Sorry for the delay guys! Sometimes life gets in the way... but I'm back! Singapore and China rundown on the way :)
So I spent the 30 minute drive to the airport trying to convince my younger brother that the nearly 24 hour journey wasn't going to suck as much as he though it would. It's a tough sell, but not impossible. The point was that I wanted him to stay excited about "freaking china!!!" instead of grumbling about the plane ride and invariably diminishing the experience. At least that's what I thought, so pitch after pitch of movies, tv shows, video games, and music went in one ear and out the other, the plane takes off and our fate is sealed. He did his best, which is all I could ask for, but for real that trip was brutal. Four movies and 2 mediocre meals later, we arrive in Moscow, deplane only to follow the crowd of transit passengers through a winding path and reboard THE SAME PLANE. I understand the logic with security and new passengers and whatnot but still.
Also worth mentioning is that while Zee and I were in row 38 in coach, my parents, dad spoiled by the decades of business travel, and mom deservedly upgraded after enduring transatlantic flights when we were kids, sat in first and business class respectively. Jealous... no we haven't earned ours yet but still jealous, even in retrospect. The seats turn into legit beds! Ok, I'm done... for now.
This leg of the flight we slept, as much as we could anyway. We arrived in Singapore bright and early at 6am. We get back to my dad's place to find that Asad and Nada, who arrived the day before, still have jetlag and are up waiting for us. Some chai and chit chat about their post-China itinerary of Dubai and Saudi Arabia and we got ready for the day.
Maybe it was just me, but I totally deluded myself into thinking that I would make it the whole day like a champ (aka my dad). We ate breakfast, watched game 4 of the NBA Finals (God bless Star Sports Asia :)) showered and went out. Now in an exotic city-state, we started our venture out foraging for food... ending up at a local delicacy paying homage to western civilization, California Pizza Kitchen. Ok yea so CPK isn't exactly local fare but there was only so much pepto to go around and we wanted to preserve our stomachs for China (more on that food later ;)). After some shopping at one of the 15 Zara's on Orchard Street, we came home to "relax" and ended up passing out for 4 hours, only to be woken up by dad, the champ who went to the office after the 6am powwow that morning, asked if we were hungry. More "health food" (McDonalds Spicy Chicken Sandwiches!), full and satisfied, i fell back asleep like it was all a delicious dream :).
The next day we ventured back into the urban jungle... but this time we were looking to the other side... toward the largest ferris wheel in the world! yes, it is indeed as awesome as it sounds... we could see everything! Then we went to the Night Safari and saw elephants, giraffes, lions, hyenas and something like 17 kinds of deer. Then there was a creatures of the night show in which the absolute highlight was the "recycling otters"... IT WAS AMAZING!!! seriously my sister in law and I wanted to steal them.
Then... not to be outdone by the sun... we set off for China...
See you in Shanghai!
So I spent the 30 minute drive to the airport trying to convince my younger brother that the nearly 24 hour journey wasn't going to suck as much as he though it would. It's a tough sell, but not impossible. The point was that I wanted him to stay excited about "freaking china!!!" instead of grumbling about the plane ride and invariably diminishing the experience. At least that's what I thought, so pitch after pitch of movies, tv shows, video games, and music went in one ear and out the other, the plane takes off and our fate is sealed. He did his best, which is all I could ask for, but for real that trip was brutal. Four movies and 2 mediocre meals later, we arrive in Moscow, deplane only to follow the crowd of transit passengers through a winding path and reboard THE SAME PLANE. I understand the logic with security and new passengers and whatnot but still.
Also worth mentioning is that while Zee and I were in row 38 in coach, my parents, dad spoiled by the decades of business travel, and mom deservedly upgraded after enduring transatlantic flights when we were kids, sat in first and business class respectively. Jealous... no we haven't earned ours yet but still jealous, even in retrospect. The seats turn into legit beds! Ok, I'm done... for now.
This leg of the flight we slept, as much as we could anyway. We arrived in Singapore bright and early at 6am. We get back to my dad's place to find that Asad and Nada, who arrived the day before, still have jetlag and are up waiting for us. Some chai and chit chat about their post-China itinerary of Dubai and Saudi Arabia and we got ready for the day.
Maybe it was just me, but I totally deluded myself into thinking that I would make it the whole day like a champ (aka my dad). We ate breakfast, watched game 4 of the NBA Finals (God bless Star Sports Asia :)) showered and went out. Now in an exotic city-state, we started our venture out foraging for food... ending up at a local delicacy paying homage to western civilization, California Pizza Kitchen. Ok yea so CPK isn't exactly local fare but there was only so much pepto to go around and we wanted to preserve our stomachs for China (more on that food later ;)). After some shopping at one of the 15 Zara's on Orchard Street, we came home to "relax" and ended up passing out for 4 hours, only to be woken up by dad, the champ who went to the office after the 6am powwow that morning, asked if we were hungry. More "health food" (McDonalds Spicy Chicken Sandwiches!), full and satisfied, i fell back asleep like it was all a delicious dream :).
The next day we ventured back into the urban jungle... but this time we were looking to the other side... toward the largest ferris wheel in the world! yes, it is indeed as awesome as it sounds... we could see everything! Then we went to the Night Safari and saw elephants, giraffes, lions, hyenas and something like 17 kinds of deer. Then there was a creatures of the night show in which the absolute highlight was the "recycling otters"... IT WAS AMAZING!!! seriously my sister in law and I wanted to steal them.
Then... not to be outdone by the sun... we set off for China...
See you in Shanghai!
