MONDAY, July 28:
After updating the blog in Bangkok for a couple hours we headed back to the train station to catch our 1pm train to Chumphon, Thailand. From there we were planning to take a ferry to Koh Tao- one of the islands off the east coast of Thailand. So we enjoyed the 9 hour train ride (even 2nd class trains are luxury compared to any bus!) and we got off the train at 10pm. We quickly found a guesthouse to stay in that was willing to book our ferry/bus ticket to anywhere we wanted to go! We got a lot of information about the surrounding area and decided to plan a little adventure for tomorrow, and then we were off for an early nights sleep...
TUESDAY, July 29:
We've gotten a bit brave to say the least after the last 7 weeks of traveling... and we've realized that Lonely Planet's advice is usually conservative (providing extra precautions in most cases). Soooo, if Lonely Planet tells us that is is fairly simple to visit Myanmar, than we figured we had to try for ourselves. We decided to adventure a couple hours away to the nearby border in hopes that we could cross into Kawthong, Myanmar (Burma) without difficulty. We woke up around 5am, hoping to catch the 5:30am bus, but we arrived at the bus station to find out that there isn't really a 5:30am bus like advertised... but we were able to catch the "Visa Express" minibus to the border through the hotel at 5:45am. Since Thailand only lets you in the country without a visa for 30 days, a lot of long-term travelers have to stamp-out of the country on their passports and re-enter in order to avoid overstay fees... so we joined the group of people headed to renew their visas. As we got to Ranang, Thailand, we stayed with the group, taking the Visa Ferry across to Kawthong, Myanmar.
As we stood in line to stamp our passports we realized that not too many foreigners attempt to stay in this city- it's typically just meant for re-stamping Thailand passports. We had trouble getting the immigration office there to take our US $20 bill... they require you to pay US $10 each to enter, but they didn't want to take our bill because it was folded in half and it had the tiniest little tear at the top. Finally, we figured out another option, and headed into Burma! As we watched the Visa Express Ferry pull out of the harbour we realized all eyes were on us. On the docks in Kawthong we were definitely a little apprehensive, but as we walked through the city you could immediately tell the difference from the cities in Thailand we just left. The town was situated between mountains, so we headed to this hilltop temple overlooking the town and sea. 
It only took us 30 minutes in Burma to realize we made a great decision deciding to visit this 8th country on our trip.
It was so vastly different, yet standing atop this gorgeous temple, overlooking the quaint yet undeveloped town, it was so refreshing from everything we had seen lately. 
We also realized that all the people staring at us where so warm-hearted and just wanted to say "hello!" We really were American celebrities... 
we met a guy named Jo Jo who taught us how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Burmese, and we headed through the temple and into the town greeting each person we met with our new phrases. It was fantastic- everyone was so happy to say "hello" back with the biggest smiles :) This group of teenagers said "hello" to Jennifer and then all laughed... later Jo Jo said they wanted her to take a picture of them, and a little while later we'd had a whole photo shoot and they loved it- got to see the pictures on the screen afterwards and they were so happy! 
As we walked through the town the moms would literally prop up their children for us to take pictures of them, never expecting anything in return, just so open-hearted and loving (compared to Thai and Lao kids who exploit themselves to get money after you take their picture!!). 
It was all so refreshing. We also met this man originally from India who loved Chris- bought both of us cokes to drink, tried to give us all kinds of stuff from his shop, gave Chris 3 of his phone numbers, was willing to let us borrow his motorbike!... it was so generous. 
Eventually we realized we needed to make our way back to Chumphon to catch the night ferry to Koh Tao, so we took a little local long tail boat 
back to Thailand, stamped officially back into the country we'd just left this morning and got a local bus back to our hotel. We ate some delicious Pad Thai, check email a bit, and then boarded our 7:30pm ferry to the beautiful island of Koh Tao (Turtle Island). We both feel asleep before too long, rocked to sleep by the waves.
WEDNESDAY, July 30:
We docked in Koh Tao by 2am, but they let us sleep on the ferry until just after 6am. Not a bad view to wake up to!
We then made our way to land and figured out where we were going to stay... we'd been recommended to stay at this place "Ban's Diving Resort" and we got them to pick us up from the docks and take us to their resort right on the beach! 
