Sunday, January 22, 2006

Goodbye singapore!


Ok heres another bunch of random pics in no real order. I wanted to update the sealion kiss one now i have Fyfs SLR pics on CD but alas, it's taken me so long to do these I've run out of time.
So here we are at the end of our Singapore sling. We've had an amazing time and made some wicked friends- having met people form the zoo here and hung out, etc. And been reasonably lucky with the weather too. In a few hours we fly to South Africa!!


Me and a baby croc at the reptile parkThe reptile park was actually really bad and we were shocked to see such a run down place with such poor welfare. Look at this 15 foot croc. To begin with we actually thought it was dead.

A local lady who looks like she's having a really fun time hanging out with Ronald McDonald



Fyf eating a giant prawn cracker the size of her head (in the dorm- which is very naughty!)
Me being very naughty on the MRT, drinking milk out of a thai coconut and risking a fine of 500 bucks!! A durian by the way, is a fruit that apparrently really stinks, so bad that it's banned on the MRT!!

The Night Safari...
(this is actually 2 nights worth of pics! The second time we just went to eat and drink there, and buddy with the dancers!!)



swapping gear with the dancers!! As it turned out, I was pretty nifty with the old blow pipe!!


Sentosa...
This is a view of the luging (like toboggoning) from the chairlife as we went back up the hill. So much fun!!
Me looking over the rail of the chairlift. I was actually enjoying it way more than it looks!! me on the hospital bed after I sprained my ankle a few days ago
When we went to sentosa Fyf dares me to get "cripple" tattooed on my bad leg... so I did!! (Don't worry mum it's only an airbrushed one!)


Fyf and I on sentosa

Me on the southernmost point of the Asian continent, looking like a sack of potatoes

Friday, January 20, 2006

Montage time!

Alright so I got a cd back today so have more pics for you. Things we've done since that I don't have pics of yet were pink dolphins at Sentosa and the underwater world which were so cool (with a dugong named Gracie!!) Sentosa is an island resort with lots od attractions, and we went Luging- like toboggoning only with no rails!! Very good fun.

Today we visited the Jurong Reptile Paradise, which was so disgusting, run down and un kept I was really shocked. The welfare of most of the animals was so compromised I was close to tears, particularly a 15 foor salt water croc with such severe injuries to his face that we at first thought he was dead, as his skull was sticking through his skin and what was left of his eyes were being eaten by flies. The snakes were all in really unsuitable accommodation and one that the bloke gave me to hold (a small green tree python) was so, so skinny and had a really badly damaged eye. Needless to say I got a lot of pictures and will be writing a very bad review for the zoo magazine.

Mark has left us now and tonight me and Fyf are going to return to the night safari (which was really excellent and had some very unusual animals. Keith- while I was there I was pulled up on stage to take part in some tribal war dancing, in which I was very sporting but thought of you doing hula!!) to hang out but not drink beer, because it's $10.90 a bottle! Outrageous!!

I just checked Daisy's blog and nearly wet myself! It's so funny!! Particularly those of you we hung out with in Hawaii should check it out as there's camping pics! www.daisy-dukes.blogspot.com

take care all. Lots of love xxxxxx

Exploring Little India...

The old...
...and the new...

A yellow tiger guarding the temple of 1000 lights

Not sure what temple this is but it looked amazing!

Clarke's Quay...
This image and the two below are from an area called Clarkes Quay, which is a strip of resteraunts along side the river very near to the hotel we stayed in when we first arrived. Really cool at night!
Animal stuff...
Pelican feeding at the bird park. All the pelicans leapt into a tank of goant fish and then the keepers chucked in smaller fish for them to eat and there was a big frenzy in the water of pelicans and giant fish all having a feast!

Fiona buddying with an albino kingsnake at the zoo. It didn't look too well to me, I reckon it had a herniated gut or something as it looked like a string of sausages.


