Epic European Adventure, Part One: Singapore!
Which isn't really European at all. You know, just in case your Geography class missed that.
So of course the first photo I take in another country in fandom related. WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. Incidentally, once you start paying attention you realise Merlin has taken over the world - bus companies, publishing companies, framing companies....clearly this is what he's been doing with his immortality.
PS. That is indeed my little sister, along with fahye and also my rather pregnant stepmother in the background (you may recall the post about a new baby brother :D).
OM NOM NOM. How come we don't have street decorations in the form of gigantic edible goods?
It was probably a sign of things to come that I wanted to fling myself into the the over-crowded, over-coloured, child-infested melee that was the strange little Disney market place set up in on of the shopping centres. Sadly I wasn't allowed here (;_____;), and fahye only let me into three of the Disney stores in Europe. D: D: D:
...I am officially responsible for my sister's first Self-Taken Drunk-at-Night Shot. Am proud.
Hawker's fare = surprisingly good, and I always miss the sugar cane juice whilst away.
Touring the temples.
Lion #1. No, seriously - start counting.
A rather beautiful Buddhist temple, built to house a relic - the Buddha's tooth (in about twenty billion layers of gold).
More of the same. The buildings certainly make an incredible contrast against the European ones that came later.
Before you laugh at my expression, just think about those abs for a second. Then look in a mirror. :P
The temple is smack in the middle of Chinatown, surrounded by various markets and shops full of awesome, awesome stuff:
HEIGHT OF MATURITY. 'Manpower' is a male strip show in Aus...not that I've been or anything >.>
MOST USEFUL POSTER EVER. I tend to hang around the oolong variety, I'm not particularly fond of black tea. And by that, I mean ew.
More street decorations - or should I say 'sweet' decorations HAAHHAHAHAHA *SHOT* (brynushka, that one was for you). But seriously, the coloured lights on the end of each string are enormous bon bon things, they are FANTASTIC.
My sister's school. I went along essentially as Show and Tell, though was promptly upstaged by a large plastic bag (long story). Worth it though - just as I was distracted by trying to take a photo of a squirrel (failure), a thump made me look up to SEE A MONKEY DIRECTLY ABOVE MY HEAD. I feel that monkeys are the kangaroos of Singapore: locals don't care but tourists ARE AWED BY THE AWESOME.
Take a second look, there.
Um. I would say "We took an amphibious tour in an ex-army vehicle painted to look like a duck", but I feel it still doesn't explain the sign sufficiently. I don't think anything could explain the sign sufficiently.
I love the fact that the parents are having a blast whilst the kids are either disgruntled or asleep. HAH.
SO MUCH CONSTRUCTION WORK.
I'm pretty sure these all had wishes on them from the people of Singapore, but honestly I can't remember much of what the tour guide (who spoke several thousand languages) said about them.
Enormous, expensive floating stadium that is only used once a year, large Ferris wheel. Actually, the world's largest Ferris wheel (until Beijing beats them out, which it's about to).
That Really Odd Looking Building.
fahye, post-Duckie tour.
Whatever you wish to do with him once you have him is your call. We don't want to know.
*TICK BOX TOURIST MOMENT*
Odd little fact about the Raffles Hotel (or more specifically, its bar) - they keep up a tradition of serving an astonishing number of peanuts...the shells of which they expect you to drop on the floor. Seriously. You crunch with every step.
Because my father is all kinds of nutcase we had SINGAPORE SLINGS *IN* THE RAFFLES HOTEL. Bitch, please, we are high class.
God, these dumplings, you have NO IDEA. Fahye actually bemoaned leaving them behind a couple of times in Europe - they are god dumplings. The restaurant has a team of eight to ten men working on them where you can see them, it's cheap, it's fast, it is OH SO GOOD.
And away we go. My father pretty much took care of us for these few days - we had nothing to worry over. Both of us ended up sort of mentally segregating it off in our thoughts: the rest of the trip was rather different.
