DAY 1 : Santosa Island, Singapore

After a leisurely breakfast this morning, we began the day by exploring the neighborhood around our hotel including the popular Bugis Street Market. Those who were more adventurous enjoyed a lunch of noodles, spring rolls, soup or other similar local fare. Already we are impressed with the "I'll try anything" attitude of this group! Our afternoon was spent on Sentosa Island, which we arrived to via a gondola from the mainland. A highlight was certainly the S.E.A. Aquarium - the largest in the world with over 100,000 different species. A monorail then brought us to the beaches of Sentosa where we enjoyed a dip with the barges in the South China Sea, complete with a floating contest (see pictures). After seeing every one of us in the water, our tour guide, William, quickly deemed us "quite an adventurous group". We told him it's a Colorado thing.

Students continue to be in great spirits; we even heard a few exclaim that this was already the best day ever! Tomorrow morning we will be taking a city tour and checking out Chinatown, along with a few other cultural neighborhoods.

A few things we learned about Singapore today:

·      It's Singapore's 50th birthday on August 9th, which also happens to be Mr. Brookhart's birthday (not his 50th).

·      Singapore is made up of 60+ islands; Sentosa is the 4th largest.

·      80% of residences in Singapore are government housing, but you must be married and over the age of 30 to purchase property. Even so, small apartments cost over a million dollars in many cases.

·      30% of all income goes to this housing, medical expenses, and retirement - even if you opt out on the government housing.

·      Although property costs are astronomical, dinner can easily be purchased for less than $3.00 per person.

·      Durian fruit smells like feet.