A gorge male green iguana
An african grey flying over starlings and bee eaters at Jurong Bird Park

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Singapore slingin'



Hello all...
Loving Singapore! We've visited the zoo, which was totally amazing and brilliant (I was kissed by a sealion and rode an elephant!!! sealion pic is on the SLR though . We also visited the jurong bird park which was also pretty cool and had some good stuff in it's bird shows. We've also seen some amazing temples and are really enjoying the hostel. Thats it for now here's some pics to keep you going!, night night!! xx
PS- weather has cleared up a bit but biy are we sweating! You have no idea!!!
Me mucking about in the tube station
Making friends at the zoo
Elephant riding...COME ON!!!
Under the UV lights in the girft shop my suncream glowed!!
Me and Fyf with our gear on, ready to leave the hostel for the hostel
15m high budda in the temple of the 1000 lights
A chinese dragon dancing in celebration of the year of the dog, that we bumped into while browsing the busy shopping arcade by Benacoon Road.


Look at this shocking sight we saw while shopping... the shicking bit is that me and Fyf measure in at something close to xxxxxxxxL!!

Getting friendly with a hornbill at Jurong Bird Park

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Goodbye Hawaii, Hello Singapore!


Hey all... first of all... HAPPY BITHDAY BETHYN!!!!!!!!!!! lots of love, have a wicked day!! xx

OK so our last night in the aloha state was so nice. The whole crew went out for dinner , we were adorned with leis and love and I was really overcome! Me and Devon had a tearful goodbye (of course) after the fantastic Itallian meal... thankyou all for coming, it was a great turn out and I will miss you all terribly, you are some of the most fantastic people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know.

The whole crew, left to right, top row: Marisol, Steve, Me, Keith, Jen, Naomi, Katrina. Bottom row: Fyful, Devon, Heidi, Kelly, Devin, Danielle and Jen.

So we arrived in Singapore last night after missing a day (wednesday), and a funny change at Tokyo where we ate some crazy unitentifyable food, and the toilets were a concrete urinal set into the floor!!!!! Luckily the movies were good so we were entertained, and our mate from work, Mark (who happens to be here at the same time as us) picked us up from the airport and we stayed at his swanky hotel which was bliss!! A good bed!! Fluffy pillow!! And best of all... a nice, deep bath tub!!!!!!!!! Yes!!! The first thing about Singapore that his you is... the rain. By God, its wet!! As I type I am soaked to the undies from the 2 minute walk to the immaculate tube station, which is something reminiscent of the resident evil movies- you know, under-ground hi-tech research station! We will be staying in a hostel called the Inn Crowd, in an area called Little India, which is amazing!! More rough round the edges than the Singapore I expected and full of all kinds of amazing sounds, smells and sights. A complete explosion for the senses and I am so excited about wandering round the place when I get off the computer in a minute. I'm sure there will be great pictures and stories to come.

Aloha again to all my loved ones in Hawaii, I'm not going to gush anymore 'cos noone wants to hear it and you all know how I feel! And of course big love to everyone at home. Dayna, thanks for the email, good luck with your footie match and coursework, You'll do great.

Lots and lots of Love, from a drowned rat! xx

Friday, January 06, 2006

Camping, aquarium and SLP

(Fyf doing an impression of our mate Sam at home)

News to report (to fill you in a little on the pictures above), yet more camping!! We've also visited the aquarium which had some excellent new jelly exhibits, the zoo, where we did a mini tour on our video diary. We've swam in the ocean, been snorkelling and visited the Sea Life Park (oh yeah and had a thrilling visit to the laundrette, with lots of weirdos!!!). Tonight we're going out dancing with our mates (below, us ready for the off. Sorry about the upside-down-ness of the picture, it's actually a really nice one!)

It's Jane of the jungle!! ...oh actually its Fyf swinging from a banyan

A very cool jellyfish at the aquarium
Waikiki by night. Gorge.

Wednesday 4th Jan A leaping dolphin at SLP
A plastic cocktail sword through Steves ear. Of course.
Jen, Dani and Fyf around the camp fire (in its premature stages!!)
Bowe contemplating the ocean
Naomi dancing on the beach!
A pic I took at Steves on new years eve. I saw it in the concrete at the top of the patio stairs!!



We've booked ourselves onto an excellent sounding tour in Africa that will be 21 days including food, transport, accommodation and lots of cool activities, that I'm going to keep under my hat until they happen!! We've also been tweaking our other flight dates. So we are flying out to Singapore (via Tokyo) next tuesday, that is, the 10th January. We'll be staying there for 2 weeks and meeting our work mate Mark and then off to Cape Town.

Hope everyone's doing good at home,

Lots of love, Grace and Fyf xx