India Trip
9/28/01 - 10/7/01
Todd, Sara, Sarah and I were originally scheduled to head out to India with a larger group on 9/13. But then 9/11 happened so the trip was postponed and the group got smaller. Sara had work to do in Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul so those countries were tacked onto our trip and a new date was set. After some rescheduling, we met at the airport on 9/28 and headed out to Singapore on 9/29.
We arrived at our hotel in Singapore on 9/30. Todd's room was the only one available, so we dumped of our stuff and headed for the beach and pool. We hit the ocean first, where Sarah was attacked by a jellyfish (ok, so it was really just a plastic bag, and we now knew that at the first sign of danger everyone would run away) and then we swam out to one of the small islands. After reaching the island we spotted a monitor lizard (they're not so small) so we headed back to the beach and then to the pool where there was nothing that would attack us. While we were safe from creatures at the pool, we were not so safe from the sun. Todd and I both turned a funny shade of red after lots of sun exposure. I was worn out after dinner that night, so I fell asleep early. On 10/1 we headed into town for some shopping and sightseeing. After returning back to the hotel we waited out some rain, then returned to the pool.
There was work to be done, so we headed off to the Singapore office on 10/2. After a tour and some discussion we left Sara and headed out for more exploring. We ran into the Raffles Hotel first, and stopped for some coffee. My parents had told me that Singapore Slings were invented there and that I had to go to the Long Bar and order one, so Todd and Sarah humored me and we headed up to the bar (I couldn't let my parents down!). After drinks and peanuts we went to the Singapore History Museum (dioramas and a 3D movie? No way!!!!) for a little culture. We returned to the Long Bar and joined up with Sara and Letchmi, then returned to the hotel to get prepped for our evening out. We took the sky tram off of the island (good to know: Todd is afraid of heights) and a cab (found the most interesting article about Singapore baseball in the cab) to The Night Safari. I think this is the coolest zoo I've ever been to - it's only open at night and it's set up so that you can actually see the animals. We weren't allowed to take photos, but we did learn that Todd is also afraid of snakes and that Sarah doesn't like being in an enclosure with large bats.
On 10/3 we were off to Hong Kong! We settled in to our hotel, Sara made us tea, then we went to the Jumbo Floating Restaurant with Randolph from the Hong Kong office.
We found out on the morning of 10/4 that we were being brought home out of concern for our safety. We decided to make the most of our last couple days, but first there was work to be done. We headed to the Hong Kong office then met up again for lunch. There was lots of shopping to do, so we went to the street market and shopped like mad. We dropped our stuff off, got dressed (would anyone like some cog-nac?), then headed up to Victoria's Peak saw the city, got rained on, and had dinner. We then went to Lan Kwai Fong where we danced, drank, and stayed up way past our bed time.
We woke up early on 10/5 and took a tour to Lantau Island. Unfortunately the tour involved a ferry ride to the island (luckily the ferry came complete with vomit bags). We visited Cheung Sha Beach (squat toilets and shark prevention nets!), Tai O fishing village, and Po Lin Monastery (home of the the world's tallest, seated, outdoor bronze Buddha statue).
After lots of sleep Randolph, Albert and Dora joined us for more shopping in ___ on 10/6. We found some Yahoo! grafitti, completed most of our souvenir and gift shopping (how many tea sets can one person own?), and discovered that you can buy Jim Beam & Cola by the can at 7-11 (that's some tasty stuff!). After that it was off to Lan Kwai Fong for another night out where we stayed up even later and drank even more.
Back home on 10/7! We had another uneventful flight and a new set of movies on demand.
