Singapore Day 1

Dear Internet,

Getting photos from my phone to this computer is a pain in the ass. I am not technologically fluent at all.

My first day here in Singapore was wonderful. I mean really wonderful. The Singapore airport is gorgeous, complete with butterfly garden.

From there, I arrived at Surabhi's lovely apartment around 2am, and we chatted over green tea for a while before bed. She went off to work in the morning, leaving me to my own devices. Shorty lives well. Her condo complex includes a mini golf situation, jacuzzis, a reading garden, state of the art gym, and some gorgeous swimming pools. So my morning swim happened here:

Not too shabby for the first day o holiday. From there, I wandered into the city via bus. The public transportation system in Singapore is just the best I've seen. The stops are numbered, the drivers are helpful, the buses are extremely clean, and even have seat-by-seat air conditioning. Yes. I took a photo. On the bus. Totally shameless tourist.

There's an insane amount of shopping here. I don't particularly care for shopping, which seems to be a waste here. Gucci, Ferragamo, like 14 Emporio Armani stores in a single bus ride. And people are shopping; these shopping centres are teaming with people loaded with bags. It's amazing. And these are some seriously glitzed out, Vegas-style stores. Everywhere. 

All the store fronts were like this. 

Anyway, I wandered on downtown, and got off near where I was meeting Surabhi and others for lunch. Grabbed a coffee from some friendly locals, exchanged money, and generally just got my bearings. The city is probably one of the least foreign experiences I've ever had. I've felt more out of place in New York than here. Everything is well organized, so it's easy to find your way around. Everyone is from everywhere, and so there's no predominating 'culture' to which I feel I either belong or don't. People are just...chilling. 

Also, they seem to have the right idea for fancy offices. Corner office, meet your match: rainforest balcony.

After pho for lunch, we ran into a few more friends as I walked Surabhi back to her office. One of them, a chatty woman from Mongolia who was fresh from a 10day trip into the wilderness out there, joined me to check out the Boat Quay area and the South Asian Museum there. She had a lot of knowledge about the history and cultural migration that impacted art and culture throughout Asia, so she was a fascinating museum companion. 

That and we both enjoyed looking at the sparkly shit.

I would like someone to buy this bracelet for me and call me Maleficent. For sure.

I headed back to the apartment to wash up for the evening, feeling like a total boss for navigating my way to the right bus back and getting off at the right stop. Then again, I cannot imagine an easier city to live in. I headed back to join Surabhi and still other friends of hers at a bar by her office. The bar is 63 floors up, and is the highest point in Singapore, providing spectacular views of the city. A few highlights below. Sorry, I'd do more narrative, but I'm a shitty blogger and have 10 minutes to make this blog happen.

It was stunning up there. And so many boats. Hundreds of boats dotting the coast. At night, they light up and look like further extensions of the city.

We went from there to a stretch resembling a highly improved version of AdMo called Club Street. It's a street that shuts down at night and is lined with bars. 

This is not a good shot. But I quickly got busy dancing and chattering, so photos fell off the priority list.

A friend was leaving Singapore to move to Melbourne, Australia for his latest venture capitalism project, so he was having a farewell party there. I met another 20ish of Surabhi's friends, including the guy leaving, Chuck. We hit it off immediately, prattling on about very deep things the way only strangers can. We made vague plans to fall in love (in my head. He had no idea we were making these plans.). One thing I'll note about banter here versus in DC. Here, everyone has a story to tell, but unlike in DC, there's hardly any bragging. The friendliness here seems much more genuine, and rooted in the simple fact that people find one another interesting, as opposed to potential sources for validation. It was refreshing. Where I normally find light socializing involved with parties absolutely exhausting, this was effortless and actually fun. Then I got very sleepy and passed out muttering to Surabhi about how I needed to blog.

And I'm out of time. 

Xo,

S