Ski 360

Today Jenna and I decided to head out to East Coast Park in Singapore to roller blade along the coast and admire the beautiful view of all the freight ships off the beach (sarcasm). Of course it was super hot and we were as sweaty as can be. After stopping at the Tawandang Brewery for a tasty beverage we continued on and found Ski 360. This place was great. There is a cable going all around the water that has the ski rope hanging from it. So no boat, just lots of sun and salt water.

I've wake boarded a bunch back home so given the heat, I thought I'd give it a go. Jenna wasn't wearing a bathing suit so she had to take a pass this time. To sum it all up, I've found my new past time in Singapore.

Unfortunately Jenna didn't bring her 70-200mm lens so she couldn't get in close and capture all the jumps, rails, places to do tricks but she got enough to capture the moment. If she was really smart, she wouldn't have been taking shots of me, rather she'd have captured the locals doing some crazy jumps and tricks.

If I go enough, I'll get my own equipment...

Ah the city...

You start from sitting on the edge. Next time I'll try starting from the the blue spot. Standing with a jump into the water.

I'll hit that jump next time.

So my form isn't that good... hey, its been a while. I land 2 out of 4. Only thing I didn't like about this place is the long swim back to shore depending on where you eat it.

Dear Long Beach Seafood,

Could you please refrain from having my food stare back at me...Oh and give me the recipe to your crab. Thanks!
love, Jenna

Last night we went for some of Singapore's renowned Chili and Black Pepper Crab. SO yummy!! With the meal we ordered fried rice with salted fish and half way through eating it I was like Oh my god those little black specks are eyeballs!! Jason tried to make me feel better by saying it was strategically placed black pepper but it didn't work. It was incredible...the smallest little fish I have ever seen just peering back at me in my rice.
Speechless... and just had to share!

Chingay Parade and Update

The Chinese New Year festivities are still going on here! I think they are coming to an end, but I'm beginning to think it might be a year round event, we even saw a lion dance again last night. Last weekend Jason and I decided to check out the "final" parade to celebrate Chinese New Year, The Chingay Parade.

Since we haven't blogged in awhile I'll give you some more of an update on what we have been doing here, even though we don't have the photos to match :). I have been working with a local photographer here in Singapore, Yu Hsin of TinyDot Photography, and he has been taking me along on all his wedding photoshoots, whew it is not easy photographing in the 90 degree sweltering heat and being creative! Luckily he does all the posing, I just get to take it all in and find other artistic angles. I also met a lot of nice Aussie women the past few weeks and I met a nice South African girl who is here with her husband who is Danish. Looks like we will have friends all over the world soon!

Jason is enjoying the job at Roche, even though he has an hour commute to the other side of the island and his bus leaves at 6:40am! He says it is like working for a totally different company since there are so many differences. He got his first Singapore haircut yesterday and I think its the best haircut he has ever had (except from Sara of course)! Although the guy sort of scared us in the beginning when he jokingly said they only give one haircut at the salon, so you want a buzz cut yes? Wouldn't that be the day that Jason gets a buzz cut! Oh and I almost forgot that he probably got the best head massage he has ever got either by an Asian man :)

We have both had challenges in the clothing department. I went to buy a pair of shorts and when I asked for the next size up they said I had reached the max, it was an XL! (Talk about a confidence booster). Jason's bunny suits (his white suit that he has to wear on the manufacturing floor) looks more like capri pants and a 3/4 sleeve shirt when he is all suited up. I guess we will have to play more tennis (which we have been doing, despite the heat) and eat less yummy food (which we can't seem to get enough of).

Ok more to come soon! Here are our Parade photos:

Probably the most dangerous thing we have seen here! Firecrackers 2 feet away from us with debris flying near our eyes and probably over 100 decibels in sound!!

I think this little guy was commenting on the fact that Jason had the same glasses as him :)

AND...whats a parade with out Storm Troopers right? So random...

The Singapore Flyer - a ferriswheel that moves super slow to show you all of Singapore. You can even rent it out for dinner or a wedding in the boxes! Want us to do that for our wedding?

Our Epic Trip to Malaysia

So 32 bug bites, 23 hours of traveling, 12 trips to the bathroom of squatting toilets, 4 painful sunburns, 2 seasick girls, 1 ordeal at customs, and a ferry captain that can't drive a ferry landed us on the beautiful island of Tioman in Malaysia.

Needless to say despite all of the above that now sounds like the 12 days of Christmas song we had a long but memorable journey to Malaysia! We thought it would be fun to book a trip over the Chinese New Year, since Jason had two extra days off, needless to say there was probably a reason this was the last trip that was available when booking, although we all decided we would probably go back but fly there instead, since that only takes 45mins from Singapore instead of 13 hours on a bus and ferry. And we might go back just to drink the 50 cent beers :) which are no where to be found in Singapore!

The island itself was beautiful but very different from the Singapore bubble we have grown accustomed to over the past couple of weeks. We took the trip with our new friends, Katie and Quinn. Quinn and Jason are working together and Katie and I are hanging out most days figuring out Singapore. The full day that we were there we went snorkeling in the South China Sea and ate some great fish at a local Chinese Seafood Restaurant. We saw a family of monkey's at our resort (resort should be used loosely) and quite a few HUGE lizards!

So our relaxing journey to the white sand beaches of Malaysia ended up being a rough trip. Next time we will know what to do during Chinese New Year - stay home and eat mandarins! (Oranges are given during Chinese New Year to symbolize wealth and good fortune in the coming year)

Some pictures with the point and shoot from Tioman Island (a land far far away):

Finally Here!!!

Setting off to find cheap beer :)

Berjaya Resort

Apparently helmets are not a law here...just another family outing on the scooter

Grouper "Fred" Fish

I was getting clever with my framing at the beach....

Quinn and Katie :)

A nice shade of red

Our Chinese Seafood Restaurant at night

We thought since the ferry only took an hour that the bus ride home would be a breeze...we arrived at the ferry station at 1:30 for a 2pm departure, the bus didn't leave until 6pm, we had some time to kill! And we were the only ones there...