Tale of Two Trips

Last weekend a group of Target expats and my friend Tom, who's been visiting in India for the past three weeks, took a trip to Singapore--time to take a break from India and experience another part of this amazing world. The trip, however, became quite different than originally expected.

For starters, there was a group of us: Michael, Todd, Tom and myself, who flew on Tiger Airways--and Pam and Paul booked their tickets on Singapore Airlines. Two different flights, but going to the same destination at mostly the same time. Since we all took red-eye flights, we all connected in Singapore the next morning and checked into our hotel (the InterContinental Singapore, which I highly recommend!). Tom and I decided to crash for the morning, get up in the afternoon and see the city. Michael, Todd, Pam & Paul went out for brunch and then slept in the afternoon. When we all met up for dinner that evening, we went hunting for authentic Singapore food and found the Jumbo Seafood restaurant--home of the famous chili crab and delicious seafood known worldwide. How exciting, right? Well, there is just one caveat... I had picked up a little "Bangalore Belly" the week before and was still recovering, but felt good as new. Now just imagine what a night of chili crab, shrimp, a pint of beer, and ice cream will do to a "delicate" system... it wasn't pretty. I spent the entire night sick. Oi. Not the best way to start a vacation!

Even though I was in the hotel room all day Friday and ended up having to visit the hospital to get more meds on Saturday, I managed to have energy to walk around the city and take snaps of the amazing sights including the botanical gardens, riverwalk, Merlion monument, and the Singapore Flyer (Ferris Wheel)--Singapore's answer to the London Eye. Since I was laying low and Tom was on vacation to relax, we ended-up having a quiet weekend, which was very nice. We hung out at the hotel pool, took lots of naps, read, listened to music, watched a couple movies... whereas the rest of our group went restaurant hopping, shopping, and had a completely different trip--in fact, we didn't even end up seeing them until Sunday!

All-in-all, despite having two completely different experiences, we all had a wonderful time in Singapore. Whether your trip is crazy or quiet, Singapore has something to offer. As always, check the online photo gallery for more snaps! More about the Kerala houseboat trip and Bannerghatta safari next week, then back to Sri Lanka and off to Barcelona next month so stay tuned!