Boat Quay and Orchard Road

Happy Monday! I decided today would be the perfect opportunity to post to provide all of our snowed-in family and friends with some pictures and an update. Don't worry, I won't mention what the weather is like on this side of the world... :) Over the weekend we went out and explored two pretty awesome areas of downtown - Boat Quay (pronounced "key") and Orchard Road. Boat Quay is a quaint little district of shops and restaurants situated along the Singapore River. While most of downtown consists of shiny new skyscrapers this area has a more historic feel that we really like.
And then there is Orchard Road... How can I describe it? Chicago's Magnificent Mile... on steroids. One enormous shopping mall after another line both sides of the street. These are not your average mall either (unless maybe you live in Beverly Hills). Every high-end designer under the sun has at least one shop on Orchard. A side note: Orchard Road got its name because the area used to be a nutmeg orchard. Big, beautiful trees still run the length of the street.
In an interesting turn of events, one of my favorite stores CB2 (sister store to Crate&Barrel) was having its grand opening on Orchard Road. We decided to check it out, and boy was it worth it! Free food, free drinks, and we got to watch a traditional Chinese dragon dance to welcome CB2 and the CEO of Crate&Barrel (yeah, he was there!) to Singapore.
On Friday we will be off on an adventure to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. More pictures and stories to come. Until then, Zàijiàn!

Good Morning From Singapore!

We are relaxing poolside at the condo on our first Saturday in Singapore!  The last few days have been a whirlwind as we try to absorb our new environment - so much to see and learn!  So far we have been introduced to the "hypermarket" (Singapore's version of Wal-Mart) where we filled our "trolley" (cart) with anything we could find with a familiar label... and tried not to die of sticker shock ($25 Singapore Dollars for Maybelline mascara?).  Yesterday we made our first attempt at navigating the public transportation system and had our first meal in one of the many Hawker Centers (basically a giant food court), which we have been told will become a daily affair as Singaporeans eat most meals here.  We also headed downtown to scope the route to Lial's new office.  Tonight will be spent having dinner and drinks on the waterfront with some of Lial's new co-workers - we are certainly thankful to have others around to show us the ropes.

It is still difficult to comprehend that we will be calling this place "home" for the next year and a half, but we are excited for every minute of it and we look forward to sharing all of our experiences with you!