First trip to Malaysia

Jimmy and I decided to take a bus to Malaysia this weekend.  It takes a little over an hour to take the bus and it only costs a few dollars so we figured we'd check it out.  To get to Malaysia we just had to cross a short bridge over the Straits of Johor.  Once across the bridge, we were in Johor Bahru.  There isn't really a lot to do there but they did have a mall right when we got out of immigration that we walked around.  I saw a dessert place that looked good so we stopped there.  After I ordered and went to get a seat I realized the seats were toilet bowls.  As we looked around we noticed people's food was served in toilet bowl shaped bowls!  Then we realized we were at a place called T-Bowl - A toilet bowl themed restaurant!  That was definitely not something I ever would have thought of.  After eating on our toilet seats, we walked around outside for a little bit too.  They had this really pretty garden/park that we wanted to walk around but as we got closer there were signs warning that you would be shot if you entered so that was a no go! We were able to see Singapore from where we were so we got a few pictures.  There is an outlet mall in Johor Bahru but we didn't go there - that's something I can do with my mom when she visits.  They also have a Legoland and a few other amusement parks more targeted at kids.  I doubt we'll head back to Johor Bahru unless its for the outlet mall but we're definitely going to visit some other cities in Malaysia.

Secretariat Building

Views of Singapore from Malaysia

2 weeks in!

I've been here 2 weeks and we've gotten a lot done.  We brought Candy and Ozzy home from quarantine on Saturday and they are both doing great!  Candy sits in front of the fan for awhile when we get back from our walks because its so hot here.  Ozzy spends most of his time sleeping as usual.

It's starting to feel like home especially with them being here.  Everything is unpacked but we still have a few things to put away.  When we aren't running errands, we've been relaxing at home since the past few months have been crazy.  We did go out for drinks one night - below is a picture of us at 2am dessert bar which was really good.  There are tons of great dessert places around here - temptation is everywhere!

We worked out all of our wedding details over the past week as well.  We'll get married at the Registry of Marriage in Singapore (like a court house wedding) on November 1st and then we'll leave for our honeymoon in the Maldives on November 2.  We'll do a beach wedding ceremony while there on November 4th.  The hotel offers a wedding package so there's really nothing else we have to do but show up.  We're going to be staying in one of those huts over the water which I'm really excited about!

The first few days...

After getting Ozzy checked in at the quarantine station, I spent Wednesday and Thursday unpacking.  All of the boxes in the picture below that are still assembled are full of packing paper - they wrapped up everything with a ton of paper!  We probably would have had about 1/2 the boxes if it hadn't been for all of the wrapping.  They obviously know what they are doing though since none of our stuff was damaged. 

Some of the things that we marked as storage vs shipping got mixed up but nothing major.  The only thing Jimmy was upset about was that his PlayStation3 went to storage - but now its an excuse for him to get PS4 when it comes out in a few months : )  Everything is unpacked now but we're still cleaning and organizing.  The moving company is coming back today to get all of these boxes out of here which will be really nice to get some more space.  We had to buy new electronics here since the voltage is different.  Jimmy already had TVs delivered but we had to get some kitchen items, vacuum, hair dryer etc so now we're all set.  We had our cable and internet set up on Friday so I finally felt a little more connected.  The TV stations here aren't bad but I've heard the TV shows are a few seasons behind.  We have a sling box set up to a cable box at my parents house which will allow us to watch US TV which will be nice to watch the latest seasons and all the sports we won't get here.  

We also went to the quarantine station to visit Candy and Ozzy and they are doing well.  They each have their own room.  When we visit we can take Candy outside in a gated green area (below).   We'll be excited to bring them home on Saturday.

To give you an idea of where we are living, below is a map of Singapore and the different MRT lines.  If you look at the yellow line, we are less than a 10 minute walk to the Holland Village MRT station.  This map is a little outdated but it gives you the general idea.

Near the Holland Village MRT station, there are a lot of shops, restaurants, banks, groceries etc so its really convenient for us.  There is a hawker center in Holland Village also, so I can go up there for lunch and eat for under $5 and get pretty good food which is nice.  

So far everything is going really well.  I've been able to text and facetime with my parents with no problem which has been great.  Once we're settled in more I'm sure we'll explore the city more and I'll be sure to put up lots of pictures!

We're all in Singapore!

We all made it to Singapore safe and sound!  On Monday morning, Candy was picked up around 6:30 am and driven to Chicago.

They walked her and fed her and she got on a flight to Amsterdam where she had a long layover and was walked and fed again.  From there she flew to Singapore and got in around 3:20pm on Wednesday afternoon.  Ozzy and I left for the airport on Monday morning around 7:30am.  He just went as a carry on with me.  I was worried about how we would do going through security since I had to take him out of his carrier but he was fine.  We flew to Chicago first and then had the long 16 hour flight to Hong Kong.  Fortunately the seat next to us was open so we had a little more room.  He was good for the first 8 hours but then he cried most of the time - I didn't hear most of it since my friend got me some awesome head phones so I wouldn't hear him.  With about 3 hours to go on the flight I noticed a pretty bad smell - yep Ozzy had finally gone to the bathroom.  Fortunately, I had bought some padding for his carrier so I was just able to take him back to the bathroom and change it out so it wasn't too bad.  When we landed in Hong Kong we were going to get back on the same plane for the flight to Singapore but we still had to get off and go through security to get back to the departure gate.  When I got to security, they kept asking for different paperwork which I had and they had me sit there for awhile while they went and got a United airline representative.  The rep informed me that its illegal to bring animals through Hong Kong as a carry on.  I had purchased a ticket for Ozzy for the entire flight so I asked why they would let me do that if it wasn't legal.  The flight shows up in their system as direct from Chicago to Singapore so it didn't flag it when I was on the phone booking it originally.  He told me I had 2 options.  One was to sit at their airline counter with Ozzy until departure and they would take him straight to the gate and I would meet him there after going through security again - even though this wasn't technically legal they would make an exception since I was already in transit.  The second option was to stay at the airport for a few days until I could get some type of license and figure out how to ship him as cargo.  This was obviously a no brainer.  They brought him to the gate and they escorted me through all the other security checks they do at the gate and gave him back to me when I was getting on the plane.  The flight wasn't very full so they put me in a row by myself so we wouldn't be by other passengers which was awesome.  The flight from Hong Kong to Singapore is less than 4 hours.  When we got to Singapore I gave Ozzy to a lost and found counter where they let me take him out and feed him before they put him back in his carrier for the night.  We got in around midnight and he wouldn't be transported to the first quarantine station until 8am when they opened.  Jimmy met me at the airport and I went back to our place and got a few hours sleep.  When I woke up I had to go back to the airport quarantine station to get Ozzy checked in.  I had to take the MRT (mass rapid transit) and then a bus to get out there.  While on the bus, I was about to get into the cargo area of the airport where the quarantine was located when a police officer came on and asked me if I had a pass.  I had no idea what he was talking about.  He told me I had to get off the bus and get a pass.  I got off and had to fill in some paperwork and surrender my passport to get a pass to get to the quarantine station.  Once I had the pass I was allowed to catch the next bus.  At the quarantine station I just had to give them some more paperwork and everything went smoothly.  I was able to see Ozzy which was nice.  

A few hours later he was transported to the main quarantine station where he and Candy will stay for 10 days.  Since Candy didn't arrive until Wednesday afternoon, she was transported to the main quarantine station on Thursday morning.  Since we had a service transport Candy to Singapore they took care of checking her in at the airport quarantine station so I didn't have to go back out there again.  It was a long trip over but we all arrived safely so now our adventure can begin!