Three Days in Melacca

Wow. Busy, busy, busy.

So, we got back late Wednesday night and slept in Thursday. We decided to sleep in and just relax for a day before going on our next adventure... This time to Melaka, Malaysia.  It's a historic world heritage site, and a "sleepy hollow" of a town (according to their own museums, of which they have hundreds).  It's also a name that can be spelled a hundred different ways, and even in the city, we saw it spelled at least five or six ways. (Melaka, Melacca, Melacka, Mellaka, Mallacca, Malaka....)

We got up early Friday morning and headed down to the bus station.  We were pretty much on time and had to wait a few minutes for the bus, but then we got on and I promptly fell asleep. According to Gabe, it was nothing but coconut and banana plantations the whole way anyways.  Four hours and two customs stops later (Singapore going out and Malaysia coming in), we were in Melaka.  We arrived just after noon, and got a little lost in the bus depot.  After getting some delicious caramel popcorn, we asked and made it onto a bus headed for Dutch Square and Chinatown.  This is the center of the "touristy" part of town, and where our hostel was.

We checked in at our hostel, which had a couple non-Asians chilling in the restaurant part.  The guy was nice and gave us our key and showed us to our room, which was across the street and down the block in a special "guesthouse" that had a TV and pool table along with the rooms. Our bed was nice and covered in insect netting.  The overhead fan was the only cooling source other than the two windows, and the bed came with no blankets or top sheets.

After dropping off our stuff, we went and got money and walked around a bit.  We were quite literally in the middle of everything. We stopped in Dutch Square (the red buildings if you look at the pictures) and got a variety of fried foods - sweet potato, banana, cinnamon bun thing, curry puff and a sweet and spicy bbq something or other. They were all delicious.  We then started walking around and saw Little India (one/two blocks) and then saw the Dutch Graveyard, which really should have been called the British Graveyard since there were thirty something British and only five or so Dutch, but, whatevs.  Then we saw the Sultan's Palace, which was a museum of the history of Melacka.

Melaka used to be the most prosperous port in Malaysia. The Portuguese started out there, and everything was ducky. Then the Dutch came in and took over, building buildings and running things pretty well.  Then the British came, and they kindof messed everything up and turned in into the "sleepy hollow" it calls itself. There must be a hundred museums (no exaggeration) and it seems like a really cute little tourist town.

Anyways, we saw the Sultan's palace, then a fort right next to it, then St. Paul's cathedral, which was next to that, and then we walked down some steps and saw the street of literally 12 museums all lined up next to each other, and then walked over and saw the maritime museum, which was built in a model of a Portuguese galleon ship, and then we saw the little museum next to that and learned about fishies and meteors (no, I don't know why they had astronomy in a maritime museum) and then we walked back along the river to Dutch Square. Once there, we checked out the little vendors there and then saw the Stadthuys, which was a really old Dutch building that now houses a comprehensive history of the area.  It was interesting, but we were all museumed-out, so we headed back out in search of something else to do.

All of this took about four hours... And we had seen nearly all of Malaka.  The only big thing left to see was the Jonker Walk Night Market.  Apparently this was the big market street back when Melaka was a port, but now it sold all the usual Asian street market goods - jewelry, hair accessories, purses, clothing, odds and ends, and delicious street food. We ate things off of sticks for the most part - Taiwan sausages, potato twirls (every night, baby), chicken satay, waffle hot dogs, and some other small stuff.  We also had a variety of drinks... Honey lime juice, sea coconut juice, sugar cane juice, herbal tea with honey, yam bubble tea, and fresh fruit juices. Gabe even got the local dessert - a treat called chendol, which is shaved ice, coconut milk, molasses, and salty green grass jelly. I let him enjoy it.

The streets were crowded and there seemed to be a very high percentage of non-Asian tourists. We walked around for a good long while, watched some karaoke on a permanent stage, did some people watching and found a chocolate store (more on that in a minute).  The night was warm, but comfortable and we enjoyed it.

We headed back to the hostel and Gabe took a cold shower... There was no hot water in the hostel. Then we went to bed and slept in a tiny bit the next morning.  When we got up, we walked down and over to Dutch Square, stopping for breakfast at a place on the river (I should mention the river was all of a one minute walk away, and there were two bridges, each about five minutes in either direction).  We had a full Dutch breakfast, which we split.  Two eggs, a hashbrown, two chicken hotdogs, a slab of beef bacon, baked beans, and fresh toast. Gabe had delicious coffee and I had some super sweet fresh squeezed orange juice.  It was nice on the water and we watched the tour boats pass every 5 minutes or so. There was even a gila monster/monitor/some-giant-lizard-looking-reptile swimming by.

