Singapore Slings & Delicious Corn

July 4 – July 7

It’s been awhile since our last post but rest assured, we are all safe and sound on the beautiful island of Koh Phangan, Thailand. Let’s get you updated on the last few adventures…

On Saturday, July 4^th (Gillian Kendrick’s birthday – Bonne Fete, mom!), we flew from Guilin, China to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We flew on a relatively empty Air Asia flight. The four of us were packed into middle seats somewhere in the middle of the plane. About 10 minutes before takeoff, we realized nobody was sitting in the first 10 rows of the plane so Cat and I stood up oh-so-stealthily and went to claim some empty rows. Cat quickly learned the, “Don’t ask to move; just move” rule as one of the flight attendants chastised someone for asking to switch their seat. “PLEASE STAY IN YOUR ASSIGNED SEATS” was bellowed over the PA system shortly after we moved. Unfortunately, Gill and Justine did not get up in time to escape ridicule from the flight attendants, and so, they were stuck in their cramped row until after takeoff. We found it to be exceptionally hilarious that it was such an issue to move to an empty row when all passengers were clearly on board and- whatever.

Once we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, we had to go through the (what’s become) routine rigorous swine flu checks. For the first time in our lives we’ve been a little hesitant to show off our Canadian flags on our backpacks. I got selected for extra screening – lucky me and had a super fun temperature gun poked in my ear. After passing the temperature test, we were off to clear the rest of customs and head to the bus terminal to go to Singapore. At this point I would like to point out to a few certain individuals that we did, in fact, take a bus.

When we got to the bus terminal, we weren’t exactly sure where to purchase tickets to get to Singapore and which bus we were supposed to board. Suddenly, a little man (seriously, he was like 5 feet tall, maximum) in a bright yellow shirt with “Delicious Corn” written on the back appeared out of nowhere asking us where we needed tickets to. We were all a little skeptical of Delicious Corn (DC) at first. Was he really part of the bus posse? Was he supposed to be inside the bus terminal actually selling delicious corn? Was he working two jobs? Did he sell delicious corn on the bus? The questions were endless but good old DC ended up not only being the man who sold us our tickets but our bus driver. Unfortunately, he never offered to sell us any delicious corn. DC will forever remain in our hearts, though, as the small but mighty dude who sold us our tickets and got us to Singapore safely.

We grabbed a cab once we got to Singapore and dealt with an especially impatient cab driver and finally booked a room at the G4 Station hostel. The next day, Sentosa Island was visited. The subway, we might add, features a very innovative anti-terrorism rap. Valerie Grimba, you’ll be happy to hear that roti prata was had and fully lived up to your rave reviews.

On our second day in Singapore we spent the morning wandering around the city. Like total Operations keeners (what up, Fraser Johnson!), we decided to check out the port and discuss the biggest ports in the world. Don’t judge. We also visited Clarke Quay, the Merlion (or spewing statue) and had obscenely overpriced Singapore Slings at the Raffles Hotel. Gillian displayed her fantastic ability to be discrete when attempting to gawk at a woman’s really bad red hair dye job directly behind her. The full story is much better when told in person with hand motions and facial expressions. Once the rain began to pour down, we went to one of the million malls full of expensive items. Coming from China, we were appalled at the idea of spending more than $5 on ANYTHING.

That night we went for dinner with Travis and Aimee (friends of the Heisz family) and had hilarious conversations over too much sushi. Post-dinner we went to a bar called “Loof” where if it rains, all drinks are 2-for-1. Unfortunately, the sky did not cooperate with us and so we found it fitting to just get a bottle of vodka instead. We had an incredible time with Travis and Aimee sharing stories of Asia travels and creepy upper lip smiles. We’d like to thank them again for their great hospitality and look forward to visiting with them again in the future (Asia or Canada).

Then we were off to Thailand… or so we thought. When we arrived at the Singapore airport, we saw that Air Asia had cancelled our flight due to “operational issues.” Not wanting to miss our connection from Bangkok-Surat Thani and subsequently, the ferry to Koh Phangan, we booked a flight quickly with Tiger Airways. Tiger is located in a different terminal so we had to bolt to a cab where a man by the name of Gay Kim Soon jetted us over to the right terminal and told us it was very important for us to get McDonald’s for breakfast because it’s bad to be hungry. Thank you, Mr. Soon; however, it’s also bad to miss a flight because you were hanging out with Ronald McD.

We made it safely to the 6pm ferry and managed to see exact replicas of the Jonas brothers (does their mother even know they’re here???), see a Thai escort work her magic on one of the passengers and also practiced our French. Natalie arrived safely and we have been having a blast with her as well as Cat’s exchange friends and we’ve added even more people to the group since meeting some Brits.

More to come in a couple of days. For now, we’re off to the beach.

Love from Thailand – same same but different,

L, G, J & C