Jennifer really wanted to get scuba certified, and Koh Tao is suppose to be the best/cheapest place to do it! Plus, with your certification you get free accommodation! So we rested at the restaurant right on the beach until we could check in, them we rested a bit more until Jennifer started her dive school at noon. A few hours of videos, a little scuba diving in the swimming pool, and another bit of classroom lessons by her private instructor Paul! Chris decided to walk along Sairee Beach enjoying the picturesque beach boardwalk, looking for ferry/bus tickets down to Singapore (since we're always on the go!). He stopped for some awesome pork-noodle soup along the way. Afterwards Chris did a little bit of swimming by the Ban's resort, and laid-out to work on his tan a bit. He met some fun new English friends along the beach and invited them to Chopper's Grill to watch some cricket. They never showed. Chris is really good at meeting quality friends, just kidding. 
That night we met up in town where Chris had found cricket playing on television, and then we relaxed until deciding to check out the Muay Thai boxing match in town. Joined by new friends we found the boxing ring just in time to get great seats. The boxing was crazy- kicking, punching-- nothing was off-limits. 
Six fights later, we got really into the whole thing, yelling "oh!" along with the locals at each hard kick. We finally made the walk back on the boardwalk to our resort by midnight.
THURSDAY, July 31:
Jennifer had an early start, meeting Paul (her private dive instructor) at 7:45 for the first open water dive! We caught the dive boat at the pier and headed to Twin Peaks for a 50-minute dive. Before the dive, Paul would draw out a map of the dive site on the table (picture below) to give Jenn an idea of where they'd be swimming around!
It only took 5 minutes for Jennifer to fall in love with diving though. With just a little experience diving in the past (Australia, and Caribbean she knew she wanted to get certified, but had no idea how addicted she would become!).
This dive spot had some of the best coral and fish near Koh Tao... multiple White-eyed Moray Eels, tons of fish, a family of Panda Clown fish, heaps of Angelfish and Butterfly fish, Masked Porcupine fish, gobies and their blind shrimp friends... it was all so peaceful underwater. Next, we moved to the second dive spot, White Rock. 
After a break, they were back in the water- in search for the sea turtle that had been spotted in the area last week. The fish were just as abundant, more Moray Eels, a Banded Sea Snake(!!), ton of Christmas Tree Worms on display on the sides of the coral, Titan Triggerfish, Harlequin Sweetlips, and at the very end of the dive we finally spotted the 1-metre sea turtle! And were the only people on the dive boat to spot it! Back from diving around noon, and after a rest, Jennifer met back up with Paul for a couple hours of lessons and her PADI dive test, and all she has left is 2 dives tomorrow and she'll be certified!
Chris woke up by 8am to catch a moto with a local Thai lady to the docks where he boarded a deep-sea fishing ship. On board he met a Danish guy and 3 Dutch guys. For the next 6 hours, they were able to try their luck at 3 different sites. Chris caught 10 fish including Red Snapper, Yellow Fish, Tiger Fish and Grouper.
They provided a rice, egg, and meat lunch aboard the ship. He had to eat lunch bite-by-bite because the huge choppy ocean was not kind to his stomach. But after a 20-minute rest he was back in action. The other guys also caught Travali, Spotted Grouper and Big-Eye Fish. The guide caught a massive rare Barracuda too!
As they were trolling along, they spotted a huge fish nearby on the surface and the guide attempted to scoop it up with fishing net! haha, but they were unsuccessful. Beaten and tired they arrived back to the harbour around 4pm and were taken in a truck back to Ban's...
We met back up at Ban's for a well-deserved ice cream sundae break right on the ocean! After cleaning up we headed into town to explore a bit more... such a cute beach town.
We both had Pad Se-Ew (Jenn's fav) and then at 10pm went to a "Lady Boy" show called "The Queens." 
One of the best things we have done so far-- absolutely hilarious. It was about 10 of the local he-shes all dressed up and ready to perform! 
Dancing, lip-syncing, elaborate costumes, and some pretty-legit looking ladies added to a night we won't forget anytime soon. 
