evesamuelsson

How can I start to explain this complex weekend? This weekend has been full of excitement, horror, panic, laughter and amazing views.

Everything started on Friday when we took our bags and headed to the ferry terminal. Due to lack of information we didn’t have the right documents and were almost prohibited to leave Singapore. Finally we took the ferry and arrived to Indonesia, where we quickly found out that we took the wrong ferry since our hotel was located on the complete opposite side of the island.

A lot poorer, but still with a good feeling we took a taxi to our hotel which according to the driver was supposed to be in the “city” of Bintan. A really cool place close to nice beaches. NOT!!!

When we arrived to the hotel we clearly understood that they were not used to foreign customers since they didn’t speak a word in English. When we asked them about the beach they looked very surprised and after very much body language and gestures we found out that the beach were 40 minutes away with taxi. (WHAT?)

We therefore decided to spend the afternoon by the pool and take a nice dinner in the city and go to the sea the next day. But of course our hopes were too high… there was no city. It was the poorest, dirtiest village consisting of farmers and inhabitants that probably never saw a blond person in their life before. We also found out it was really dangerous to walk around the town and to be careful not to be robbed.

Luckily we ordered a cab from the hotel to take us to the “crème de la crème” restaurant of the town, a seafood restaurant down by the water. The food was very good, but the entire situation was very uncomfortable. To add; neither of our telephones were working which didn’t help the comfort of the trip.

On Saturday morning we were positive and happy again to take the taxi to the beach. Wrong again!! When the taxi driver stopped to drop us off I instantly grabbed Nicos arm with the expression of; Im not leaving the car!!!

There were NO sunbeds, NO food place, NO place to find water, NO people or civilization nearby, but only a few dogs and the sea with sand.....



local seafood restaurant= very tasty


opposite the seafood restaurant= not so classy

To make the story short we luckily found a resort to spend the day at, and we ended up having a great day and evening. I splurged myself with a foot massage and we drank fruit drinks in the sun, enjoying being around other tourists and the sea.. Finally the Indonesia we were hoping for. We spent the evening in the resort with a lovely dinner and a delicious Indonesian specialty; avocado juice with chocolate.

where i took some foot massage












avocado juice (delicious)



the "real" Bintan

















In the end we had a great weekend, and we even appreciated more since we knew how poor and shitty the life situation was on the island outside the resorts. We tried everything possible on the island and went home really pleased and acknowledge.

Thai Honey Mango

Outside; A rather big yellow mango 

Inside; Golden yellow fruitmeat

Taste; Really sweet. Much sweeter than a “normal” mango, with a touch of honey  

Consistency; Very soft and almost mushy

Nico’s judgment: 8,5/10 stars “The skin makes me puke (2,5). But the inside is good.. juicy.”   

Eve’s judgment: 9/10 stars “Mmmmm. Really really good.This is how mango is supposed to be, rather than the green ones in Sweden. Melting in your mouth. But really sweet”

Sitting in shool with my morning coffee. Waiting for the day to start. I have 15 (!) hours of school ahead of me.


Boring as it is, i thought i could share some pictures with you.
Here are some pictures from Saturday afternoon when we decided to check out the art museum of Singapore. It is a really nice museum with a lot of modern and contemporary exhibitions, which is something that interest both me and Nico more than traditional art.

This weekend the museum had one exhibition focusing on relationships & friendship, and another one with the theme of Cinema.









funny guy no?










After the visit we went up in one of the tallest shopping malls in center and checked the view. You can never have enough of nerve thrilling views. Beautiful.






Have a good day!

Seedless thai guava

Outside; light green, looking like an apple

Inside; White fruit meet, like an apple/pear

Taste; A mixture between apple, pear, banana, grape. Very sweet. 

Consistency; Again like a pear

Nico’s judgment: 2/10 stars “Disgusting, too much of a mixture of fruits. Hate that the taste changes for every bite. Will never eat it again.” 

Eve’s judgment: 8/10 stars
 “Tastes great. Love that its feels like eating an entire fruit salad in one fruit. Exciting taste ”

On Sunday we decided to go for a little mini trip over the day. The destination was Ubin, a little island belonging to Singapore that you reach with 20 minutes by boat. Ubin is an island that has not been touched by the development, growth and improvement that Singapore has been going through the last decades. Entering the island is like going back to the 1960’s and everything is VERY different from the rest of the country.

When we arrived we went straight away to rent a bike for the day. We made a deal with the bike renter and ended up with the cheapest bike of them all; 3 SGD (=18 SEK/1,80 €) And trust me, that bicycle seat was not worth a penny more than that…Today, one day after, my “not so curvy”-ass has never been flatter and I almost feel 2-dimensional.  

