(no subject)
Well, seeing how sister and mother have gone to get their hair cut, I figured I may as well use this time to finish off my holiday run-down.
Day 4.
Crossed into Singapore at about 12:30pm.
Went to a seaside resort known as "Santosa". It has a lovely view of the ocean... if you ignore the cargo ship dockyard XD You can see Malaysia and Indonesia on a a clear day. Luckily, it was a pretty sunny day for us.
There was a huge statue there of some sort of creature. It was like a fish with a lion's head. The Merlion is a national symbol for Singapore. apparently, it was designed according to the meaning of the original name of the country - 'Singapora' the meaning of which, I assume, has something to do with lions and, uh... fish. I dunno. I must've been asleep while the tour guide was explaining XD I couldn't stop thinking of Cowbears though...
Singapore is relatively greener than Malaysia. There's trees and greenery practically everywhere. I think I prefer this to dusty brown places. Singapore is also comparatively small, all there is to see can be seen in two days.
If you ever do go to Singapore, tayles, I wouldn't suggest going to Santosa. There're boats everywhere XD
We ate at another one of those outdoor eatery places; like the one in Malaysia, only it was a lot cleaner. Still no A/C though. they just have lots and lots of fans.
7:15pm - Newton Food Court
Thought of the day: Really shouldn't take my problems on holiday with me...
Karen:Mmmm, mango juice fresh! =D
Karen:... wooo fans!!
We then went around a place called Clarke Quay at night. It's a pretty nice place. Looks quite pretty all lit up and that. Seems to be where all the clubs and restaurants are.
At the Travel Inn, there was a problem with a number of the rooms booked for our tour group, my mother's room included - there were still people living in them. Well, their luggage and personal effects anyway. I don't think anyone actually found people in their rooms. Still, it was obvious that the rooms were still rented out to other people. My mum went down to tell the tour guide, who was already sorting out the problem for the other people. then there was this whole issue with a rude receptionist, who tried to lie to the supervisor about our behaviour. Then mum lost her temper. all this time, I was passed out on the bed in my room. I heard all this from my sister XD From what I can tell, it was a really, really posh hotel. So it's surprising that there's staff there that behaves like that. Though it appears that it was only that one receptionist that was a shit.
On a lighter note: I watched anime on TV. In Japanese. Subbed in English! It was on some channel called Media Arts Central, or something. It showed the Feng Shui episode of Cowboy Bebop and an ep of Shaman King, which struck me as yet another Bleach/Naruto type of series.
Day 5.
Mum was still angry about the incident at the hotel. She's not really one that lets things go easily ^_^ ;;
11am - National Orchid Garden
Went to see flowers, mainly Orchids.
As a biologist, I still find it quite fascinating that life can take so many different forms, even within the same species. I mean, you can tell that most of the flowers here are Orchids, but they all still manage to look unique in some way or another.
Had a 7:30am wake-up all today. so slightly better.
Mum's still angry about the incident last night. suspect we won't be hearing the end of it for a while ^_^ ;;
Singapore seems somewhat cleaner and more modern than Malaysia. This could probably be due to what seems to be a pretty obvious Western influence [there were a lot of places and streets with English names]. Has somewhat of a different feel than Malaysia. I prefer Singapore to Malaysia, I think.
we were told that chewing gum isn't allowed in this country. Turns out that it actually is allowed... but you just can't sell it XDDD The only people allowed to give chewing gum to people are doctors giving it to people who want to quite smoking. Crazy. They're also rather against coca-cola apparently D= They use it to clean toilets XD In fact, they seem to be more proactive in the whole healthy-eating thing in general. Eating things like crisps and junk food are apparently discouraged, probably more so than in Western coutnries.
It's raining.
We also went to a place that had loads of dioramas depicting various chinese legends, myths and wives tales. I wish I could've taken more pictures but all of my sister's SD cards were getting full at that point. Ironically, there were several that were anti-gambling XD
3:15pm - on the way to the airport
I just went into a proper arcade - y'know, one with working cabinets. It was great. shopping centre arcades FTW. I only had 30 minutes to spend in it though. In that time, I managed to fit in a game of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution (costing 50 cents) and a $2 game of Ghost Squad (WITH my card inserted this time).
the place had the scrolling shooters and beat-em-ups (both modern ones and old-skool ones) all arranged in indentially shaped cabinets with their own section. The beat-em-ups were arranged in lines of two cabinets facing each other. This way, you could be playing and suddenly someone will have sat opposite you and ended up challenging you to a game. Or, y'know, you might sit down for a game and ended up challenging someone else XD You sit down to play these cabinets, so you don't generally see the face of your opponent. I think this kind of anonymous competition is what's so great about Asian arcades in this respect. In the UK, hardly anyone seems to play beat-em-ups, let alone challenge anyone. And even if they do, it's never against strangers. I suppose it's a little like playing over the internet or something, y'know, anonymous competition and all that. It was very cool! I didn't challenge anyone, nor did I get challenged myself. though the guy sat next to me seemed to be watching my screen with interest. Probably was amazed at how crap I was XD I'm so out of practice.
Unfortunately, I still couldn't find a Guilty Gear cabinet =(
It was probably the best 30 minutes I've had here XD
And that's about it for that, I guess ^_^ ;;
And now my mum and sister are back, and I'm being dragged off the computer. I think I'm getting a phone today. don't know if I really should as I've already spent a lot on the monitor alone. there's an arcade at the bottom of the Golden Computer Arcade. Will have to try and stop by there after the building in Mong Kok.
