Singapore, Fremantle, and the creepy guy on the beach

I apologize, once again, for not writing for the past week or so. Actually now that I think of it it has most likely been longer than a week already. Anyhow, I'm sorry for taking so long to write again.

Today is my mom's birthday, and at this exact moment she is downstairs having a massage. Actually, I'm wishing that she would hurry and get up here, because the hotel has just presented me with a complimentary piece of birthday cake. Of course, it's not for me, but because there is no one else here with me I am severely tempted to eat it myself. This morning my dad had a nearly identical piece delivered, that one not so complimentary, but it appears that they've forgotten that. Not that I think it's a bad arrangement. The more cake the better! So, we are now in Singapore, Southeast Asia. For me at least this is the most exotic place we've ever been. Some might disagree and present Australia as exotic, which I agree with, but when you put it up next to Asia there is no comparison. I mean, Australians speak English and eat meat pies. That is not exactly unusual. Although I have to admit there is an awful lot of English being spoken here. I knew that it was prevalent, but I had never known to expect the level of fluency that we're experiencing. Every single sign is in English, often not even containing other characters. A little shocking when I was expecting culture shock instead. So Singapore has been remarkably hospitable to us ignorant Americans. Yesterday we visited Raffles Hotel after much sweaty wanderings, and all sampled the once-famed Singapore Sling. I only got a small taste of the real version, obviously, but I preferred it by far to the overly sweet virgin. Stephanie liked it, if that provides reference to all of you that are hesitant to trust a fifteen-year-old's opinion on alcohol. So anyway, we weren't able to enter the actual hotel, as my dad's attire was 'unsuitable'. He would have been required to wear, at least, long pants, and if to fully satisfy the requirements, a suit jacket. He was resistant to buying a brand new pair of pants solely to be able to go into a hotel that he wasn't even that interested in in the first place. So we moved on. All of this grand adventure occurred before 1:00. From there we found a cab and rode the forty minute drive to the Singapore Zoo, one of the top zoos in the world and most definitely the best in the Southeast Asia. There were too many animals for me to tell about all of them, but our favorites were mostly among the primates. Also, there was a wonderful elephant show demonstrating their strength and the relationship with their mahouts. The defining aspect of the place was the fact that nowhere were there any fences. Every single animal was kept in solely by a moat, and sometimes even less. The orangutans were free to wander inn the trees above, with spikes preventing them from coming down and access removed from some trees to stop them getting away that way. this was true with many of the primates. All was pretty much amazing.

After the main zoo we visited the Night Safari park, which opens only after 7:00 at night and showcases the animals when they are most active, lit in a dim half-light perfect for allowing us to see them while they still can keep calm. Outside of this park there is a particular little massage and foot exfoliating shop, open to all viewers. Their method of salesmanship is to showcase their own clients as they (we) partake in the foot cleansing. The method, however, was rather unorthodox. Nibble Fish. Once these things start on your feet it's impossible to keep a straight face, first because of the fact that you have fish chewing in between your toes, second because no matter how anti-ticklish you are, you can't stop laughing from the feeling. All of the hilarity of course draws in more people, and the cycle continues. If ever you have a chance to experience the nibble fish, do not, I repeat, do not pass it up.

So far I've only told you of Singapore, but the week previous in which I haven't been writing we were in Fremantle, South of Perth, in Western Australia. Fremantle is a beautiful little colonial town, kept alive primarily by college students, large company commercial fishing, and the ever present tourist. It is home to what used to be the most brutal prison in Australia, possibly the eastern hemisphere. My dad and I took a torchlight ghost tour designed to scare tourists out of ever committing a crime. It worked on me. I never like to admit being scared by silly ghost stories, but this place was plain spooky. Gallows, flogging post, chapel (complete with a suspicious acting job showing the only woman ever to hang at Fremantle Prison, Martha Rendel) and cells galore. Even in daylight it would have been too macabre for the typical explorer, but at night in the dark it had me with my first nightmare in years. Although this could have been added to by the fact that I had been reading the grisly account of H.H. Holmes' serial antics during the Chicago World Fair in The Devil in the White City, as well as watching The Changeling and its child killer. Overall I was not having very happy thoughts when it came time to go to sleep and turn off the lights. Anyway, despite its darker aspects, the town was a very pleasant place. On the weekends it hosts an old style market with over one hundred shops and food stalls, with buskers galore. Also, nearby is the suburb (or town?) of Cottlesloe, which has a wonderful beach. At the time of our visit it was flush with sculptures, part of a traveling exhibit to all of the area's major beaches. It was in Cottlesloe that we had our one and only run in with the law, although I suppose we weren't actually the ones committing the crime. We had been sitting on the beach enjoying the sun for at least an hour and a half when a man came up and sat up behind us, against a wall. I didn't even notice him, but my mom did, if only because he was dressed strangely. Another hour passed and we paid him no attention. The parents first, then just my dad and I went out to swim, and while we were gone Stephanie went over to my things to get a drink of water. While she was there she looked over and discovered what the man had really been doing all of that time. Basically, you don't want to know what he was up to, especially because it was such a public setting. Hopefully you get my drift.

So my mom, shocked, goes back over to her bench and decides to try and flush him out by embarrassing him. She stares at him for at least a few minutes and when he finally looks up he does manage to look abashed, but he still doesn't stop. Apparently she was just about to go tell the lifeguard to do something about it, when a man vaults over the wall and tackles the perp. This is about when my dad and I show up, and of course I was very confused. I immediately thought he must have been trying to steal our stuff. The rest just sort of played itself out. There were a few threats of thumb breaking by the off duty cop that had jumped the guy, and he resisted quite a bit, but in the end they got him in to the car without issue. Now, I've already spent too much time describing the event, so if you have any more questions please consult Steph.

Tomorrow we fly to Hong Kong, where we have about the same amount of time as we've had here in Singapore before we board the 14-hour plane ride to Rome, and Sonja.