Afterwards we went back to Ban's for an early night after Jennifer ate a banana pancake on the street, as always :)
After updating the blog in Bangkok for a couple hours we headed back to the train station to catch our 1pm train to Chumphon, Thailand. From there we were planning to take a ferry to Koh Tao- one of the islands off the east coast of Thailand. So we enjoyed the 9 hour train ride (even 2nd class trains are luxury compared to any bus!) and we got off the train at 10pm. We quickly found a guesthouse to stay in that was willing to book our ferry/bus ticket to anywhere we wanted to go! We got a lot of information about the surrounding area and decided to plan a little adventure for tomorrow, and then we were off for an early nights sleep...
TUESDAY, July 29:
We've gotten a bit brave to say the least after the last 7 weeks of traveling... and we've realized that Lonely Planet's advice is usually conservative (providing extra precautions in most cases). Soooo, if Lonely Planet tells us that is is fairly simple to visit Myanmar, than we figured we had to try for ourselves. We decided to adventure a couple hours away to the nearby border in hopes that we could cross into Kawthong, Myanmar (Burma) without difficulty. We woke up around 5am, hoping to catch the 5:30am bus, but we arrived at the bus station to find out that there isn't really a 5:30am bus like advertised... but we were able to catch the "Visa Express" minibus to the border through the hotel at 5:45am. Since Thailand only lets you in the country without a visa for 30 days, a lot of long-term travelers have to stamp-out of the country on their passports and re-enter in order to avoid overstay fees... so we joined the group of people headed to renew their visas. As we got to Ranang, Thailand, we stayed with the group, taking the Visa Ferry across to Kawthong, Myanmar.
As we stood in line to stamp our passports we realized that not too many foreigners attempt to stay in this city- it's typically just meant for re-stamping Thailand passports. We had trouble getting the immigration office there to take our US $20 bill... they require you to pay US $10 each to enter, but they didn't want to take our bill because it was folded in half and it had the tiniest little tear at the top. Finally, we figured out another option, and headed into Burma! As we watched the Visa Express Ferry pull out of the harbour we realized all eyes were on us. On the docks in Kawthong we were definitely a little apprehensive, but as we walked through the city you could immediately tell the difference from the cities in Thailand we just left. The town was situated between mountains, so we headed to this hilltop temple overlooking the town and sea. It only took us 30 minutes in Burma to realize we made a great decision deciding to visit this 8th country on our trip. It was so vastly different, yet standing atop this gorgeous temple, overlooking the quaint yet undeveloped town, it was so refreshing from everything we had seen lately. We also realized that all the people staring at us where so warm-hearted and just wanted to say "hello!" We really were American celebrities... we met a guy named Jo Jo who taught us how to say "hello" and "thank you" in Burmese, and we headed through the temple and into the town greeting each person we met with our new phrases. It was fantastic- everyone was so happy to say "hello" back with the biggest smiles :) This group of teenagers said "hello" to Jennifer and then all laughed... later Jo Jo said they wanted her to take a picture of them, and a little while later we'd had a whole photo shoot and they loved it- got to see the pictures on the screen afterwards and they were so happy! As we walked through the town the moms would literally prop up their children for us to take pictures of them, never expecting anything in return, just so open-hearted and loving (compared to Thai and Lao kids who exploit themselves to get money after you take their picture!!). It was all so refreshing. We also met this man originally from India who loved Chris- bought both of us cokes to drink, tried to give us all kinds of stuff from his shop, gave Chris 3 of his phone numbers, was willing to let us borrow his motorbike!... it was so generous. Eventually we realized we needed to make our way back to Chumphon to catch the night ferry to Koh Tao, so we took a little local long tail boat back to Thailand, stamped officially back into the country we'd just left this morning and got a local bus back to our hotel. We ate some delicious Pad Thai, check email a bit, and then boarded our 7:30pm ferry to the beautiful island of Koh Tao (Turtle Island). We both feel asleep before too long, rocked to sleep by the waves.WEDNESDAY, July 30:
We docked in Koh Tao by 2am, but they let us sleep on the ferry until just after 6am. Not a bad view to wake up to!
