Day 1: Seattle to Singapore

Hooray, arrived at Singapore yesterday. Started the journey by stopping over at Taipei, and then continuing on.

On the Eva Air flight to Taipei, we were served food at 2am. I was confused and asked if it was breakfast. It was instead supper, something I never usually have. The meals reminded me of school children's cafeteria meals on those trays, but more tasty and full of excitement because you never knew what would be in those little containers! 

I actually enjoy the airplane food...

   
 
The portion of the Taipei airport we saw was a bit dated...nothing too exciting to see, except a gigantic Hello Kitty shop. Changi airport was very nice though. Full of floor to ceiling windows, very clean and modernized.

After arriving at Singapore, we took a 15 minute cab ride to my cousin and his wife's place. Our first stop afterwards -- Bencoolen Mall, where we got our nails done at Auntie Irene's shop! I saw an astrology store that had a huge line, and the woman inside was using playing cards as her method of "predictions".

Outside the mall, there were a bunch of food shops, and a outdoor market area. I've never seen so many women swarming over $2 bras before.

Street market area

Next, we headed to a major shopping area, Orchard Street. My goodness, is it really necessary to have the same stores in each of the malls? I went to a food court at Ion at Orchard, it was good. So much selection of Asian food, froyo, and bubble tea :)

Awesome.  Any food shaped like an animal is great.

After walking all the way down Orchard Street, we took a taxi to The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. What a great view of the city from here! They also have a casino, one of the two in Singapore. Apparently, tourists are free to go gamble away their money, but locals have to pay for entry.

Hard-working, talented Singaporean kids on the street

Had dinner at a hawker food area. One word to sum it up: YUM. Oh and, "Why-did-I-eat-so-much-that-I-cannot-move"

It was a long and tiring first day, but it's great to be here! More of Singapore tomorrow...

Nice view from MBS.