiting. They've got a sweet machine shop, plus a foundry and welding shop. I failed to take pictures of that, unfortunately. After that we went to see the Zircon company. They're a small business that makes a few tools, mainly stud finders. That's what they're known for. It was really fun and enlightening. And at the end they gave us each a stud finder for free! I know those don't cost a ton, but I don't have one. Well, now I do! And it's their newer design. Sorry Dad, I think mine might be nicer than yours.

Then we flew for 18 hours, stopping over in Tokyo after the first 12 hour flight. I had an aisle seat in the very back of the plane with zero space so I couldn't relax. Then we had a 7 hour flight from Tokyo to Singapore, where there was about an average of one person per row. I was able to finally stretch out and sleep. I think that's the best I've ever slept on an airplane! I suppose the fact that I'd been awake for 28 hours straight helped.

Singapore is beautiful! It's nice and humid, always over 80 degrees (even at night), and there are plants growing everywhere--even on other plants, especially trees. Really, if there's a small space between any building or pavement, they stick some kind of plant there. It's just gorgeous. And the country's national flower is the orchid. I love it here!

It's a clean country, all 30 miles of it. Napkins don't exist here. Neither do mosquitoes. The campus is nice, built mostly on hillsides. Because property is scarce, everything is built up or under ground. The malls here have two or three levels below ground, and the apartment buildings (where everyone lives--houses don't really exist here because the price of land is so high) are like sky scrapers. It's a crazy sight. Outside of each window on the apartment buildings are these bamboo poles which people hang their clothes on to dry. It's very limited space-wise, and also kind of dangerous because if the wet clothes are too heavy or the bamboo stick is too old and rotten, it can break, falling all the way down to the ground level from sometimes 50 floors up or higher. It's crazy!

Here's my room and the view from my window.

Our class is fun. There are students from Penn State, on from Carnegie Mellon, us from BYU, and half of our class is from here at NUS (National University of Singapore). We're working on product design and development, coming up with our own projects. It's really laid back, while really rigorous because we're covering a semester's worth of information in two and a half weeks.

Also, everything here is super cheap! Breakfast for me is under $2.
This morning I ate this:

It's coconut rice, with peanuts and little fried minnows, a different small fish, and some spicy-sweet sauce. It comes wrapped in a big leaf, folded into a little boxy-pouch. It's surprisingly delicious!

Lunch or dinner for me is usually $3. On campus their food area is called a Canteen. It's like the Cougareat on steroids! There aren't any major food chains, but instead just shops of Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and other kinds of food. It's amazing and dirt cheap! I have no idea what I ate yesterday for lunch, but it had rice and what I think was chicken. For dinner yesterday we went to this place called West Coast, where there are just a bunch of little food booths and shops. It's kind of like a bazaar, I guess. I ordered a pretty normal dish for here--fried oysters. It's basically oysters with an egg mixed in, fried in green onions and served with a spicy sauce on the side. It was a tough consistency to swallow--gooey and soft, but there were a few crunchy parts too.

And while we were eating, this random weird Asian guy saw all of us white people and thought we were Australians. He came over to talk to us, and at one point he was talking to my friend Brian who was sitting next to me, and gesturing toward me said how good looking his wife was, then whistled at me. Without time to even respond the guy came over to me, tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Eh, yah husband..?" pointing to Brian, then winked and wiggled his eyebrows at me and left. It took us a second to realize what he was saying because his accent was so hard to decipher, and then we all just cracked up.

After dinner we walked around the shops. We  found some durians and had to try them. They smell pretty rank, especially once they're cut open, but they supposedly taste sweet. The outside is really spiky and sharp, and the inside is this weird yellow, foamy looking mass. they sell them as the fruit itself, and also as just the inside stuff.

Some of the NUS students who were showing us around bought us some to try. I went to pick up a chunk of it, and it just fell apart in a gooey mess. That was unexpected. So I scooped it up and put some in my mouth as I held my breath. It was.....interesting to say the least. It did have an oddly sweet flavor, but the consistency made it hard to swallow. I managed to do so without gagging. Our native friends just laughed at us, then dug right in and ate up all the rest that we couldn't. Maybe I'll try it again later and see if I like it better.

Then we went on a Night Safari. It's basically a zoo of nocturnal animals, so it's only open at night. It was so much fun! We watched an animal show, and one of the guys in our group got to hold a huge python that was bigger around than my waist! We also rode on the tram and got to see all kinds of things--random breeds of deer, a rhino, lions, elephants, as well as some weird animals I've never seen or heard of before. We walked around a bit and saw some leopards and flying squirrels--but these ones were huge! They were the size of big, fluffy house cats. I really enjoyed it.

 Photos of the fried oysters, Angela and I holding durians, and our Night Safari.

The time change here has really been rough on me. I've been forcing myself into it, making myself stay awake, but I can't seem to sleep in much. Yesterday I woke up at 4:15am and couldn't go back to sleep. So I just kept myself busy until the breakfast place opened. Today I woke up at 7:30am. That was nice.

So the trip here is going great. I'm having a blast and really enjoying a different culture and the beautiful country. I think I love traveling. I've always thought I would, but this is just solidifying that idea. It's only been two days, so I can't wait to see what else I get to do while I'm here!