Explorations

Hello again to you all back home!

We have been so busy the past couple days, we have not had a moment to sit down and update you as to everything we have been up to! The first thing you need to know is that although Singapore has managed to fit 6 million people into 710 sq. km, they have managed to build up and conserve a fair amount of green space in the tropical city-state. 白沙公园 (Pasir Ris) is only one of them, and the first one we have had the opportunity to visit. The park itself is huge, covering just over 70 hectares off the north-east coast with a beach, walking areas and a huge mangrove. We saw some incredible wildlife in the mangroves, including a lizard with the longest tail I have ever seen! We also saw some beautiful butterflies, and the holes left behind from the - very shy- Mud Lobsters and heard the song of the Cicadas (which, according to Jon, sounded like a very piercing alarm we just couldn't get away from).

The beach was alright, but dirty. The park is actually directly across from Malaysia, so a lot of the garbage from next door floats across the water to find a home on Pasir Ris beach. It was a little bit disappointing for us, who had wild dreams of a tropical beach-like paradise and were somewhat deflated to find a small, messy patch of sand. It was neat, though, to see the fish farms off in the distance. So, our search for the perfect Singaporean beach continues.

Dee and Dale, the couple we are staying with while we are living here in Singapore, have been absolutely wonderful. Dee took a couple of days to play tour guide for us, so that we could ease into using the extensive MRT and bus system here. They are also part of a Harley Davidson group (which is very big in Singapore) and through it have all sorts of great opportunities, which have already benefited us from time to time. For example the Harley group - being a bunch of huge, white, tattooed bikers - work security for various events around town (and all the money they make doing these gigs is donated to various charities). Last evening Slash came to town with Coheed and Cambria (one of Jon's favorites) and Dale was working security. One of the benefits of doing this job was that he got two free tickets to the show. And guess who the lucky recipients were?

(It was us). And the show was, how shall we put it? Legen...wait for it...dary! The first band, Twenty Two Hundred was decent. They were fairly stadium rock-esque, but did their job and got the crowd on its feet. Coheed and Cambria was AMAZING. The energy that these guys had on stage was just flooring, and it really got everyone riled up and ready to go. I would 100% recommend if you ever have a chance to go see them, do. By the time Slash finally took the stage, the crowd was in a complete frenzy. He has recently released a new solo album, and is currently touring with Myles Kennedy, who did some work on the album with him. It was a great time with new songs, and old favorites (I am sure that Slash probably hates Paradise City and Sweet Child O' Mine after playing them for 20 some odd years). I will freely admit I don't know anything about guitaring (Jon says this proves my point) but I do know this - the man has incredible dexterity. They had huge video screens set up for those situated at the back of the seating area, and there were points that his hands were moving so quickly across the frets it was blurring on the screens. And these were some high quality video screens and cameras. I was prepared to be amazed, and amazed I was.

On that note, I hope all is well in our own little Paradise City (I am so punny!) and I am really enjoying all the little notes and comments we have been receiving from back home. It is really helping to fight the home sickness!

Much love,
Kaela and Jon