The sun was really strong and it was an amazingly warm day. My dear boyfriend almost fainted and to save his head from overheating (and also improve his looks to make my day more fun) he bought a straw-hat in one of the few shops on the island.

Me and my new friend, the “rice picker” could continue the journey and went on with our biking adventure. It was really nice to bike around in the rainforest and we saw some really great views, houses, a temple and the most disgusting spider I have ever seen.

After a couple of well spent hours we took the boat over to the mainland again and went for dinner in one of the many shopping malls. Now it is Monday and time for a new week of hard work..      

Yes indeed, Really high. As high as 71 floors actually.

We decided to cool off after my first (but rather tough) school week and another one of Nicos ambitious work weeks (btw, he has done great and received some great work offers. Im really proud! ). We decided to celebrate the weekend with a well-deserved drink in “New Asia”, a club/bar in Swissotel, a skyscraper hotel in the middle of the city.



 

To add some information; drinks and alcohol is not cheap or easy to get hold of here, so we haven’t been able to take a good glass of wine since we arrived. A glass of wine or a beer is 4 times more expensive than the food in a restaurant, and due to their religion, not many places offers alcohol on their menu at all.

Anyways, back to the main point.. 71 st floor. As you can imagine:

The bar was amazing. The view was amazing. The evening was great. The couple was happy and pleased. The couple will definitely come back there soon.    

Red banana

Outside; A small and thick little red banana 

Inside; Exactly like a normal banana, a bit more yellow

Taste; Like a banana, but a bit sweeter.  

Consistency; Like a banana, but a bit softer.

Nico’s judgment: 10/10 stars “Amazing!! The best banana I’ve ever eaten. And I guess more energizing as well, lovely”   

Eve’s judgment: 8/10 stars “Love it. Sweet and good. I’m a bit undecided what I think about the outside. Looks cool, but at the same time reminds me of a sausage”


(qualifies a bit to elinors wish; find a ugly fruit that is tasty, due to the similarity to a sausage. but my search continues.. will find a ugly but delicious fruit for you elinor)

Oh my god. I came to my first real lecture in SMU, which was Marketing Research. I can start by saying that Singaporean students are really focused and serious and the professor requires us all to have a name tag on our desk every lecture so that he/she can address you at any time. My name tag is a piece of paper, ripped out from my block notes…

This is not the way the Singaporeans do it. Everybody has printed a colorful, stylish name tag, which they have thoughtfully designed and covered in plastic. All of the sudden I found myself in a complete name- mess.

Names like “Xion Phiang Khlo”, “Yhling Mwjo Lee Jan” etc appeared everywhere and when they were called from the list the pronunciation of some names were amazing; Names like “my tree” “yahoo” “one” “theory” “sunny” and “waiting” was read out loud.  Often when names were called by the professor the response from students were similar to; Yes my name is Kiangh Loi Meh, but you can call me Melissa..(Adam, David etc)

What? How did you come up with that nick name?

My name appeared on the list, and oh my god. It took the teacher 10 times to try to say my name, or at least something similar to Evelina. How difficult can it be? Next time it is probably better to respond; Yes my name is Evelina, but you can call me thunder.

Anyways, starting the lecture we were straight away required to calculate probability, mean values and other statistics that I put way behind me. The panic in my head was incredible. When the time came to team up with somebody for the project I grabbed the first available student, hoping that faith would give me a good partner.

What happens 20 minutes into the lecture?? My new team member falls asleep? WHY? HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN TO ME? And she did not fall slightly asleep, but she was dropping the entire head on the desk over and over...Case of sleep sickness? The panic in my head was now enormous and the only thing I could think was; “how the hell will I get through this without Monika and Swedish coffee?”  

I have still no god answer and I am just hoping that my team member slept through the lecture because she thought it was toooo easy.

Monika, if you see this, grab some Gevalia coffee and come to Singapore and rescue me.

Yellow fresh date

Outside; yellow tiny and oval. Looking like a plum or an apricot without the “hair” 

Inside; Light yellow/ beige fruit meet, with a oval stone in the middle

Taste; Similar to persimon. Sweet. 