ONWARDS.
NEXT STOP: PRAGUE
So of course the first photo I take in another country in fandom related. WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. Incidentally, once you start paying attention you realise Merlin has taken over the world - bus companies, publishing companies, framing companies....clearly this is what he's been doing with his immortality.
PS. That is indeed my little sister, along with fahye and also my rather pregnant stepmother in the background (you may recall the post about a new baby brother :D).
OM NOM NOM. How come we don't have street decorations in the form of gigantic edible goods?
It was probably a sign of things to come that I wanted to fling myself into the the over-crowded, over-coloured, child-infested melee that was the strange little Disney market place set up in on of the shopping centres. Sadly I wasn't allowed here (;_____;), and fahye only let me into three of the Disney stores in Europe. D: D: D:
...I am officially responsible for my sister's first Self-Taken Drunk-at-Night Shot. Am proud.
Hawker's fare = surprisingly good, and I always miss the sugar cane juice whilst away.
Touring the temples.
Lion #1. No, seriously - start counting.
A rather beautiful Buddhist temple, built to house a relic - the Buddha's tooth (in about twenty billion layers of gold).
More of the same. The buildings certainly make an incredible contrast against the European ones that came later.
Before you laugh at my expression, just think about those abs for a second. Then look in a mirror. :P
The temple is smack in the middle of Chinatown, surrounded by various markets and shops full of awesome, awesome stuff:
HEIGHT OF MATURITY. 'Manpower' is a male strip show in Aus...not that I've been or anything >.>
MOST USEFUL POSTER EVER. I tend to hang around the oolong variety, I'm not particularly fond of black tea. And by that, I mean ew.
More street decorations - or should I say 'sweet' decorations HAAHHAHAHAHA *SHOT* (brynushka, that one was for you). But seriously, the coloured lights on the end of each string are enormous bon bon things, they are FANTASTIC.
My sister's school. I went along essentially as Show and Tell, though was promptly upstaged by a large plastic bag (long story). Worth it though - just as I was distracted by trying to take a photo of a squirrel (failure), a thump made me look up to SEE A MONKEY DIRECTLY ABOVE MY HEAD. I feel that monkeys are the kangaroos of Singapore: locals don't care but tourists ARE AWED BY THE AWESOME.
Take a second look, there.
Um. I would say "We took an amphibious tour in an ex-army vehicle painted to look like a duck", but I feel it still doesn't explain the sign sufficiently. I don't think anything could explain the sign sufficiently.
I love the fact that the parents are having a blast whilst the kids are either disgruntled or asleep. HAH.
SO MUCH CONSTRUCTION WORK.
I'm pretty sure these all had wishes on them from the people of Singapore, but honestly I can't remember much of what the tour guide (who spoke several thousand languages) said about them.
Enormous, expensive floating stadium that is only used once a year, large Ferris wheel. Actually, the world's largest Ferris wheel (until Beijing beats them out, which it's about to).
That Really Odd Looking Building.
fahye, post-Duckie tour.
Whatever you wish to do with him once you have him is your call. We don't want to know.
*TICK BOX TOURIST MOMENT*
Odd little fact about the Raffles Hotel (or more specifically, its bar) - they keep up a tradition of serving an astonishing number of peanuts...the shells of which they expect you to drop on the floor. Seriously. You crunch with every step.
Because my father is all kinds of nutcase we had SINGAPORE SLINGS *IN* THE RAFFLES HOTEL. Bitch, please, we are high class.
God, these dumplings, you have NO IDEA. Fahye actually bemoaned leaving them behind a couple of times in Europe - they are god dumplings. The restaurant has a team of eight to ten men working on them where you can see them, it's cheap, it's fast, it is OH SO GOOD.
And away we go. My father pretty much took care of us for these few days - we had nothing to worry over. Both of us ended up sort of mentally segregating it off in our thoughts: the rest of the trip was rather different.
ONWARDS.
NEXT STOP: PRAGUE