Day 17: Finding Nature in Singapore, Singapore! (Sunday May 28th, 2023)

Today I woke up at 7:00 to get an early start for the day, but also a decent amount of sleep after going to bed at midnight. I wanted to get out early to go to the Botanical Gardens and Nature Reserve today before it got too hot. 

I started the day off video chatting with my family and catching up - which was a very nice way to start the day! It had been at least a week since we had chatted. I got ready for the day, ate a quick breakfast of a peanut butter banana sandwich, packed a picnic lunch of cheese and crackers, and went on my way. It was about 45min by subway to the botanical gardens and I was meeting another girl there at 9:00. 

Once we arrived, it was already so hot and humid. We walked around various gardens, through the ginger garden, under a waterfall, around the rainforest, and other gardens here and there. We missed some of the gardens which were $15 to enter, such was the orchid garden, healing garden, and children's garden. 

Afterwards, we took a grab car ride to the Nature Reserve to do the Treetop Walk. Only to get there to find out that the TreeTop walk was closed due to a competition that was going on. There were a few side trails that were still open, so we decided to do those while we were there.  

It was a beautiful walk through a jungle where we saw turtles, monkeys, and two wild bore with their four piglets!

We finished the walk around 12:30 and we were both drenched in sweat. So we decided to go our separate ways and caught the bus back to our each individual accommodation to shower. A few people from the Singapore group chat were going downtown for drinks for a rooftop view. But I decided to stay in at the apartment to have some down time and spend some time with Michael and Van. 

Once I got back to Michael and Van's apartment, I showered straight away. Even after being on a bus with A/C for 45min, my clothes were still damp with sweat. It felt so refreshing to take a cold shower. 

Afterwards, Van had made some stir fried noodles with pork and carrots for lunch. Their roommate also had some local foods to try, which included durian moche and a jelly packet. The durian was interesting, but overall I don't think I like it. I had about three bites, but it smells horrible and the aftertaste started to get to me. the jelly packet was also interesting. It was like jello in a squeeze tube. 

Since Van slept most of yesterday, Michael went out last night, and I was gone for most of the day, we had not spent a lot of time together yet, and I wanted to get to know them more. So Michael and I both did some computer work while Van took a nap. I went through my emails, paid some bills, checked LinkedIn for jobs and responded to messages, applied for some research studies and freelance work, renewed my AASI membership, and booked my bus ticket and hostel for my next stop! It was hot in the apartment, so I really wanted to take a nap, but I'm glad that I got a lot done. 

At 5:00, we all regrouped and went out to the temple and then to dinner. We stopped by a Buddhist temple nearby where we accompanied Van to pray. It was a beautiful temple with the largest marble statue in Singapore. 

Afterwards, we caught the bus and went to Van's favorite Vietnamese restaurant! Which is saying a lot because she's from Vietnam. She recommended Pho, bun thit nuong (rice noodles with lettuce/cucumber/carrots, BBQ pork, spicy sauce and peanuts), banh mi (pork sandwich), cha gio ("cha-za" fried spring rolls), and banh chuoi (coconut pudding with smashed banana) for dessert. I also got a fresh whole coconut as my drink, which I scraped the meat out of for dessert. 

After dinner we went for a walk to a Vietnamese grocery store - which was very small and overpriced it turns out. But we enjoyed looking at all of the various fruit stands along the way. Now, I can understand the smell of the durian fruit though. I've smelled it before going through food stalls, but always thought something was rotting or maybe someone's trash needed to be taken out. But nope, it's just a stinky fruit. They even use gloves to cut it up so that their hands do not smell afterwards. All of the other fruits looked so beautiful and interesting though (and didn't smell!) I think in Malaysia or Thailand I want to buy one of all of the fruits, cut them up, and have a taste test so I can assimilate each fruit to the name to the taste and see what I like or not. 

We caught the bus back to their apartment and all got ready for bed. I am getting up early tomorrow to explore Pulau Ubin!