Consistency; Quite stiff, similar to a pear

Nico’s judgment: 2,5 /10 stars “Not much to say. Not good at all. It is like eating wood but good nutrition and energy. Good before workout” 

Eve’s judgment: 8/10 stars “Delicious, Tastes like a small persimmon. Little and cute. Nice and firm to eat   


        

Sunday morning. What could be more suitable than heading for some religious celebrations? After breakfast we decided to go to Chinatown for the first time. We took the train to Chinatown station and it actually felt like if we arrived to China. The streets were full of shops and markets who were selling all different kinds of “luck-bringing” objects and lots of weird dried fruits, food and insects.




    


We were really interested in visiting the different temples of the area, and started off with the indian Hindu temple, called Sri Mariamman Temple which is Singapore’s oldest. It was really beautiful and we were really lucky to enter the temple (barefoot!) while they had their Sunday ceremony. The Hindus played typical Indian music and sacrificed gifts (flowers, corn, rice& fruit) and lit candles and scents for Krishna at the table of sacrifices.     

 

 

   

After the Hindu ceremony we continued our religious journey to Buddha Tooth Relic Temple to please the little Buddha in us. Also this temple was amazingly beautiful with all the colors and gold sculptures, and as well in this temple we were lucky to attend the Sunday ceremony. It was completely different from the Hindu ceremony. Here, the monks all dressed in orange costumes were reading the Buddhist texts loud together while facing a big gold statue of Buddha. Also here people sacrificed fruit and flowers and lit candles while praying.

 

 

Feeling completely religious, pure and wise but also very hungry we decided to sit down for lunch. To be extra adventures we ordered frog for the first time in our life. This was the worst idea we have ever had. Not because of the frog, which was actually good meat and tasted like a mixture of chicken and white fish. But the frog was served in a pot with sooooo much pepper and spices that we were on fire. The sweat was running down our faces, backs and legs. At the end of the dinner it looked like we both took a swim and we could not stop laughing at the whole thing. We felt like two pale Europeans, trying to fit in, but ending up completely wet and crying because of the spices.

After the fire in our mouth cooled down we decided to go to the cinema. We saw “salt” with Angelina jolie which was actually a really nice movie. Great Sunday!

Dragonfruit!

   

Outside; pink & green, looking like a “dragon” or more like an art piece

Inside; White fruit meet with black seeds

Taste; Not much, like a kiwi that lost 50 % of its taste, neutral, not so sweet

Consistency; Again like a kiwi, or a mixture between a kiwi and a mango

Nico’s judgment: 5/10 stars “Doesn’t taste much, not disgusting. Not god, not bad.” 

Eve’s judgment: 6/10 stars “Score is based on the cool look. For the taste it gets minus. Why eating a fruit that doesn’t taste anything”?

Yesterday we finally visited the zoo we have been longing to see for ages; The Singapore night safari.

This is the world’s first night zoo where you both go by a little train and walk around among the animals (120 different species) in the middle of the darkness. The zoo is build up with very tiny fences, so it gives you the feeling of being surrounded by the animals. And in some cases you really are!! During the train safari you are actually facing the animals with no fences or anything, just like in the real safari. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we were not allowed to take any pictures with flash, since we had to respect the animals by being quiet and calm and try to melt in. (Therefore we have no good pictures to share)

It was completely amazing, and I recommend every one that ever goes to Singapore to go there. You are walking around in the “natural” environment for the animals, and you hear their sounds from all over the forest. The bats are flying over your head and suddenly you find yourself one meter away from an indian crocodile.

Except from the usual elephants, giraffes, lions, tigers, rhinos, leopards etc. there were some really cool animals for example the flying squirrels, hippos, black and white tapirs and the dotted huge hyenas.

Both Nico and I love these things and behaved as two silly kids. What a great Saturday night pleasure.

So, the first school day was finally here. Yesterday at 8,30 I was in my university for the first time to have my introduction day. And what an introduction. ..Information, information and some more information for a couple of hours. I met all 3 of the other jibs students for the first time and of course all of the other 420 exchange students from all over the world. After the heavy information we took a round trip in the university to find the way around.

I was astonished! The university is made up by plenty of different schools; school of economics, school of accountancy, business, law, etc. which are all connected on the basement floor. The university has its own underground station, several banks, coffee places, a gym, swimming pool, shops, dance studios, restaurants, dentists, and even nail and hair salons!!! Unbelievable. The university is a world of its own.

During the day we met a lot of other Swedish and foreign students, and were invited for a barbecue in one of the swedes condo. Me, the german and Swedish guys, Patrick and Marcus and Nico went out together to the little party.
Everybody was gathered around their pool area where we enjoyed a couple of beers and got to know each other. Later on we continued to another condo with the coolest pool area for a “middle- party” before taking the train in to downtown. We had a really good night, and we met a lot of new and nice people. It was a really funny gang and I’m sure we will have plenty of more fun evenings to come.

