If it's Thursday, it must be Singapore....

Good morning! Now, some of you have heard from me via e-mail, but others haven't, so thought I'd fill you all in on what's new!

I had 3 gorgeous, brilliant, wonderful days in Melaka, Malaysia. This is a very historic town where you can just walk around for hours (which is what I did). My guest house was FABULOUS, and it was really hard to leave. I met some great people there too. We did go out on Sunday night, to a night market in Chinatown (Junkor Walk), then on to a local pub. Our 12:30 curfew ensured that we came home at a reasonable hour. But, that was the only night that I went out, since I wanted to make the most of my (very hot, sunny) days for pounding the pavement. I think I managed to see every inch of Melaka in the time that I was there.

Now, I am in Singapore (I arrived on Tuesday evening), staying with Brent and Stephanie's frient Theresa, who is originally from Canada. It's quite the city! On my first evening here, I was greeted with fireworks (Aug 9 was Singapore's National Day: Little factoid, my brother was in Singapore for Aug 9 back in 1982!), sitting in a park with the Singapore skyline lit up behind me and the Esplanade Theatre (that looks like a big hedgehog or durian fruit) beside me. Yesterday, we walked (and ATE) all through Little India and Arab Street. Last night, Theresa took us to a rooftop BBQ where we met up with other expats and locals. The thing with Singapore is that even if you do not like cities, you can't help but be amazed at the architectural feats of the buildings here. Everything is aesthetically pleasing. Buildings that are grouped together harmonize with each other. Really wonderful.

Today, we will hit Sentosa Island, Orchard Street, maybe the Raffles Hotel and Clarke Quay (at night). I've done a bit too much shopping and will try to mail some of the things I've bought home, since my shoulders will certainly be aching once I get back to Malaysia and have to go back to being a turtle (and carrying my house on my back).

The food has been amazing: I've been eating quite well (to the point of bursting) for the past few days. Might regret my menu choices when it comes time to don a bikini for the beach but I really don't care at this point - I'm not eating kimchi and rice every day and that's just awesome!

That's all for now.... Will post pictures when I get home.

Head to ass game: A person stands facing the wall and sort of bends slightly, bracing himself on the wall. Another person runs up behind the 1st and puts his head down between the 1st one's legs. A third person puts his head under person #2's crotch. Then, another person runs and leapfrogs over person #3 to land on person #2's back, and kind of scoot forward so that he is holding person #1's shoulder's for balance. That's the basic idea. The point is to get as many people as possible involved. Apparently, it is from some wacked out Korean gameshow. All I know is that it looked mighty weird when I walked in on a crowd of teenagers doing it at 1 am.