After breakfast, we walked down the river all the way to the sea, and then turned and walked along the coast.  It was about an hour walk, but it was interesting. We saw some mudskippers playing and eventually got over towards St. John's Fort.  It was built about a mile and a half from the center of town and gave a great view of the town.  We walked down the hill and found a little food stall randomly on the side of the road.  Gabe got some more chendol (he said it was the best at this particular place) and we enjoyed watching the cars and the animals.

An old guy (he said he was 90... "I fought against the Japanese!") came over and started talking to us while Gabe enjoyed his chendol. Everyone was SUPER nice. Even after Bangkok, the friendliness of the Malaysians was incredible. We were sitting at a bus stop a little bit away from this eatery, watching some chickens (there were random chickens on the side of the road... two of them cocks who kept flapping and mock-fighting with each other), and people would ride by or walk by and say hi and ask where we were from and how we were. It was really cool.

Nearby was the Portuguese Settlement, which was unimpressive mostly because it was residential and empty.  We did get to stop and Gabe got some of his fried bananas, from a guy who spoke Portuguese, no less! The man was really nice and gave us directions to more food  and a bus stop. We stopped at a 7-11 to get some drinks before catching a bus back to the center of town. (By the way, there are THOUSANDS of 7-11's here in Asia. There were six within a 10 minute walk from our hotel in Bangkok.)

We were dropped off close to Jonker Walk, so we decided to go back to the chocolate shop.  They had a "crash course" in chocolatiering (making chocolate).... so we made some chocolate! They took a whole bunch of photos and are supposed to be sending  them to me, but they haven't arrived yet. We each made 24 filled chocolates - mine milk and Gabe's dark.  The fillings are: orange (delicious), strawberry (delicious), cheesy caramel (undecided, but I think it's cream cheese...) and passion fruit (I'll save those for Gabe's dad... If I can figure it out without having to taste it). It was a lot of fun, and making chocolate is a lot harder than it looks!

We then went back to the hostel for a bit and watched TV. It was so nice to just sit and relax. I haven't seen a real TV that I can control since Christmas. Then it was bedtime since we had to get up early to come back. We arrived in time to catch a bus an hour earlier than ours was scheduled, so we grabbed a quick breakfast at the bus depot and headed home. We got in at about 2 and both took showers and relaxed for a bit. After walking around in the sun for two days in Malacca, I was burned to a crisp...

Uncle Ralph is/will be back in the States, so we went out to dinner with him last night before he left. (Stupid time differences... I'm not sure whether he's back yet or not, but he left this morning our time...) We went to Brewerks and I had a delicious salad and burger, two things I was craving.  We also shared a pitcher of beer (not bad) and some nachos (definitely had Singaporean influence...).  It was a fun night and really enjoyed both our trip and dinner.

This morning was school, and we both missed the rain, and I learned that it rained EVERY DAY while we were on break... Gabe and I didn't see any while we were traveling.

It was a fun week, but we only have six more weeks of school, then three weeks of exams, two weeks or so of more traveling, and then we may be coming home. Time is flying, and I miss home, but I don't want to miss out on anything here.

Anyways, time for dinner.

Goodnight-lah.

Gabe's Post - Bangkok, the final day.

Bangkok, well not really. We left Bangkok on a bus and about 100km later we arrive in a small village which seems to survive only to run a floating market. Our tour guide is a long haired thai man who made sure we knew everything that was going to happen and when to everyone in our group at any point in time at every time he could tell us. But that is besides the point. The point is, we arrived at this river and got in one of those long boats with car engines attached to sticks propelling them and shot down a little canal. It was an intense ride, lots of splashing and bumping, but no water actually got on us.

The canal brought us through a few houses, mostly wooden shacks on stilts by the side of the river. Eventually, after about 20 minutes of navigating a few canals, we were brought to what looked like a big floating market. Turns out this was the floating market. It used to used mostly to sell fruit and food, but has since then been converted to sell souvenirs and some of the stuff you find on the streets of Bangkok. We payed 150 baht to ride in a small boat, which took along a canal, across several stalls containing goods. This made bargaining difficult, because if you showed any interest at all, the paddle man took you to the stand and waited there until the transaction was complete, or the shop owner waved him on. I bought a pyramid hat thing for Michelle, and she made a few purchases herself, but mostly we just enjoyed the ride and the shade the stands gave us. The ride was about 25-30 minutes, and brought as back to the walking market right next to the floating market. Here me and Michelle wandered until our pick up time. We made a few more purchases, one of which was some sort of flat dried fruit which has yet to be identified (though it tasted just like dates).

