Singapore, Singapore (long layover on the way to Malaysia)

I flew Singapore Airlines to Malaysia and had a nine hour layover in Singapore. In addition to having extensive comfort and shopping options in the airport, they have different city bus tours that you can take for free, if you have a long enough layover. After the twelve hour flight, which arrived at 6 AM, I signed up for the tour at a desk directly outside of my gate, grabbed a doughnut and a coffee, and met up with other tour-goers about an hour late to go through customs and get on the bus.

I happened to be there on the extra day off that most people were granted because it was the celebration of Singapore's 50th anniversary. Nevertheless, the tour guide was cheerful and  full of good facts about how Singapore is a wonderful multi-cultural place to visit or live ("Please come back and stay for longer than the bus tour").

Part of the skyline from the highway into the city.

The tour had two stops, but I would split it into three parts. The drive to the city, when we learned about the history of Singapore, the high proportion of public housing (85%), the dense public transit system, and where to get a good meal "very cheap". Almost every balcony of all of the high apartment buildings that we passed was sporting a Singaporean flag.

After passing by some colonial buildings and the Formula 1 track, we stopped near the financial district to look at the Merlion - a creature that has the body of a fish and the head of a lion. It symbolizes the city's origins as a fishing village and the roots of its name, which comes from "lion city" (someone probably got confused with a tiger, according to the tour guide).

Of course I joined in with the selfie-frenzy, with pretty poor results.  

On the way to the next stop w passed some buildings that evidenced the diversity in the city: 

"We even have the Jews!" - tour-guide

Not the best shot of a Hindu temple, but check out the color and detail + the national symbols celebrating the birthday.

 The next stop was near a big mosque, in an area full of adorable cafes like these, which were mostly closed:  

Has a nutella sea salt tart

Even a Swedish one 

Rich and Good Cake Shop. This building style is called a shophouse
because there is a shop on the bottom floor that people live above. 

Beancurd City! Actually not in that exact area, but we
passed it on the way and I love the name, colors, and mascot.

Recreation opportunities for all ages:

Fun exercise options for seniors!

 And reminders of the birthday everywhere: 

I didn't really have may expectations about the city, but was so surprised at how many massive buildings there were. The tour did a great job of selling the city as a livable/workable space, although I do not think it would be that interesting as a vacation destination.

Boracay, Philippines

Since I was "in the neighborhood" at a conference in Vietnam, I decided to check out a well known beach ultimate tournament in the Philippines. It was pretty sweet. I picked up with a university team from Australia, which was going by the name Sharkbait for the tournament. The name comes from Finding Nemo, so there were lots of great movie references as cheers. There were also two Filipinos and a Canadian on the team. This was my first tournament back after having a bone bruise on my kneecap in August. I had only even been to two practices, but everything felt great! 

Lookin' good! Not that my eyes were open in any of the photos.

I met up with my team two nights before the tournament began for a strategy session.
We discussed tactics for 4vs4 beach - cutting patterns are illustrated above. 

Some of the team went snorkeling the next day - I spent it reading and getting a massage on the beach.

No the worst place to have a throw.

 The tournament has some teams at a high level, the home team was using it to train for the World Championships of Beach Ultimate, which are coming up next month, but there were still plenty of quirky elements that can be expected of beach ulty:

• Pulls had to be overhand throws  
• You could drop the pull as long as you were attempting a trick catch
• An endzone-to-endzone score counts as two points



Teammate coming down will a (poorly considered) 2 point huck of mine.
Photo from Diego Zuluaga via facebook (check out the whole series starting here)

• Instead of flipping, one player from each team stands together in an endzone and simultaneously throws a disc, aiming to be the closest to the other endzone line, without going completely over (I was really good at this. The fields were pretty much exactly as long as my hammer.)

Doing a throw-off against Hong Kong. Awkward posture. Photo credit: Bella

The tournament is known for its nightlife, which did not disappoint.
Photo credit: Ali

My team, along with future tournament winners, Bangerang!, are serenading me with Sweet Caroline.

These boys killed it on the drums on the slow march/dance parade on the way to the party on the last night.
It was a part of a Ati-Athihan Festival simulation that was put on for tournament goers. 

Ati-Atihan revelers. Photo: Ali

So much sun! Photo: Bella

So I over paid for this dope hat to stem the sunburn.
Although, the real star of this photo are the mango shakes!
Photo: Bella

Fun playing, fun people great food! All in all we won two games, both against the same team. One of my teammates made the mythical squad from our bracket (like the dream team) and I won a pair of flip-flops and a carved Boracay Dragons rock thingy for having the most Ds of the women in the B bracket - I felt so tall compared to most of the Filipino women . 

Wouldn't have worn the glasses, if I had known I'd be going up on stage. Photo: Diego Zuluaga via facebook

My leaving the island breakfast. A fantastic pancake with peanut butter, mango jam, and clotted cream.
I could only eat half of it.

Obligatory infrastructure photo :)

I don't actully know what islands those are.

I flew back to Zürich via Singapore. I had grand shopping plans for my layover, but was in the wrong terminal. I was really close to buying a a cell phone that looked like a mini calculator like 2x3 square inches and just a centimeter thick.

I was able to visit Mickey's Swiss chalet in the Singapore airport (the roof looked like a poptart!)

I landed to snow in Switzerland - not the sun and sand to which I had quickly grown accustomed.

Singapore Changi Airport

I am writing this on my phone from one of the many calf/foot massager chairs that are in the terminals using the free (and slightly slow WiFi).

I wish they had one for thighs...
My hammies get really tight from
sitting for so long on the plane

I don't know if this is a translation error or not!

I have been curious about this airport since I first visited the site sleepinginairports.net several years ago, since it usually tops the rankings of the best airports to sleep in. My flight arrived at 5:10 and my connection departs at 9:25, so I didn't need to sleep, but I can see the potential. It was pretty quiet until 6 when the shops opened and there are lounge chairs in a rainforest like sanctuary especially set aside for nappers.

Koi pond.

Soothing features.

It is also known for its shopping, but aside from the stores that only sell chocolate, I don't really notice anything special. Although I did find the craft ingredients for something I've been eyeing on etsy at a toy store, so I may pick that up on my return journey.

The first leg of my Asian journey is off to a great start!