Singapore: Day 44

Today was our day trip to Johong Bahru with the AIC. We took the MRT down to the Botanic Gardens to meet with the coordinators and the other students attending the trip at 8 AM. We did not eat breakfast beforehand, so we stopped by Gastronomia de Paolo for food. I bought a plain bread and a cranberry orange scone. The scone was particularly delicious because I had not had Western pastries in a while.

Gastronomia de Paolo

Afterwards, we boarded a chartered bus. It took us a while to go through the Singapore-Malaysia customs, but a few hours later, we finally arrived in Malaysia! We first stopped to exchange our Singaporean currency to a Malaysian one. We were told that JB was dangerous and to be careful; the city was definitely a stark contrast from the modern, safe Singapore.

The streets of Johong Bahru

Next, we stopped by a chocolate store. I purchased durian candies, durian chocolate, tomato flavored chocolate, and black sesame dark chocolate as souvenirs to bring back to the U.S.

Afterwards, we visited a fruit farm. It was definitely interesting, though a bit of a random stop.

 

Dragonfruit

Mangosteens, my favorite tropical fruit so far!

Delicious juices: mango, passion fruit, apple, etc.

After seeing the plants, we had a chance to see and interact with the animals on the farm.

Laney, the animal whisperer

Our next random stop was an ostrich farm...

Up close and personal

 After seeing the ostriches, we were brought to a restaurant that served ostrich. Definitely a most twisted experience. I ordered the ostrich curry-- it was tasted like any other curry, though the meat was tougher than usual.

The ostrich menu

Ostrich curry with a side of rice

 We played with the ostriches after our lunch. It was definitely a strange experience.

The fear is strong

 Soon after our stop at the ostrich farm, we were off for dinner. The AIC already reserved a Chinese restaurant for us. Here are pictures of a few of our dishes! The food was an interesting but delicious blend of the traditional Chinese food I was accustomed to and other tastes (I assume Malaysian.)

After dinner, we made our trip back home to Singapore. The customs, once again, were tedious, but we were finally back in PGPR after a long day. It was an interesting day, and I'm extremely excited about my "loot"!

My haul from the fruit farm! Super excited