Traveler Beware: there are a lot of Body Shops in Signapore!

Jen, Carla and I thought we had smoothly planned our layover time in Singapore. We thought we were so smart finding out about the free bus ride into the city and how well we had managed our time there. We saw the Fountain of Wealth, a memorial, the famous Opera House and we even managed to go to Chinatown for some adventures with food. All we had to do is take the metro back and go to the place outside the mall where the bus had dropped us off 10 minutes before the pick up time. This all sounded easy to us when the tour bus driver dropped us off. I mean Singapore seemed small and we just made sure to look at the stores that were near the bus drop off area..After some fun in Chinatown, we take the metro back to the main mall and trace our place back to the Body Shop. Somehow the bus stop was not outside of the mall entrance near Body Shop so we start running through the mall trying to re-trace our steps and what do we see..another Body Shop!! The mall is a maze and we spent 15 minutes running through it. We already stood out before as we haven't really seen much "foreigners" now we are the only people running or even fast walking through the mall. We discovered three Body Shops and no bus =(. After 15 mins of running around, we gave up and decided to get a cab back to the airport so we don't miss our flight as well.

Fountain of Wealth

The Fountain of Wealth in Singapore is the largest fountain in the world. We all made a wish.

Mmmm..BreadTalk!

Friday morning still..um I think. Today we have a few hours to hang out in Singapore before our flight to our final destination-Hyderabad. Jen, Carla and I had breakfast and then took the airport tour bus into the city. Singapore is really beautiful. It reminds me of Waikki but more beautiful, and clean. The city is more modern as well. The airport offers free tours and rides into the city to get people to want to come back and visit..it works! The bus drops us of at the mall. That is one of many malls here I later learn. We got some delicious bread at the mall from BreadTalk. I got this Floss bread because the girl that works there said it was the most popular. Spicy beef + butter = mmm good! I was taking pictures of all the breads because they are all so different but then the girl that worked there told me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures! I am not sure why. Maybe the bread in Singapore are shy as well. Jen took a picture of the tour guide on the bus and he told her not to because he was shy. He turned his back to Jen for the whole ride because he was afraid of her camera. Then he told us we had to wear these stickers so they can identify us later because people are shy to ask who we were. Maybe he was using shyness as a way to get us to do things or maybe Singapore people are not too fond of you taking pics. All I know was the food was great.

The Nice People of Singapore

We landed in Singapore Friday after 12 am and everything went so smoothly. Customs and immigration was a breeze. They barely asked or looked at anything. For some reason, I think because of the gum ban, I thought things would be more strict here. Everyone is so relaxed and easy going though. We checked into our hotel in the airport and the hotel staff had even left a welcome card...for Mr.Zarabi. Carla had a blast about this. She's use to people thinking I am a guy because of my first name. I am glad I could give her a good laugh before she went to sleep. What was funnier was that every time the hotel staff would call our room they still call me Mr. Zarabi!