We then made our way to land and figured out where we were going to stay... we'd been recommended to stay at this place "Ban's Diving Resort" and we got them to pick us up from the docks and take us to their resort right on the beach! Jennifer really wanted to get scuba certified, and Koh Tao is suppose to be the best/cheapest place to do it! Plus, with your certification you get free accommodation! So we rested at the restaurant right on the beach until we could check in, them we rested a bit more until Jennifer started her dive school at noon. A few hours of videos, a little scuba diving in the swimming pool, and another bit of classroom lessons by her private instructor Paul! Chris decided to walk along Sairee Beach enjoying the picturesque beach boardwalk, looking for ferry/bus tickets down to Singapore (since we're always on the go!). He stopped for some awesome pork-noodle soup along the way. Afterwards Chris did a little bit of swimming by the Ban's resort, and laid-out to work on his tan a bit. He met some fun new English friends along the beach and invited them to Chopper's Grill to watch some cricket. They never showed. Chris is really good at meeting quality friends, just kidding. That night we met up in town where Chris had found cricket playing on television, and then we relaxed until deciding to check out the Muay Thai boxing match in town. Joined by new friends we found the boxing ring just in time to get great seats. The boxing was crazy- kicking, punching-- nothing was off-limits. Six fights later, we got really into the whole thing, yelling "oh!" along with the locals at each hard kick. We finally made the walk back on the boardwalk to our resort by midnight.THURSDAY, July 31:
Jennifer had an early start, meeting Paul (her private dive instructor) at 7:45 for the first open water dive! We caught the dive boat at the pier and headed to Twin Peaks for a 50-minute dive. Before the dive, Paul would draw out a map of the dive site on the table (picture below) to give Jenn an idea of where they'd be swimming around!
It only took 5 minutes for Jennifer to fall in love with diving though. With just a little experience diving in the past (Australia, and Caribbean she knew she wanted to get certified, but had no idea how addicted she would become!). This dive spot had some of the best coral and fish near Koh Tao... multiple White-eyed Moray Eels, tons of fish, a family of Panda Clown fish, heaps of Angelfish and Butterfly fish, Masked Porcupine fish, gobies and their blind shrimp friends... it was all so peaceful underwater. Next, we moved to the second dive spot, White Rock. After a break, they were back in the water- in search for the sea turtle that had been spotted in the area last week. The fish were just as abundant, more Moray Eels, a Banded Sea Snake(!!), ton of Christmas Tree Worms on display on the sides of the coral, Titan Triggerfish, Harlequin Sweetlips, and at the very end of the dive we finally spotted the 1-metre sea turtle! And were the only people on the dive boat to spot it! Back from diving around noon, and after a rest, Jennifer met back up with Paul for a couple hours of lessons and her PADI dive test, and all she has left is 2 dives tomorrow and she'll be certified!Chris woke up by 8am to catch a moto with a local Thai lady to the docks where he boarded a deep-sea fishing ship. On board he met a Danish guy and 3 Dutch guys. For the next 6 hours, they were able to try their luck at 3 different sites. Chris caught 10 fish including Red Snapper, Yellow Fish, Tiger Fish and Grouper.
They provided a rice, egg, and meat lunch aboard the ship. He had to eat lunch bite-by-bite because the huge choppy ocean was not kind to his stomach. But after a 20-minute rest he was back in action. The other guys also caught Travali, Spotted Grouper and Big-Eye Fish. The guide caught a massive rare Barracuda too! As they were trolling along, they spotted a huge fish nearby on the surface and the guide attempted to scoop it up with fishing net! haha, but they were unsuccessful. Beaten and tired they arrived back to the harbour around 4pm and were taken in a truck back to Ban's...We met back up at Ban's for a well-deserved ice cream sundae break right on the ocean! After cleaning up we headed into town to explore a bit more... such a cute beach town.
We both had Pad Se-Ew (Jenn's fav) and then at 10pm went to a "Lady Boy" show called "The Queens." One of the best things we have done so far-- absolutely hilarious. It was about 10 of the local he-shes all dressed up and ready to perform! Dancing, lip-syncing, elaborate costumes, and some pretty-legit looking ladies added to a night we won't forget anytime soon. Afterwards we went back to Ban's for an early night after Jennifer ate a banana pancake on the street, as always :)FRIDAY, August 1:
We cannot believe that we only have ONE WEEK until we fly up to China from today! It all flies by so quickly. This morning Jennifer had to meet Paul at 7:45am again for her 3rd and 4th dives.