Then our guide whisked us away and we made a stop at a furniture store, which had lots of really cool wood works and some people making more. 20 minutes here, then we made our way back to Bangkok. It was a nice ride, we saw a bunch of temples on the way, a few royal things here and there. We came to a stop in another gem shop, it was a quick stop and soon we were on our way back to the hotel. There we  checked out and put our luggage in storage, and made a quick walk on the street. I bought some fried locusts, which tasted like popcorn, a beer, and a red bull (not in that order). Michelle got some more chicken sticks and some orange soda. I then bought some more thai tea and accidentally some chicken livers, thinking it was chicken hearts. Basically we spent the extra 100 baht I had in my wallet (that was all 3 dollars). This took place for about an2 hours, until our airport transfer arrived and we loaded up and started to exit Bangkok. I am told (i fell asleep instantly) the ride was uneventful. The airport was cool and had lots of nice stuff and we even got these free little bracelet things.

Hour flight left 10 minutes late, which turned out to be important because when we landed we missed the last train by 7 minutes and had to take a taxi all the way back. We then immediately showered and fell into a very long sleep, until almost 12.

Goodnight-lah <3

Another Day in Bangkok

This city is pretty fun. And REALLY hot.

We got up early again this morning and headed out towards the historic district.  Finding a tuk-tuk that wasn't outrageously expensive or a taxi that would actually use the meter was difficult, so we walked a ways, passing through some lesser-touristy spots, but it was cool. You'll have to see the pictures to understand.

The tuk-tuk drivers and taxi drivers said that all the places we wanted to go were closed, but we went anyways.  We went and saw Wat Pho, which has the largest reclining Buddha in the world, as well as the largest collection of golden Buddhas.  It was really cool and we saw hundreds of gold statues.  It's kindof cool that each and every Buddha is slightly different, be it facial expression, clothing, physique, or facial structure.  We found a few that we thought looked like certain people we know.

After Wat Pho, we headed over to the Black Buddha.  I'm not sure why it's called that, but it was a nice temple. We only stopped once to go into a souvenir shop and jewelry store on the way to the Golden Mount, which is a Buddhist temple on a giant hill.  It had great views and was nice and cool... Well, as cool as 100 degree weather with a strong wind can be.

We switched tuk-tuk drivers and then headed to the White Marble Temple.  On the way, we got roped into TWO tailor's shops by the tuk-tuk driver.  One had the same prices but lesser quality of suits and materials, and no fabric other than for suits (not very women-friendly) and the other had same quality but incredibly small selection for quite a bit less, mostly due to the student discount.  We've already got our suits, and not enough time to get started now, but we might see what we can do if/when we come back. I only have suit jackets, so they might be able to make skirts and pants for me.... If I can find more money to buy them.

The White Marble Temple was gorgeous, even though it was the simplest temple we've seen.  The tuk-tuk driver took us to Chinatown when we were done.  We walked around a tiny bit and took some pictures.  Apparently it looks like Hong Kong, but I'll have to wait until I go there to really compare.  We found a little back road and had lunch... Pad/Phat Thai and fried rice again. It was good. Gabe had a beer that he really enjoyed.  After eating, we walked a bit more, and accidentally found Shreyas's hotel.  He arrived today with two other friends.  It seems to be a good location.

We were exhausted at this point, so we headed back to the hotel.  We walked through two blocks of Chinese markets and got thoroughly lost, but it was cool to see the market.  I promptly fell asleep upon arriving back at the hotel, and I'm not sure what Gabe did, but he woke me up at about 8 to go walk around a bit and get dinner. I had a coconut and he had a Thai tea before Shreyas and the other guys texted to meet up.  Since we are leaving tomorrow at 7 for the floating market, I decided I would go to bed rather than go out, so they're down at Patphong Market and should have a good time.

On the way to the hotel this afternoon, something happened that really exemplified Thai culture and hospitality.  Our tuk-tuk was driving normally and there were the usual mopeds and motorcycles and stuff everywhere.  They stack these mopeds with all sorts of stuff, and it looks like they shouldn't be able to balance or move, but they do. Until one today, which got off balance and fell into our tuk-tuk in the middle of rush-hour traffic.  Lots of screeching tires and near-wrecks, but nothing damaged.  Our tuk-tuk driver got up and helped the guy, the taxi driver behind us got out and stopped, and two other mopeds that happened to be passing also stopped.  I don't know if it happens on a regular basis, but everyone was laughing and working quickly to help this guy. Some of the others even stayed to help him repack his stuff and put it back on his moped. I was impressed. The people are really nice here.

