Let Freedom Ring!

It's the Fourth of July!  Happy 239th birthday, America, you don't look a day over 225!

After a rather rude comment by someone about "cooling it with the whole America thing," I was determined to make my 4th abroad great.  I decided to keep Friday low key (despite the many social invitations I had ;)) so that I could "hike" on Saturday.

The Southern Ridges is a large green area that connects various surrounding parks via a walk way.  I was originally going to do the entire length (9km), but stopped short.  Shooting off from the main walkway, are many loops and trails, so there's much more exploring to do here.  I follow what must equate to Singapore's tourist board on Instagram and they posted something about the Henderson Waves that really caught my eye and my Saturday day plans were born!

I woke up 7/4 to a crazy storm.  I couldn't see out my window and the rain was lashing against the building.  Basically, the apocalypse had arrived.

The "view" from my window. 

Checked the local radar map.  Singapore is so tiny it doesn't take much to really knock her out.  Notice in fine print in red up top that we were experiencing a "squall" - haha.  

Finally, the weather cleared, so I packed up and headed out.  I had to wait 4 whole minutes for a train!  Those things are slow on the weekend :) During the week, if I have to wait more than 2 minutes to get to or from work, people start to get reaaaallll bijigitty.  (Someone told me that if the signs ever say 6 minutes or more until the next train arrival, people whip out their camera phones, post on Instagram and demand refunds - ha!)

I stumbled upon this Singaporean running blog/website called justrunlah.com (more on "lah" in a post to come) that detailed how to get to and navigate what I wanted to do, which was perfect!  The train stopped right outside where I wanted to start.

 I was so sad to not see any monkeys :(

 Marang Trail.  Gorgeous!  And it smelled all damp and woodsy, almost like home :)

Looking back from where I came. 

 Up, up, up I went. 

 Old mansion that local artists live in. 

 All around Singapore you'll find Heritage Trees, which are very old trees that have been preserved even through the city's rapid expansion.  

Big tree!

I brought my DSLR on this jaunt and, boy, do I need a refresher from my BIL.  Thinking of looking into photography classes here - I think it would be a really fun hobby for me and useful with all the travel I'll be doing. 

 At the top, you reach Mt. Faber park. 

 HERE is where I needed my BIL.  Lighting, spot metering, whaaaa?!

 I love looking through this LUSH window to a METROPOLIS

 Homie was doing some kind of crazy Tai-Chi/ballet moves and he did NOT like my picture taking. 

 The Henderson Waves!

 Nature and industry coexisting.  And they said it couldn't be done!

 The waves create all these cool bench outcropping things.  I saw people resting, reading, snuggling, and even doing yoga. 

 Gotham.

Pano!  (wish it weren't so hazy.  stupid rain)

 Oh, how times have changed :)

 These little workout stations were all over the place.  Singapore, where you can eat a kebab out of a paper bag and never get fat.

 FYI - I simply took pictures of this shit.  Exercise?!  I'm in the middle of a 9k walk for god's sake and these 70 meters of elevation are really givin' me a fit.  Ooohh!  Kebab stand....

 After Henderson Waves, you come to Forest Walk...another long bridge suspended into the treetops. 

 Hi!  I've gotten into a really great beauty routine here.  It's called "I know no one, I give no fucks"

 And that wraps up the Nature Preserve for the day.  They light the bridges at night and the park stays open till midnight.  Can hardly wait to return with visitors!

 I told Brandon my plan was to get to the end and then just wander around until I found something good.  He tried to convince me that it could be good to research and find a place.  "Nay!" I told him.  "I'm an adventurer."  An adventurer with an iPhone who promptly whipped out her phone, found her way home, stumbled upon Chinatown and gorged herself on greasy food and the day's news.  And iced oolong tea!  For $5.  Woop!
(So, he was right.  He rarely is, so I'll give him credit here in teeny tiny writing.)

 Post nature-walk, we had a work BBQ for a teammate who is leaving us :(  It was still the Fourth, so I donned my red, white and blue, found Budweiser and made a night of it!  It's true, NO ONE outside of America cares about our Independence Day, but I'm glad I still celebrated it.  After all, home is where the heart is and the more I see of the world, the more glad I am to have been born with a US Passport (thanks, mom and dad!)

 Did I mention there were SPARKLERS?!?!?!  There are MANY years where even sparklers are outlawed in CO due to fire danger, so this was a real treat.  I lit like 17 and twirled around and was just HAPPY. 

 Then, my boss convinced me to go to Zouk with him.  It's like the best club in the world or something?  IDK.  I'm not used to being pals with my bosses, but I'm glad I am now because we had a blast.  At times,  I was the only one on the dance floor, twirling around like a fool, because I know no one, I give zero fucks (see above). 

July 5 brought with it a raging hangover, so I spent the afternoon at the "cinema" (as my British peoples call it) seeing Ted 2 and then we absolutely GORGED ourselves on Din Tai Fung.  Seriously, the waitstaff was appalled.  CANNOT wait to take visitors here.  So good!  Ted 2 was good, outlandish, but funny.  I was worried about censorship here, but if they censored that thing, I don't want to see the real version.  Yay for movies in Singapore! 

(If 36 pictures in one blog post is wrong, I don't want to be right.)