The first dive spot was Mango Bay where we fit in a 58-minute dive! Finishing all tasks for the certification, and making a massive loop of the bay, they managed to see loads of cool fish. More Moral Eels, Titan Triggerfish, a small stingray, a beautiful clown fish, and this massive school of fish, bigger than two of our hotel rooms, just hanging out and swimming along together... swimming underneath the school was so unreal. An hour break and then back in the water for her 4th and final dive in Koh Tao... back to Twin Peaks, but this time the goal was to fit 18m depth. After some convincing, Paul got Jenn to lie on the ground next to this massive coral to see a huge blue-spotted stingray just taking a nap on the floor. Tons of fish, more Triggerfish, and finally a gorgeous Yellow Box fish! 
Arriving back from the dive at noontime they finished up paperwork, and Jennifer was officially PADI Scuba Certified! A quick nap and then Jennifer was off to book our tickets to Singapore. 
Then some relaxation time at Ban's cafe until Chris got back...Chris was picked up by 8:40am for a full day of snorkeling and island site-seeing trip. They went to 5 different snorkeling spots, including Thian Og Bay (Shark Bay).
The reef had tons of branch coral, but the highlight was seeing a 6-foot black tip reef shark in just 4-foot-deep water! 
Next was off to Lang Khaai Bay and Hin Wong Bay... both had beautiful marine life, giant clams, brain coral. The boat offered free tea, coffee, watermelon, pineapple, and served delicious rice, chicken and cucumber lunch. 
Next was Mango Bay with schools of crocodile needle fish, tiger fish, and more coral. And finally he visited Nangyuan Island (next to Twin Peaks where Jenn went diving). 
It was a beautiful island and Chris had the chance to hike to the top for some great views. Then back on the boat where he met Jenn at Ban's around 4pm...We headed back to the town to have a pad thai dinner (we are really going to miss Thai food!)... We rested until around 8pm when the truck picked us up for our night ferry. All packed up, we hopped aboard and headed to the harbour. Little did we know that the ferry was just one massive room of mattresses (for 70 people!) and along the wall were numbers 2-feel apart, telling you where to sleep!
We had a good laugh, Jennifer managed to pick up one late banana pancake, and then we went to sleep in the bed with 35 other travelers.
SATURDAY, August 2:
The Ferry arrived in Suratthani, Thailand at 5am where we were ushered into town. We waited until 7am, when they divided us into groups by our destinations and sent us off towards Singapore... Four hours in a speedy minibus to Hat Yai, followed by another 3 1/2 hours in a different minibus, and finally we had crossed the border into Malaysia! We were dropped off in Butterworth, Malaysia at 2:30pm and told that our connecting bus departed at 10:00pm.
We would have been upset by the unseen delay, but we had thought we would be on a bus until tomorrow morning, so having 8 hours to just relax was fine by us, since the night bus was scheduled to arrive at the same time! We took a taxi into Georgetown and found the Megamall where we were both very excited to see the new Batman movie was playing! After confirming that the movie was played in English, we bought ticket for 5:45pm for under US $3 each! 
Then we rested in the mall, ate ice cream, eventually had an early Chinese dinner of noodle soup, and then leisurely made out way to the movie at 5:30... and were told that the movie had started already! Apparently no one told us that there was an hour time change when we crossed into Malaysia, but we figured it is better than we missed part of the movie than miss our 10pm bus!! So, we watched the remainder of the movie and then headed via taxi back to the bus. A decent AC bus left at 10pm sharp and carried us to the Singapore border... SUNDAY, August 3:
We woke up on the bus around 7am for border formalities. Eventually we arrived in Singapore, but as we exited Singapore customs, we realized our bus left us at the border! We finally figured out the local bus system and made our way to a hotel by 10:30am. We decided to fit as much in as we could, so we headed out towards Orchard Rd... but managed to get side-tracked by Starbucks along the way. Then we kept walking and found Orchard Rd, filled with malls, shops and shopping centers to explore.
