Singapore Part I

Ok, honestly, we had so much fun, did so much and took so many pictures, that we are going to have to do Singapore in multiple blog posts.  So, this will be the first of a few posts.

When we got to the Hong Kong Airport and made it through customs, James almost broke out in a full sprint.  I had no idea what was going on... and then, I looked up and like a vision, I see this sign:

WHAT?!??!  Why this is only at the airport, is beyond me.  However, since Asian fast food restaurants only serve dark meat, and the biscuits did not look like they should, we opted only to take a picture in front of the store.  Dear Popeyes on Magazine, near Louisiana St. - how we love you.... and your buttery, fattening, tasty, high-caloric biscuits. Miss you - xo.

When we made it to Singapore, we went to Boat Quay (pronounced "key") to walk around and grab dinner per the recommendation of some friends.  Here are a few pictures of that area, which is absolutely beautiful:

And then... as if the Popeyes sign wasn't enough...

We found Mexican food:

O.

 M.G.

That is when I officially fell in love with Singapore.  The view from our outdoor seating at dinner didn't hurt either:

This is Boat Quay at night.  It's so fun and the entire riverbank is covered with neat restaurants, pubs, shops, etc.

After dinner, we headed to our friends', James and Mary Francis, house.  "Singapore James" is a friend of my James' sister.  He and his wife live in Singapore currently and have done so for about 3 years.  They moved over for his work and have loved it.  They are awesome.

The next day, we did a ropes course.  Now,  I know you are all thinking... "Tiffany did what?"  "Did she know that required upper body strength?"  Well, let's just say, I rocked it out.  James did pretty well too :)
Here we are, in our gear:

 Flattering, right?

And here we are about to start the course - we made Kristen lead:

Half way up the first ladder, and I'm already doubting my decision to do this:

 But, we survived!  And we actually had a blast.  Note:  There are no pictures of me zip lining because I literally tanked every landing except the last one, which we got on video.  If I can figure out how to post videos, I will post that one!

Later that day, we walked around a portion of Singapore.  Singapore is truly a pretty city and VERY clean.

This is the Singapore Flyer.  It's the world's largest ferris wheel.

And then, it was time for the zoo.  First picture, naturally, is of James standing beside a car when we first walked in... he was in love.  FYI - James is offended that I called this a car.

 Pretty macaws:

 Cute otters:

 Weird looking tapirs:

 Scary looking pigs:

 WHITE TIGERS!!!!!

 The best part of the Singapore Zoo is where many zoos have one of everything, the Singapore Zoo has a pack.  They literally had like 12-15 lions in their pride, etc.

Hungry Hungry Hippos:

Water for Elephants anyone?

And this little guy stole the water show.  Philip, the sea lion, was hysterical and VERY smart.  The tricks he did were awesome.

But not everyone can handle the spotlight all the time -

Closest I have ever been to a Rhino (no zoom used for any of these pictures by the way):

And the sunset at the zoo was magical.

All in all - a great Singaporean day!

Fashion Show, Dinner, Dancing and Ocean Park!

 So, this is a little late, but Kristin and I got to go to a Fashion show that was by invitation only.  Kristen scored us invites through her rotary connection.  It was in honor of the Landmark Men brand opening up a store here.  As neither Kristin nor I had been to a fashion show, we were soooo excited!  It helped to that they were handing out free champagne/wine.  We felt very important.  Here are a few pictures from the show:

This was the centerpiece of the Runway.

The crowd:

One of the models:

And another one:

This picture shows how the models got onto the runway:

Needless to say, Kristen and I had a blast at the show.  Later in the week, we were invited to take a Salsa Dancing lesson with some Rotarians.  The lesson was taught by a professional dancer named Benny.  He was hilarious and so much fun.  However, before the lesson started, we meet with Leslie, a rotarian, for dinner at an amazing Vietnamese restaurant that Leslie picked out called the Lotus.  I had Vegetables in Green Coconut Curry = amazing.  Leslie was so sweet too!

After dinner it was dancing time.  Yes, James was the only guy there.  Not, he wasn't happy about that, or happy about learning to "shimmy".  This was not the only time that night that he gave me the "Seriously, why I am doing this" look, as illustrated below:

 So, I gave him my "I am so thankful you are doing this" look, along with not letting go of his hand so he couldn't make a run for it:

 We actually had an amazing time that night and headed out from the lesson to a Salsa Club with everyone to continue the fun.  James was the best non-asian dancer at the club!  Seriously. :)

So this past weekend we went to Stanley Market with Kristen and then headed out to Ocean Park.  Ocean Park is Hong Kong's big theme park, that includes rides, a panda resort, an aquarium, etc.  AND, in October, they deck the whole place out for Halloween and have haunted house.  It was SO MUCH FUN!

As none of us had ever seen a panda before in person, we were totally excited about it and took lots of pictures.

I mean, could this guy be any cuter?

 Perhaps while eating?

 A close-up...

 Us and the panda (and a lady that would not move out of our picture)!  Please note James' hat... he is VERY proud of it...

But like I said before, Ocean Park has more than just pandas - there are fun roller coaster rides!  Now, I l.o.v.e. roller coasters.  James and Kristen, however, get nauseous on them (classic).  So I had to ride some of the rides by myself.  I didn't let it get me down:

 This ride below was my favorite ride.  SO MUCH FUN!

 And throughout the park, they had staff dressed up in costume whose sole mission was to scare you.  Honestly, they were quite good at their job.  They would come out of everywhere.  But after scaring you, they would kindly take a picture with you:

 

Kristen and I didn't like being frightened so much, so we took matters into our hands...

 Seriously amazing idea for a haunted house:  laser tag with zombies.  We rocked it out, which made me feel better about myself, as in one haunted house, one guy scared me so much that I screamed bloody murder and a different guy, who watched it happen, just busted out laughing and couldn't stay in character.  Classic.

And then there was the aquarium.  It was so pretty and amazing, because we were basically the only people in it.

 Did I mention that it was huge?

 He looks friendly:

 Biggest sting rays ever.

 A swordfish:

And we saw all of those fish while just hanging out in one spot.  But you could walk all around the aquarium, which we did.

If we have learned anything, it is that Hong Kong truly has everything to offer.