Jonathan and I have been talking about visiting our friends, Jen & Oliver, in Singapore for years, but we’ve always had a baby or been pregnant. Now those days are (permanently) behind us and we decided it was time to go. Avery and their son, Bjorn, are very close — almost like cousins — so we thought it would be great to bring him along for the cultural experience of his young life. The trip was amazing, and my only regret is that we waited so long to travel off our continent.

A few of my takeaways from our trip to Singapore: The city is SO clean. And safe. And hot!. And humid. You have to shower a lot! But I was struck by how the country is so vertical — skyscrapers everywhere. Yet it is in the midst of a jungle. It doesn’t look clearcut. There are trees and wildlife everywhere. They managed to build so much in such a short period of time, all while (sort of) respecting nature and our habitat. The streets are so clean you can literally lay down in the city. See my later post — we actually did. It is SO clean and beautiful. Since the country is an island, they take climate change seriously, and they are way ahead of the U.S. in tackling the issue. Their survival depends on it. It is a melting pot of races and religions, and all are respected and have their place.

We arrived in Singapore in the afternoon. Jen and Oliver told us the best way to beat the jet lag was to stay up, so they kept us up. This turned out to be great advice, and we acclimated pretty quickly.We succeeded in staying up and had some great Indian food for dinner, then hung out at a fellow teacher’s place that evening while taking in great views of the city.

The following days we did a tour of the various International Districts. We saw Little India, Arab Street, and Chinatown before checking out the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. We also swam at the pool and went on nature walks in search of wildlife.