Around the area were some gorgeous parks as well; we love the clean city! 
From there we hopped on the MRT to Little India where the atmosphere completely changed. The culture was amazing; it felt like we were actually in India. 
We stopped for a delicious lunch of Chicken Tikka Masala, Calaloo, Curry Aloo, Chopped Cucumber, rice and roti. The little sections of town all have brightly colored terrace houses, each so unique and fun to walk along. 
After that we took the MRT to Kallang and caught a free shuttle to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for City Harvest Church's annual Festival of Praise. Tonight was the third of three nights, and we were very excited to get to catch part of the festival. 
Reuben Morgan from Hillsong in Sydney and the Hillsong team along with Parachute Band played for the worship, and Mark Conner from Melbourne, AU spoke. The auditorium was filled with tons of locals (about 8,000!)... what a sight to see. 
It lasted from 7:30pm until after 10:30pm... the engery was captivating. We both had such a blast especially hearing songs from the new Hillsong album "This is Our God." Afterwards we took the bus and MRT back to our hostel.
We woke up on the bus around 7am for border formalities. Eventually we arrived in Singapore, but as we exited Singapore customs, we realized our bus left us at the border! We finally figured out the local bus system and made our way to a hotel by 10:30am. We decided to fit as much in as we could, so we headed out towards Orchard Rd... but managed to get side-tracked by Starbucks along the way. Then we kept walking and found Orchard Rd, filled with malls, shops and shopping centers to explore.
Around the area were some gorgeous parks as well; we love the clean city! From there we hopped on the MRT to Little India where the atmosphere completely changed. The culture was amazing; it felt like we were actually in India. We stopped for a delicious lunch of Chicken Tikka Masala, Calaloo, Curry Aloo, Chopped Cucumber, rice and roti. The little sections of town all have brightly colored terrace houses, each so unique and fun to walk along. After that we took the MRT to Kallang and caught a free shuttle to the Singapore Indoor Stadium for City Harvest Church's annual Festival of Praise. Tonight was the third of three nights, and we were very excited to get to catch part of the festival. Reuben Morgan from Hillsong in Sydney and the Hillsong team along with Parachute Band played for the worship, and Mark Conner from Melbourne, AU spoke. The auditorium was filled with tons of locals (about 8,000!)... what a sight to see. It lasted from 7:30pm until after 10:30pm... the engery was captivating. We both had such a blast especially hearing songs from the new Hillsong album "This is Our God." Afterwards we took the bus and MRT back to our hostel.MONDAY, August 4:
We got up an hour late but got going quickly to City Hall where we caught the MRT to Ang Mo Kio station near the Singapore Zoo where we took a local bus the rest of the way. We had heard the zoo was a must-see, but we had no idea how great it really was!
There was every animal you could imagine. We got there just in time to see a "Splash" show with manatees, penguins, sea lions and pelicans... 
then another show was cancelled due to rain, but we still got to see the elephant feeding. 
Next we walked around for hours (seriously it was a massive zoo) and saw heaps of snakes including Taipan Snake, King Cobra, massive pythons, and so many more... Also saw white tigers, gibbons screaming at the top of their lungs (so cool to hear!)
, lions, jaguars, leopards, orangutans, chimpanzees, komodo dragon, giant turtle... then saw the polar bear, rhino , and lion feedings. 
We stayed until around 2:30pm, loving the open atmosphere of the zoo, not a whole lot of cages per se, mostly just small fences and ditches (that doesn't really sound comforting, but it still felt safe!). 
Afterwards we took a bus to Choa Chu Kang station and caught the MRT to the railway station where we bought train tickets for tomorrow morning back into Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur. Then we decided to walk the rest of the day so we started the long trek to Chinatown where there was a fun night market opening up. The streets were colorful as always and lined with Chinese architecture. 
The market streets were decorated with string lanterns- all decorate and festive. As we headed out of Chinatown, we ran across the Sri Mariamman Temple (the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore) where they were having some sort of festival/ritual/chanting...? Then we continued on our walk to Marina Bay where we say the Merlion statue and had some great views of the city. 
