Sunday, November 14, 2010

Welcome to the 21st Century


Well, it's official, Andy and I have finally warped from the stone ages to the 21st century.  We've lived a whole month without any mobile services.  But now we've joined the rest of the world and gotten ourselves some smart phones....so that I can continue to fuel my facebook stalking habits.  If you know us, back in the states, Andy and I were living in the stone ages....without *gasp* texting.  Many a time, friends have asked us "Did you get my text?"  To which we explain that our phones are set up to block texts and that their attempts to contact us have been lost in a cyber black hole.  Now, we've joined the rest of the well-connected world and can start replacing phone calls to our friends with impersonal texts....except we're now half-way around the world and can't contact our friends.  At this point, Andy is the only person in my contact list....well, him and the McDelivery man (more on that later).

In Singapore, smart phone plans are much cheaper - only $12 more than a regular plan.  Plus, by signing up for 2 yrs, we got our phones for free! Having a smart phone was the logical choice so that I don't have to walk around carrying a map everywhere.  I've already misplaced three of them....good thing they're free at every hotel.

This weekend has been really busy.  We spent Saturday getting signed up for all our technology services....it took two hours to get it taken care of, but now we're finally connected to the rest of the world!  It's funny trying to sign up and register for things like bank accounts without a real phone number.  Afterwards, we went home, and rested up for a trip to the night safari.

Before we headed out to the night safari, we ordered some McDelivery.  Yup, that's right, McDonalds actually delivers here (and they have chili sauce packets, and curry sauce instead of bbq sauce)!  You place your order online...for which I gladly provided my new cell number (good thing I did b/c my delivery was early and the guy had to call me to let me know).


Yes, I did actually ask the guy to pose for this pic.  He just laughed at me.


After finishing up our wholesome dinner, we headed out  for the Night Safari.  It's like a night zoo, but they also offer a tram ride where you can get up close and personal with some of the animals.  When we got there, it was raining pretty hard so there was a huge line for the tram rides.  We decided to be brave and do the walking portions first.  I have to admit, I was a little bit scared at first because the trails were dark, wet, and there was no one on them.  They really made it seem like you were in the rain forest...and we got the full effect with the rain.   I felt like at any moment, some wild animal could jump out at me.  It also didn't help that at one point, we ran into a guide and he told us to watch out for falling trees since there was thunder and lightning...really reassuring.  But, after a little while, I got used to it and it was actually pretty cool.  After the trails, we went on the tram ride.  At one point on the ride, we rode by what looked like a couple of rocks....which then got up and started moving around because they were actually a couple of huge tapirs.  We drove by some deer and water buffalo that were right beside the open tram!  It was pretty neat.  Obviously, the lions, elephants, and hippos were sectioned off from the road so it was all safe.  

I tried to take some pics of the animals but failed miserably as my camera doesn't do well in low light and flash photography was prohibited.  But I did manage to get a couple shots of the fire show performers.




These guys were keeping the fire going by taking turns blowing booze into the flame.  It was crazy!

In the end, the only animal I got a good pic of was this one:


I waited in line with a whole bunch of parents with little kids to take this picture.... Behind us, an Indian man was inspired by me and tried to get his wife (who was wearing a sari) to climb up there, but she refused.   Then we watched a dad hoist an overweight teenager onto the zebra....poor thing.

By the end of the night, we were zonked, but we had such a great time.  Come visit, and I'll definitely take you there!  Well, it's been a productive weekend.  Our apartment is all ready for tomorrow's big delivery. Can't wait!  We'll be staying in the hotel till Wednesday while we unpack.  But, next time I post, I'll most likely be in my new place!

2 comments:

  1. you can probably get the skype mobile app on your phone then you can skype anyone in the world from your cell phone! that makes time differences easier!

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  2. oooo i will have to look into that...i'm feeling pretty technologically inept right now as i'm trying to figure out how to use this thing...haha

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