Pictures of S'pore

Hello again! Today I am borrowing some shots from Tyler, as I have yet to find a nice digicam (short for "digital camera"). There are lots of neat sights around Singapore.

This is a pic of the campus. There is a lot of greenery, trees and interesting landscaping throughout; it looks more like a tropical resort than a post-secondary institution.

This is another picture on campus. As Singapore was once a British colony, there are subtle reminders of this, like driving on the left side of the road (and when on escalators, people who are not walking are supposed to be on the left side too). Also, they use words like "queue" instead of "line-up", "lift" instead of "elevator", and "sweets" instead of "candies". Thankfully, "booyeah!" is still the same here or there.

This is a picture of the International Student Orientation. There are a lot of international students here. Thus far it appears that the highest populus of int'l students from a single country is Germany. Also apparently there are 20-30 UBC students here this term, but I haven't quite met that many (yet).

Here is a picture of Tyler and I at the NUS bus stop. We are taking the (air-conditioned) bus over to Clementi, which is a nice little area of open-air shops and a couple of squares where people eat food, shop, and... well actually that's about it. The busses and the MRT line (which is like the Skytrain) have a neat "EZ-Link" card where you top it up at kiosks in the bus station so you don't have to fumble for change! But you have to make sure to swipe the card again when you exit the bus, or else you are fined.

This is a picture of said bus. It looks full, no? But it is usually quite comfortable because of the air-conditioning. Air-conditioning is very nice!!! Actually the A/C can even be set at around 25 celcius and it still seems REALLY cold. The weather network regularly reports temperatures "feeling like" mid-forties, factoring in the intense humidity.

And here is a shot of Clementi, where I was able to find electrical adapters, clothing, bedding/sheets, slippers (flip-flops) and lots and lots of other good stuff. There is also a ton of food here.

So that's about it for now. There is actually lots more that I am not caught up on - yesterday it was raining torentially so we went to Suntec City, Singapore's biggest shopping mall (shopping is big here). However, it really just felt like 2 Metrotown's strung together. Tonight, Little India is supposed to be jumpin', so we'll hit dat up.

Until next time, where I plan to discuss the food, my room in residence, and other particulars about this country.

(C)