Back to the good life of singapore

10/23 Well, I'm back in singapore, the land of relaxing and fun for me thanks to the Carlisles. The morning I just napped and watched some movies before heading to the American Club with the family to rock out on the exercise bike as I have a lot of catching up to do with my brother. I could beat the virtual bikers on the bike program but I don't think I can beat the rest of the D-II field yet. Celebrated oktoberfest a bit at the american club's union bar with some pork knuckle and of course lots of beers.

Had originally planned to go to Darwin, Australia between my indo visa running out and meeting the franks in bangkok, but in the end in seemed a bit of a hassle, would have had to fly to singapore and then back down to darwin, so a bit pricey for such a short time, I would have felt rushed, and the weather isn't supposed to be the best down there right now, so I decided instead to go hang out with the carlisles which is always a good time and then visit a few places in southern thailand instead.

The next day was back to the american club for tennis lessons and some good breakfast. In the evening we went to Martin and his wife's house for a very tasty bbq of hamburgers and fish. And then Craig, Martin, and I headed down to the Orchard Towers area for some partying singapore style. AnneMarie had unfortunately hurt her knee pretty bad so was unable to join us for this and some other things later on. Had already had quite a lot of wine and beer at the bbq and by the time martin (with his scotch and sodas and amarillo sours) and craig (with his large pitchers of beers) got done with me I was definitely swing dancing with the best of them at some cowboy themed bar. Met some women who worked, or their husbands worked for Ashlin and Caitlin's American school and they were also quite happy to buy the backpacker some drinks. We stayed out late into the night, and really have no idea when craig and I made it back home.

10/25 Craig, Caitlin, Ashlin, and I headed out to Sentosa Island which is sort of a theme parked island. They have a beach and then just lots of amusements. We did a cool zip line thing and then this really fun luge ride. Also had my first pizza in God knows when. Cowabunga! That night we met back up with Anne-Marie for some Mexican and some salsa dancing with the girls. Now it's definitely been over a year since I had some Mexican, and it was dang good! That was one of the foods I have been craving the most. But don't worry taco's michuacan of caldwell, I'll be back soon enough. I know sherman and mcdirty will cross the train tracks with me to go get some of that mexican goodness.

Monday was pretty laid back during the day. In the afternoon we went back to the american club for the girls' swim lessons and for me to swim some laps. Craig, crazy martin, June (one of annemarie's friends, who was tons of fun), and Chris (a local golf pro) first headed to the union bar. After several drinks there we headed up to the presidential lounge for some more. We then moved the party back to muddy murphy's, the irish bar and Martin's domain where he is treated like a god. From there we moved on to the cowboy themed bar and then ended the night at a sweet club with some rocking dancing. We left there around 5am and headed to Mcdonald's for some breakfast. Only the drive through was open and I had to pee really bad, but there was no toilet. Now in caldwell idaho you'd just pee on the street, or if you wanted to be discreet in the bushes, but chris and craig said here not to risk it b/c it would be the cane for me. gotta love singapore. But going out with crazy Martin and Craig is great fun. They know how to party and have a good time for sure.

10/27
Just hung out around the house and really relaxed. Watched some movies, caught up on some internet stuff. Craig and AnneMarie had a long day at the hospital I think as she was having surgery the next day.

10/28 Woke up early to go with Vivian on a walk with Cloey, through the botanical gardens, which was nice. Vivian is a great gal and fun to talk to, especially about life in singapore and life in the philippines. And of course she takes good care of me with tasty food all the time. I wanted to say goodbye to Craig and AnneMarie before I left b/c, as usual, they had taken such good care of me and treated me like a king. I waited as long as I possibly could before taking a cab to the airport, but unfortunately missed them and made it to the airport just in the nick of time. The driver on the way to the airport was very interested in what I was doing and about me. When he heard that I just had a brother and no sisters, he asked if my mom liked fish. I said yes, And he said, that it's then. If you eat a lot of fish, you will have only boys. He was pretty sure about this. I didn't want to argue as I was counting on him getting me to the airport as quickly as possible, but I have to say I don't really believe him. Though my mom may like fish, I don't think there was a whole lot available in the adobe of montrose. And I've visited several fishing villages in the philippines and indonesia where I'm pretty sure there entire diet is fish and coconuts and yet there still seems to be quite a lot of girls running around.

I had actually originally planned to take to train to KL and then the train from there to Hat Yai thailand, but I had checked the papers before booking and they were having some sort of unrest in the very southern thai border province and the train employees were on strike, thus why I changed to flying. Plus it was a pretty good deal and much quicker!

Arrived in Krabi where I took a bus to Trang. It poured the whole time and they said the wet season is staying much longer than normal. But I don't care too much, b/c it was in indonesia where I reall wanted that good weather and got it after sumatra. These are just kind of days I'm killing before meeting up with the franks.

Once in Trang I went out to the night market. And I was glad to be back in thailand for those night markets where they have incredibly cheap food that is ALSO tasty and full of variety. Trang is off the backpackers trail, which I like in thailand b/c I find that the thais are so much more friendly and welcoming off the dense backpacker trail whether it be off the beaten path or in non-backpacker touristy areas.

Here I'm hoping to visit a few of the trang islands including ko muk and ko libong.