So that was our day. I'm headed to bed.


ราตรีสวัสดิ์
Goodnight

Bangkok Day 2

Wow. It's only 4:30 and I'm exhausted.

We woke up early this morning for a tour included with our trip package.  The hotel had a fairly good breakfast buffet, and then we got in a minivan with quite a few other people and headed on a tour around town.  We got bits and pieces, but the guide was difficult to understand and we were both tired.  We did get to go to the temple Gabe wanted to see - Wat Arun - which was very impressive.  The view from the top was both amazing and terrifying... each step on the staircases was about a foot and a half tall by six inches deep.

We then took the ferry back across the river and got to go see a gem store! The same one we had been taken to yesterday! It was about as interesting the second time around... But we talked with our tour guide and will be going to the floating market on Wednesday before we leave.  It's another tour she organizes.

After the gem store, we went back to the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  It was really pretty.  The amount of work that must have gone into constructing the temples is ridiculous.  Everything was covered in gold and gemstones and just astounding.  Hopefully the pictures will do it justice.  (They'll be uploaded when we get back to Singapore.) The whole place was interesting but hot.

We had to rent clothing to be properly covered for most of the buildings... Gabe had long pants and I got a floor-length wrap skirt.  It was hot, but it was funny to see everyone in all these strange clothes... Nearly everyone had stuff.  The clothing was free, you just had to put down a deposit. 

By the time we were done, we were starving. There were some street food stands opposite the Grand Palace, so we headed over and I got some fried rice and Gabe had pad thai.  Both were delicious.  I also got a giant swirly potato chip. It's a potato spiral cut into a spring shape and then fried. It was amazing, though hard to eat. 

Now, we're back at the hotel for a bit. We got a bag of pineapple to share (very tasty) and checked up on the interwebs.  Soon, we'll head back to the tailor for fitting, and then we're going to see if our tuk-tuk driver can recommend a club. Hopefully tonight will be equally interesting.

ดีตอนเช้า
Dī txn chêā
(Good morning)

Gabe's Post - Bangkok (supplement)

Good evening. Today we will be discussing particular pieces of artwork. The first, and heaviest, is awesome its purest form, iron. Imagine being in a shop with 10 motorcycles. All of them have been ripped apart and destroyed beyond recognition. They are then remelted together randomly. Somehow, these random parts managed to take recognizable shape. Namely that of dozens of gundams and aliens. One alien was even about 7 feet tall and weighed a few hundred kilos. The gundams were amazing, ranging from original boring ones to the new freedom gundam. They had removable and movable parts, and where made from such things as chains, screws, metal plates, spiky things, and fire. Anyway I paid too much for it, but now I own it and I refuse not to be happy about it. Also he showed us a picture of something he custom made for Honda or Yamaha (I forget), it was an alien motorcycle. It can not be described how awesome it was, so I tried to find a picture but I couldn't (here it is - I think this might be the-guy-who-sold-us-the-gundam's brother).

Another piece of artwork is this guy: picture soon to be uploaded. All he does is spin. And drop tea. But he does it in a way where it falls into a metal liquid holder and sell it to you. This is how Thai tea is supposed be poured (I will bring the picture into tin drum and ask them so serve it properly to me). It was delicious tea and a dollar (expensive because the market was kind of touristy).

Also my favourite thing about Bangkok so far is....Yakult. Not only is it cheap here, but you can 400 ml (equivalent to a pack of Yakults) for 19 Baht, about 60 cents. This was enough (along with another 20 Baht for 1.5 mangos peeled and quartered in a bag) for a dinner for me (both were delicious). Speaking of 20 Baht food bags, we got a peeled and sliced pineapple with strawberry sugar salt for 20 Baht (whole pineapple).

Also if anyone wants to buy jewellery in Bangkok, I can give them a recommendation. We can stop there for free yah.

Tuktuk.

Bangkok - Day 1

Wow. So yesterday was super long and I totally fell asleep before I got a chance to blog. So, I'll catch up from yesterday in this post and then let you know what happened today in another. =]

Yesterday, we got up at 4AM Singapore time (it's an hour ahead of Bangkok) and got ready to go.  We caught a taxi because the MRT doesn't run that early.  It was a quick trip, and the roads were quiet, but it was super annoying that the taxis charge double fares during "late night" - i.e. whenever the metros are closed, the taxis are twice the price.

