Bugis Street

Big rainbow I caught a pic of

Mall by Bugis that lights up

Bugis Junction

Bugis street market

Chinese new year goodies on sale

Inside the marketplace

Lots of fruit for sale

 Back of my students pass

Students pass wahoo

This week has flew by once again. Classes are picking up some, so I am focusing more on my school work. On Sunday Kara and I had nothing planned for the day so we decided to venture out. We went to an area off of our mrt line called Bugis Street. We were told that this is THE place to go for shopping. We got off the mrt to see a huge mall that was absolutely gorgeous, the white tile shapes light up in different colors in the dark. Then across the street we went to the famous Bugis Street Marketplace. This place was hopping with people and definitely a good choice on our part. The marketplace is a covered area with hundreds of very small shops lining little alleyways. People were milling about on missions so it made it a tad difficult to wander, but that was fine with us. We were in sensory overload, this was tourist paradise without the tourist prices! We wandered in and out of the stores and I noticed that no one haggles you to buy anything which I assumed would happen in a location like that. We casually looked at everything and scored some major deals. I picked up some beautiful wooden fans with hand painted flowers and birds as gifts for 3 for 10 sing. I as well got 8 pairs of earrings for gifts (and a pair for myself) for 10 sing. Kara got some crazy touristy things that she's ecstatic about. Hew new apartment will be complete with a foot tall jade merlion for 10 sing, a bamboo tissue holder for 3 sing, and some oriental figurines for 7 sing. I am dreaming about my new apartment bedroom to be filled with all of the gorgeous fabrics and little decorations I saw. I am sure we will return soon to add to our carefully planned rooms in America. We then wandered around the marketplace and saw some more shops and ended our day with an ice cream wafer sandwich. The ice cream was 1 sing and depending on the flavor it was an ACTUAL sandwich with some sort of sweet bread, or it had a wafer. I didn't know how I felt about eating soggy ice cream bread so I went for the green tea flavored wafer and it was actually delicious. The green tea was sweet but not too overpowering, a great combination. Tomorrow is Kara's birthday and we will be heading off to Bintan Indonesia on Saturday for the night! Bintan is a 45 minute ferry ride from Singapore and Hostelworld has become our new best friend. We booked a night at a cute hotel for 15 sing each!!!  The hotel is part of a larger resort so we can have a free taxi there, so we get to use their beautiful pool and beach without paying for it. Aren't we just thrifty world travelers now! My student's pass came in so I am allowed to leave the country and enter back in very easily. The pass has my picture in a halogram and my fingerprint so it is very official. Can't wait to share my adventures when I get back! Until next time...

xoxox

Leah