Heaven for every girl. Hell for all dads or fashion uninterested guys. You cannot imagine the supply of shopping malls here. Every street is full of shopping malls, and within every shopping mall there is a world of clothes, shoes, bags and other shops. Almost every shopping mall is at least 4 floors, with one floor dedicated to food and coffee places.

They have most of the brands we know about in Europe; Zara, mango, bershka, topshop/topman, Dorothy perkins, river island, new look, pull & bear etc. But no H&M??? Not that I am complaining, since they also have an abundant of other Japanese, chinese and Australian brands.

 


yesterdays bargains; 2 dresses for me and shirt,shorts and suspenders for nico.

 
One thing is for sure. You do never have to get bored. Shop til you drop!

Even though I have been cheering and praising the Asian food, I have really longed for a simple and fresh dish without garlic, onion and chili. The food here is delicious, and there is a variety to die for. Another positive thing is also that every place serving food is valued on a scale from A-D on the hygiene perspective. These are rules that are set up by the government to guarantee good hygiene and health.
But today I really felt the need of eating something that felt a bit lighter, and that I could still prepare in our kitchen. I went to the supermarket and was completely astonished by all the different fruit and vegetables. I felt like a child in a candy shop and ended up buying a lot of weird fruits and veggies.

My delicious lunch;
Salad made of tuna fish, red pepper, ginko nuts (some sort of bean) ,snake gourd (cucumber look-a-like from india) and sesame seeds. Delicious! As the cream on the cake I finished with a seedless guava fruit from Thailand, which was one of the tastiest fruit I have ever tried. Yummm!

I did it again. I got lost in Mustafa center. We started this lovely Tuesday with a morning session at the gym together, after which Nico went to work and I went home to eat breakfast and make myself ready for the day.

Since I don’t have a lot to do before school starts next week, I promised Nico to do some errands for him. He needed to buy food boxes and I was sure that I would find them in Mustafa since mr Mustafa supplies everything you can possibly need in life. But, on the third floor I accidently took the wrong turn and ended up in the “spice” area.
It might seem like an easy fix to get out from the spice area, but think again. This is no regular spice area with salt, pepper and maybe some chili. We are situated in “Little India” which means spice- heaven for the Indian population. Miles long corridors with cinnamon, curry, nutmeg, dill, mustard etc. The lack of cardamom in Italy has now been substituted in different forms. Green, red, black and grounded cardamom, all the cardamom you could possibly want. And as if all the spices were not confusing enough for me I was also pushed around by loads of Indian woman on curry hunt. I gave it a try to excuse myself to pass them and find the exit, put it was impossible. The English is very difficult to understand, and I think that my only Indian language skills “Berhati-hati di Ruang Platform” (meaning= “mind the platform gap”, which I learned in the underground train) would come in better hand than “Excuse me, can I pass”.

After a long while I was finally out in the fresh air and I promise every single one of you that I will not return to Mustafa before I have a map or an indian-english dictionary in my hand!

He – had his first working day. Completely astonished. Completely satisfied. Dream work, as it seems.

Me- had the worst stressful day including running sweaty in the underground, almost missing my appointment, a funny taxi ride with a taxi driver that used the signal horn to every single traficant and giggled about it and 3 hours complicated meeting at the immigration office.

Evening; found topshop/topman = heaven.. Finished with a nice dinner and a walk through the city hearing about a successful first day from a very pleased and excited man.  

We have had a minor problem facing the law against chewing gums, since both of us are quite addicted to chewing.
I have tried ever since we landed to find a substitute that can ease our everyday life..Läkerol, fisherman,tictac, you name it...




But today I thought I found the best solution; "Ken-Ken", prepared cuttlefish, "Chewing gum of the orientals"

Perfect!!
.... until I tried.. 

To make the entire cenario worse, I was standing on the street, completely horrified and unable to spit the shit out of my mouth.. Those kind of behaviours can get you killed here with all of their rules and regulations, so it was just for me to continue chewing and try not to make a scene.. 



Im warning you people.. Do NOT try this at home.. 
Ken-ken, $ 0,60 in any singaporean supermarket, do NOT buy..
the only similarity to chewing gums is the "not being able to swallow"- effect..
which is why Im giving this product 0 out of 10 stars.. 

Now im gonna stick to läkerol, mints and pills of all kinds!!