Anyways, we got to the airport at 5ish for our 8:15 flight.  Might I remind you that going through "security" and "customs" is a joke? Literally scan our passports and our thumbs and we're good to go.  We went and got breakfast (BK ftw.... "Burger King for the win" meaning that's where we went and it was good).  Then we went and got our tickets...

I just want to point out that some Asians have AWFUL manners. To the point that it actually makes me angry.  We were standing in line with a few other people before the lines actually opened (we were there REALLY early) and we watched them have their little meeting and then waited for them to open up their lanes.  Meanwhile, some little tour group woman with her group of at least 20 barge in as they're sitting down. Every single person from the group cut the group of us that had been standing there before them.  The tour group leader actually physically moved me, pushing me back for her group.  I nearly started yelling at her. One person I could maybe understand, but the whole freaking group seemed to have this mentality.

Anyways, we got our tickets and then Gabe got breakfast on the inside of security, and then we walked down to the gate.  I fell asleep on the floor and then Gabe woke me up at 7 to go through security.  It was an interesting way to set up the airport - the security gate (metal detector, etc) is next to the actual gate, and you only go through just before you get on the plane.

So. Slept in the airport, slept on the plane, and then we arrived in Thailand! We got off the plane and walked towards immigration.  The airport was cool - lots of plants and statues and an interesting design.  We got to immigration and had to wait awhile but we were finally through.  We came on a Groupon, so we had a travel agency giving us a ride to our hotel.  Finding said travel agency was sortof difficult, but we finally did.  They didn't have our names (office mixup) but they brought us to our hotel without too much time lost.

Our hotel is in the fashion district, right next to a big mall and an open market with all sorts of things.  It's a good location.  Once we dropped off our stuff, we decided that we would go explore the weekend market.  We walked up the street outside our hotel (it's more of an alleyway) and found a tuk-tuk.  It's a funny little contraption... a motorcycle turned open-air-car.  They're surprisingly loud. 

The driver was really nice and said he'd take us for 50 Baht (30B=$1) which we thought was great.  The catch was that he wanted to show us a gem store.  Every book, article, website and person we've gotten information from has cautioned us against these "deals", but we figured we had the time, so we let him take us.  It was a nice building, and they gave us free drinks.  Then we were herded through the jewelry making room (that was cool) and then to a giant room with a shark tank in the middle, filled with table after table of jewelry.  It was a little overwhelming, and very over-priced.  They had some really pretty stuff, but too fancy and expensive for me. Gabe said something about my having cheap taste....

Anyways, he got his free gas (oh, yeah, the drivers get free gas, food, clothing, a commission or other stuff for bringing tourists to these shops) and then we went to the Chatachuk Weekend Market, which is only open... on the weekend.

Oh, dear lord... It was MASSIVE.

Row after row, stall after stall of everything you could imagine.  Books, shoes, clothing, jewelry, flowers, dishes, fabrics, purses, pets, pet supplies, belts, guns, baskets, furniture, decorations, home decor, toys... You name it, it was there.  We spent several hours there, and got some cool stuff.  Gabe got an amazing piece of art (haha, he'll call it something else - check out his post to see what he has to say about it, and all of the rest of Bangkok) and we got some other cool stuff.  We even saw a Thai Tea Twirling Artist... Gabe will have to add about that as well.

In the market, we found a little stall with food.  I had some delicious fried rice and Gabe had some phat thai. How that's different from pad thai, I don't know, but he assures me there is a difference... We shared a bottle of green Fanta, and lunch was all of $3 or so. Green Fanta is, despite our belief that it tastes like apples, a combination of pineapple, banana and orange.  I still think it's apple with the label just being silly.

So we finally became exhausted from shopping, so we headed back to the hotel.  We relaxed for a few minutes before going out to explore closer to our hotel.  Walking around proved interesting, with a lot of strange but good smelling foods and interesting people.  No one carries shoes in my size, so that's a shame, and things aren't nearly as cheap as we were led to believe... A dress shirt is 150B, about $5, and rarely does anything else drop below that price.  Small things (watches, some cheap flip flops, headbands, leggings) may be less, but never less than 100B.  I did find a nice large, purple suitcase for about $60, which we will need to bring all our stuff home.  (We only brought carry-ons for the trip here.)

