Off to the races!!!

Hong Kong has a very famous jockey club - the Hong Kong Jockey Club (haha!). There are horse races pretty much every Wednesday and Sunday, so this Sunday we decided to take a trip up to Sha Tin race course and check it out!


We got there a little late and couldn't stay too long, but did manage to get bets in for two races. I'll tell you, the part where you have to get your bet in before the race starts was the most stressful! And of course, we got there not knowing anything about the horses while there were hard core race enthusiasts with their newspapers out and doing the odds. Some folks would bet over HK$1000!!! My maximum bet - HK$10 (about $1.25 US). I had no idea what I was doing! Except I do know that one of the horses I picked came in dead last! Hahahahaha! Maybe this isn't for me...


We were all losers, unfortunately, but it was a really cool experience and fun to watch the horses come stomping around the turn (they race clockwise here, instead of counterclockwise like in the US). And the grounds were so pretty!!!

Hiking in the Highlands

Today Emma, Sean, their two dogs and I went on a hike in the mountains behind their house - the Sheung Young trail in High Junk Peak. It was pretty cool - a mix of terrain, from woodlands to open highlands to jungle! And the views were amazing!!! The wind in the open spots, however, was furious!






On the way we saw two cute little stray puppies - I wanted to take them home!

PICTURES are UP!

For Muay Thai, KL and the overnight train, and my Indonesia disaster!

Singapore!

Despite my Indonesia annoyance, I really enjoyed my few days in Singapore. It's a really cool city, also with a lot of different influences. I was staying right by Little India, so had some excellent Indian food the other day!! I also walked around the markets, Arab Street, the Colonial Area, Clarke Quay, the marina, the Singapore Cricket Club grounds, and St. Andrews Cathedral.



There's a lot of open space, cute sections of the city with cafes and restaurants, a river winding it's way through the town to the marina, excellent public transportation, and it's also very clean! It's probably the most diverse place I have visited so far, but pretty much everybody speaks English and the people are really helpful.



Singapore is only 136km north of the equator so it's quite tropical, which means humidity and heat pretty much all the time. And with January being one of the most rainy months, I sure did get caught in some frequent thunderstorm/torrential downpours while I was there!!


But the thing I liked the most was the Singapore Zoo! It's worth a trip to Singapore if all you see is the zoo. They've done a really nice job with it - kept a lot of natural jungle vegetation and have a wide range of wildlife with lots of feedings you can watch (I caught the white tiger feeding!) and performances (the Asian elephants were spraying water on the audience!). They also have Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream!!!!! :)

Colossal disaster

This morning I was planning on going to a small Indonesian island about an hour from Singapore to hike a mountain. I didn't plan well. I arrived at the ferry terminal just a tad too late for the 930 ferry so had to take the 1050 one. On the way, I realized my sunglasses broke. Wouldn't be a big deal if I hadnt made a special effort to get these sunglasses.

Anyway I get on the ferry and all's well. Until I get to Indonesia. I had read you can get a visa on arrival there, but nowhere did it say it cost $25. I had some cash but not enough and of course they don't take credit cards. So a guard had to escort me out of immigration to the ATM. He told me 150000 rupias was $25 so I got 200000 and went back to the visa desk. Here I find that it is 250000; so I basically thre the remaining Singapore dollars I had and told the lady that's all I got. She gave me the visa and rolled her eyes, but I think I actually overpaid. Whatever.

At this point I figured I'd better go ahead and organize my return trip. I'm told I need to pay $7 departure fee. And again they don't take credit cards so I had to scrounge up what random money I had (including Malaysian ringgits!) to get some rupia to pay to leave!! Ok done.

Next I realize that we didn't land in the port I thought we did and it was going to take a long taxi ride and money I didn't have to get where I wanted to go. I asked information what was to see within walking distance and he pointed to the mall. Which is where I am now, eating some vegetarian meal listening to the terrible and loud cover band playing Killing Me Softly (more like Loudly), waiting to leave this island and annoyed that I wasted a whole passport page on an Indonesia visa!! I'm not quite at the point where I can laugh about this yet.

KL and the overnight train

I wanted to get at least a taste of Malaysia so I planned an afternoon/evening in Kuala Lumpur. I loved it! It has a really neat history - a mix of English and Dutch colonialism, Arabic influence, Indian, Chinese, and Malay. It's reflected in the architecture, churches, and people.



KL also has an amazing park system with lakes and deer enclosures and orchid gardens and butterflies. Lots of museums too. I wish I had more time there! But alas I had to catch my sleeper train to Singapore.



When I got on this train I was too excited to sleep! I loved my little compartment with my window and curtains and reading light! But I finally settled down and got a pretty decent night's sleep before having to go through immigration at 6am. Finally arrived in Singapore around 830.

Muay Thai in Thailand

Today began with a 5k run then straight to the muay thai gym for training. Bob goes to Jaruad Muay Thai so I went there for a lesson as well. The morning was all about learning - proper stance, hand position, jabs and punches, blocks, kicks, elbows. I hit against a Thai trainer holding pads. We finish up with some ab work and stretching.



After the morning session, we thought it would be fun to take a swim. So we swam against the tide around the rocks to a different beach and it took so long that on the way back we were also swimming against the tide!!

Afternion rolled around and it was time for training again. This time I did a VIP (personal) session with Pee, the owner. By the end, I couldn't lift my arms!! I was exhausted but I'm totally hooked. I didn't want to leave and I miss training already!!

UNFORTUNATELY VIDEO WAS TOO LARGE TO LOAD.