Day 4.
Crossed into Singapore at about 12:30pm.
Went to a seaside resort known as "Santosa". It has a lovely view of the ocean... if you ignore the cargo ship dockyard XD You can see Malaysia and Indonesia on a a clear day. Luckily, it was a pretty sunny day for us.
There was a huge statue there of some sort of creature. It was like a fish with a lion's head. The Merlion is a national symbol for Singapore. apparently, it was designed according to the meaning of the original name of the country - 'Singapora' the meaning of which, I assume, has something to do with lions and, uh... fish. I dunno. I must've been asleep while the tour guide was explaining XD I couldn't stop thinking of Cowbears though...
Singapore is relatively greener than Malaysia. There's trees and greenery practically everywhere. I think I prefer this to dusty brown places. Singapore is also comparatively small, all there is to see can be seen in two days.
If you ever do go to Singapore, tayles, I wouldn't suggest going to Santosa. There're boats everywhere XD
We ate at another one of those outdoor eatery places; like the one in Malaysia, only it was a lot cleaner. Still no A/C though. they just have lots and lots of fans.
7:15pm - Newton Food Court
Thought of the day: Really shouldn't take my problems on holiday with me...
Karen:Mmmm, mango juice fresh! =D
Karen:... wooo fans!!
We then went around a place called Clarke Quay at night. It's a pretty nice place. Looks quite pretty all lit up and that. Seems to be where all the clubs and restaurants are.
At the Travel Inn, there was a problem with a number of the rooms booked for our tour group, my mother's room included - there were still people living in them. Well, their luggage and personal effects anyway. I don't think anyone actually found people in their rooms. Still, it was obvious that the rooms were still rented out to other people. My mum went down to tell the tour guide, who was already sorting out the problem for the other people. then there was this whole issue with a rude receptionist, who tried to lie to the supervisor about our behaviour. Then mum lost her temper. all this time, I was passed out on the bed in my room. I heard all this from my sister XD From what I can tell, it was a really, really posh hotel. So it's surprising that there's staff there that behaves like that. Though it appears that it was only that one receptionist that was a shit.
On a lighter note: I watched anime on TV. In Japanese. Subbed in English! It was on some channel called Media Arts Central, or something. It showed the Feng Shui episode of Cowboy Bebop and an ep of Shaman King, which struck me as yet another Bleach/Naruto type of series.
Day 5.
Mum was still angry about the incident at the hotel. She's not really one that lets things go easily ^_^ ;;
11am - National Orchid Garden
Went to see flowers, mainly Orchids.
As a biologist, I still find it quite fascinating that life can take so many different forms, even within the same species. I mean, you can tell that most of the flowers here are Orchids, but they all still manage to look unique in some way or another.
Had a 7:30am wake-up all today. so slightly better.
Mum's still angry about the incident last night. suspect we won't be hearing the end of it for a while ^_^ ;;
Singapore seems somewhat cleaner and more modern than Malaysia. This could probably be due to what seems to be a pretty obvious Western influence [there were a lot of places and streets with English names]. Has somewhat of a different feel than Malaysia. I prefer Singapore to Malaysia, I think.
we were told that chewing gum isn't allowed in this country. Turns out that it actually is allowed... but you just can't sell it XDDD The only people allowed to give chewing gum to people are doctors giving it to people who want to quite smoking. Crazy. They're also rather against coca-cola apparently D= They use it to clean toilets XD In fact, they seem to be more proactive in the whole healthy-eating thing in general. Eating things like crisps and junk food are apparently discouraged, probably more so than in Western coutnries.
It's raining.
We also went to a place that had loads of dioramas depicting various chinese legends, myths and wives tales. I wish I could've taken more pictures but all of my sister's SD cards were getting full at that point. Ironically, there were several that were anti-gambling XD
3:15pm - on the way to the airport
I just went into a proper arcade - y'know, one with working cabinets. It was great. shopping centre arcades FTW. I only had 30 minutes to spend in it though. In that time, I managed to fit in a game of Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution (costing 50 cents) and a $2 game of Ghost Squad (WITH my card inserted this time).
the place had the scrolling shooters and beat-em-ups (both modern ones and old-skool ones) all arranged in indentially shaped cabinets with their own section. The beat-em-ups were arranged in lines of two cabinets facing each other. This way, you could be playing and suddenly someone will have sat opposite you and ended up challenging you to a game. Or, y'know, you might sit down for a game and ended up challenging someone else XD You sit down to play these cabinets, so you don't generally see the face of your opponent. I think this kind of anonymous competition is what's so great about Asian arcades in this respect. In the UK, hardly anyone seems to play beat-em-ups, let alone challenge anyone. And even if they do, it's never against strangers. I suppose it's a little like playing over the internet or something, y'know, anonymous competition and all that. It was very cool! I didn't challenge anyone, nor did I get challenged myself. though the guy sat next to me seemed to be watching my screen with interest. Probably was amazed at how crap I was XD I'm so out of practice.
Unfortunately, I still couldn't find a Guilty Gear cabinet =(
It was probably the best 30 minutes I've had here XD
And that's about it for that, I guess ^_^ ;;
And now my mum and sister are back, and I'm being dragged off the computer. I think I'm getting a phone today. don't know if I really should as I've already spent a lot on the monitor alone. there's an arcade at the bottom of the Golden Computer Arcade. Will have to try and stop by there after the building in Mong Kok.