We brought it back to the hotel and then left for the Patphong Night Market, which had been highly recommended.  On the way, we agreed to let our tuk-tuk driver stop at a tailor's to look at suits.... Almost two hours later and calls to both sets of parents, Gabe was measured for two suits and four dress shirts and I was measured for two suit jackets.  Gabe thinks he paid too much, but they are tailored, custom suits. The tuk-tuk driver was really nice and gave us his number to call for all of our business in the future.

Anyways, when we finally got to the night market, we didn't want to spend any more money... So we walked around, saw some of the bars, got offered some shows (for the sexually mature) and had dinner.  I ended up with a schwarma (a cross between a gyro and a kebap) and Gabe had miscellaneous street food for the evening... He'll talk about that as well.

We headed back and I fell asleep promptly.  It was a busy but fun day.

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ราตรีสวัสดิ์ (Rātrī s̄wạs̄di̒) 

Thai for: Goodnight

Surprise, Surprise

This week was uneventful. I already wrote about last weekend and going to Arab street. This week we didn't do much out of the ordinary - classes, eating at our hawker stand, having toast for breakfast...

The fun thing is that we're leaving tomorrow for Bangkok! We'll be there for four days, coming home late on Wednesday. We're super excited for the markets and the temples and just seeing what it's like. We both have shopping lists, so let us know if there's anything anyone wants. =]

Hopefully we'll be going to Malaysia for the rest of the week.  We want to see Panang and Malacca. They're both colonial towns that seem like they'd be really cool.  Then dinner on Sunday with Uncle Ralph before he leaves to go home for the month.

I can't believe we've been here two months! Only 100 or so days left before we come home.

So those are our plans.

Goodnight-lah.

Valentine's and Arab Street

So... This week was sorta busy, sorta not. I've been incredibly homesick and am certainly ready to travel to Bangkok next week.

We were both busy late on Tuesday, so we went out on Thursday night to an Italian place on the other side of town (well, in the middle of the country).  It was an interesting bus ride (about an hour) and we passed some buildings we think were jails, but we don't know and Google maps doesn't even have the buildings showing.

Dinner was delicious.  Gabe had squid ink linguine with tomato-based seafood sauce, and I had shell pasta with a tomato-and-cream-based mushroom and sausage sauce.  Both were delicious.  I even had a glass of wine... And learned I need to go wine-tasting to figure out if there's any I actually like very much.  The best part of dinner was actually our appetizer - prosciutto and cantaloupe, which was amazing.

We had arrived too early to eat, so we walked up and down the strip mall before dinner, and found a pet store - mostly catered to cats, hamsters and turtles.  After dinner, we stopped at a strudel place and got a small apple strudel to go.  We were too full to eat it that night, so we saved it for Friday.

On Friday, we went to Chinatown to pick up our tickets to Bangkok, and then had lunch at the mall on the way back.  Gabe got a delicious pepper rice and I got hotstone pepper steak.  Both are dishes served on hotplates that continue to cook the food even when it's served.  You get raw food, and then it cooks while you mix it up and pour sauces on it, and then it's delicious to eat.

We got back and watched a movie and then had cheesy tomato toast and some Asti Spumante (it was on sale) and our apple strudel with ice cream for our second night of Valentine's.  It was all good, but the strudel had collapsed from the humidity in our apartment.

Saturday we got up at a reasonable time and headed over to Arab street.  They had tailors galore, Persian rugs by the hundreds and some really good Mediterranean, Turkish and Arab food.  We ended up at a little cafe, and Gabe and I shared a falafel sandwich and a schwarma wrap.  Both were delicious.  I also got some silk fabric to make scarves for my sisters and we generally had a nice time.  Before we left, we went to another restaurant and ordered a Turkish coffee and baklava. I got a soda called Laziza Raspberry.  Gabe's coffee was good, the soda was literally non-alcoholic raspberry beer, and I've had better baklava at home.  It was a nice day, though.

We walked over to Little India to go to Mustafa's for some stuff that we needed, and on the way saw probably the only not-nice part of Singapore.  It wasn't bad, just dirtier, and we easily compared it to Jakarta.  There was even a street market that Gabe compared to "a real-life eBay."  We did make it to Mustafa's, and we spent almost three hours walking around.  And we didn't even see everything, still!

We went up to the roof and had a snack (dosais and drinks - I got a DELICIOUS masala (chai) tea and Gabe had a sweet lassi that tasted exactly like yogurt) before coming home.  It was a fun adventure.

Today we just studied.  We have midterms all week, but then we leave next Sunday for Bangkok! I'm also getting my hair permed on Tuesday, so wish me luck!

Goodnight-lah.