 


 

Not only are we not able to feed monkeys and pigeons, the other day we were trying to buy chewing gums we were told they are illegal in Singapore. Okey, we knew we could not spit them on the streets, but to even buy or sell chewing gums is considered a crime. Receiving email from my university where they literally warned us about eating too much because of the heat and to keep a healthy lifestyle.

Arriving to the viewing of a flat. Everything is really nice. Very tiny room, but clean, fresh and central and with a good rent. But one little catch; We cannot cook in the flat!!

What does the Singaporeans have against eating? Furthermore.. Why do they display delicious food everywhere? We have found soo much nice food, very spice, very greasy, very smelly.. and without chewing gums, a breath killer!!

Aside from the food we have now settled down in the flat. Couldn’t be happier to get out from the hostel. It is a pure nightmare to share a shower (with kind of no roof) with 50 other backpackers and youngsters.. So now we are happily living near to “Little India”, an area with a lot of indian people, restaurants, shops etc. The area is quite central and makes it possible for us to walk to work and school. Something that feels like a luxury when we compare to a lot of other students, living approximately 40 -50 minutes away with bus or train. Very close we have a great shopping mall with everything we could possibly need, and “Mustafa” (yes for real) a shopping center open 24/7 selling everything from heavy medication to hammers, electronics and Britney spears newest perfume.

The “no cooking” issue we have already made plans on how to manage. Earlier today we buckled up with every kind of canned food you can possibly eat. Tuna fish, beans, corn, peas, mackerel etc. I don’t think we will have much problems though, since food is everywhere (not kidding) and very very cheap. Food out in city cost around 3 $ (around 18 SEK/1,80 euros) and in a nice shopping mall it’s around 6 $.

We also actually made a deal with the owner to be able to boil eggs, pasta and other easy stuff. Otherwise we will only use the kitchen to “prepare” food like salads, nudels and other easy things. But there will be no advanced cooking for me for a long while ahead, which if you know me, is something I really like to do.. So dear friends, prepare for a lot of dinner invitations after Christmas.     

Otherwise this day has just been an easy day in the city center and all of the many shopping malls, some shopping and a stop for delicious frozen yoghurt with fresh fruit. Yummm. The night was spent in Clarke Quay with a walk by the wonderful riverside and a fantastic dinner including sushi, sashimi and some other contemporary Japanese delicacies. Tomorrow Nico is starting work so I will walk the streets of Singapore on my own and also have a meeting with the immigration center. Hope they are nice and dont send me out of the country.. Wish me luck!! 


 
Cheap meal





















 

We are now in Singapore after around 10 hours of flight. Rather okey journey except from minor disruptions from a little thaiman behind us, some screaming babies and people who felt the need of releasing more gas then is acceptable for travellers’ pleasure. 

But the biggest issue was definitely the little middle aged barefoot man behind us. Not funny at all to have somebody elses feet in your face, scratching your back and pushing your arm. There should be a law against barefoot travellers on airplanes. Or at least a requirement to take serious pedicure before departure. I mean, it’s serious. I could be scarred for life.. Literally!! The toe nails of that man could easily leave scares on my back for ever. 

Im the first to admit that my feet could potentially create an accident or emergency landing situation. Nobody, not even my very own family would have liked me to force my bare feet in their surroundings.     

Anyways, after we arrived in Singapore we took a taxi to our hostel which was situated in Little India. Dropped of our bags, went for a walk, passed both Nico’s work and my school (huge) ate in a typical Singaporean food stall and fixed our phone cards. First impression; HOT!! But as we know; “ We have to get used to it” and we did NOT feed he monkeys and pigeons! Today as our first full day we have been around all town, checking 3 different flats, eating delicious food. Now we are resting our feet and head, trying to come up with a plan for our living situation… Stay tuned…





Attention! Notice the feet in the background..

5.34 I opened my eyes to stay awake for the rest of the day. Is it normal? Absolutely not. Can it be the stress? Hell yes. Waking up feeling a bit nauseous, both hungry and full, both tired and sharp, but completely unable to sleep. The thoughts of being in Asia in a couple of days not knowing where to live, not what to study, and Nico not being sure of where to work is piling up to an inner stress mountain. But it will be fine, as soon as I can decide what to bring in the limited 20 kilos of luggage. But do you wear long trousers in Singapore? Still the question remains unanswered.

Wanted to thank all of my beautiful friends for the nice afterwork/farewell evening on Wednesday. Nice evening for us to say goodbye and for Nico to show off the premier of his first (and probably last) cinnamon bun baking-
talents. Great to collectively say cheerio, and Evelina, I really hope to see your “köks-ö” on Christmas day..