We finally saw the business district, which has some impressive architecture. We snaked along the Singapore River where we hit the Boat Quay, and eventually up to Clarke Quay where we ate some pad thai along the riverside. 
Then we headed into Clarke Quay, which had an incredible atmosphere, even on a Monday night. 
We settled in Brewerkz, a restaurant and brewery where Jennifer had the "sampler" to try a variety of their house beers (so good!)... after relaxing a while we made our way back to the cozy hostel.
TUESDAY, August 5:
Long story short, we're updating the blog from Singapore waiting for our 3:30pm train, after missing the 7:40am train. We blame it on the room without a window, the blackberry alarm that ran out of battery and our recent trend of oversleeping/being late to things.
Luckily, the incredibly nice train master let us transfer our tickets to the next train for free! *Given, we were only 5 minutes late, so he cut us some slack :)
In the meantime we got a nice cup of coffee and picked out our pictures to post on the blog! So lucky for all of you still reading, we got a chance to update! Miss you all, cannot believe we're heading to China in 3 days and back to the states in just 4 more nights.
We got up an hour late but got going quickly to City Hall where we caught the MRT to Ang Mo Kio station near the Singapore Zoo where we took a local bus the rest of the way. We had heard the zoo was a must-see, but we had no idea how great it really was!
There was every animal you could imagine. We got there just in time to see a "Splash" show with manatees, penguins, sea lions and pelicans... then another show was cancelled due to rain, but we still got to see the elephant feeding. Next we walked around for hours (seriously it was a massive zoo) and saw heaps of snakes including Taipan Snake, King Cobra, massive pythons, and so many more... Also saw white tigers, gibbons screaming at the top of their lungs (so cool to hear!), lions, jaguars, leopards, orangutans, chimpanzees, komodo dragon, giant turtle... then saw the polar bear, rhino , and lion feedings. We stayed until around 2:30pm, loving the open atmosphere of the zoo, not a whole lot of cages per se, mostly just small fences and ditches (that doesn't really sound comforting, but it still felt safe!). Afterwards we took a bus to Choa Chu Kang station and caught the MRT to the railway station where we bought train tickets for tomorrow morning back into Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur. Then we decided to walk the rest of the day so we started the long trek to Chinatown where there was a fun night market opening up. The streets were colorful as always and lined with Chinese architecture. The market streets were decorated with string lanterns- all decorate and festive. As we headed out of Chinatown, we ran across the Sri Mariamman Temple (the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore) where they were having some sort of festival/ritual/chanting...? Then we continued on our walk to Marina Bay where we say the Merlion statue and had some great views of the city. We finally saw the business district, which has some impressive architecture. We snaked along the Singapore River where we hit the Boat Quay, and eventually up to Clarke Quay where we ate some pad thai along the riverside. Then we headed into Clarke Quay, which had an incredible atmosphere, even on a Monday night. We settled in Brewerkz, a restaurant and brewery where Jennifer had the "sampler" to try a variety of their house beers (so good!)... after relaxing a while we made our way back to the cozy hostel.TUESDAY, August 5:
Long story short, we're updating the blog from Singapore waiting for our 3:30pm train, after missing the 7:40am train. We blame it on the room without a window, the blackberry alarm that ran out of battery and our recent trend of oversleeping/being late to things.
Luckily, the incredibly nice train master let us transfer our tickets to the next train for free! *Given, we were only 5 minutes late, so he cut us some slack :)In the meantime we got a nice cup of coffee and picked out our pictures to post on the blog! So lucky for all of you still reading, we got a chance to update! Miss you all, cannot believe we're heading to China in 3 days and back to the states in just 4 more nights.
1 comment:
hello loves!! i am absolutely stunned and in complete awe of the beautiful places you have been!!! Congrats on certification Jenn, ever since the great barrier reef and the magnificent sights to be seen under water i believe everyone should do it!!!! I am amazed by how many places you have been, beautiful buildings you have seen and the many pad thai and pancakes you have enjoyed. Love you both, safe travels back to china during all the olympic hub-bub and america can't wait to have you back!!! love you both to malaysia and back!!! xoxoxoxo
-char-town
Post a Comment