Singapore is a happening place

We are very lucky to be in such a great city/country with so much happening all the time. There is so much to do and see that we could never get to all of it. Here are some of the random experiences, told from both perspectives, that we’ve enjoyed over the past month.

Lionel Richie in Concert

For those of you who know my love for Lionel Richie you can only imagine the excitement when we heard Lionel Richie was coming to Singapore Indoor Stadium. Raegen, though not as excited but ever so supportive boyfriend, agreed to attend the concert. (At that point we had no friends therefore he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.) The day of the concert came and it rained so hard that we had to wade through puddles to get to the venue but it turned out to be well worth it. The venue was small so the concert was with 4,000 of our expat & Singaporean friends. The funny part is that it’s not in the Asian culture to stand up, sing and dance at a concert (or anywhere for that matter). Since this wasn’t Lionel’s first rodeo, he kept encouraging everyone to get up and dance, clap their hands…you know the drill. By the end even Raegen said he had a good time. Now if I could just talk him into going to Taylor Swift with me. (Where's Guadi when I need her?)

Asia Dive Expo

We are lucky to live right next to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino. They are always hosting cool events and conferences. I have been into scuba diving since I was a teenager and it just so happened the 2014 Asia Dive Expo was happening next door at the Marina Bay Sands.  We decided to go and see what it was all about. Most of the vendors were from all over Asia and they were showcasing their dive boats, dive resorts or gear.  We walked down a random aisle and all of the sudden I saw a lady that looked a lot like Debbie who I dove with in Fremantle, Australia about 12 years ago.  I walked up to the booth and asked if her name was Debbie with Dolphin Dive Fremantle. She said yes and instantly recognized me as the guy who spent more time diving on their boat then in class (I did 60 dives in 6 months :)).  When I last dove with them they had a single small boat and shop and now they now have multiple shops in Fremantle and Exmouth with 5 boats.  It was great to see them and talk about old times and plan a trip to swim with whale sharks in Exmouth. 

DBS Corporate Dragon Boat Race

I've heard a lot of about the dragon boat races, but I have never actually seen one in person.  Since I spent too much time in a crew boat during college I always love to see any race on water and this event was no exception. Since the race was on the water right in front of our house we decided to go check it out. All of the dragon boats look like old wooden long boats, but were actually lightweight fiberglass.  As opposed to the crew team,  these teams did not bring their own boats, only a paddle and a life jacket.  The boats can have a crew of  between 10 and 50 people, one of which is the “drummer” to set the cadence and the other the “sweep,” who steers the boat and obviously the “paddlers” who do all the work.  A typical race is about 500 meters so Marina Bay is the perfect place to catch the whole race.  Beyond the actual race, the people watching was way more fun for us. We were watching all of the different warm up routines from the countries represented around the world… We saw a team shadow boxing, doing tai-chi, and even something that reminded me of the New Zealand All Blacks (Rugby Team) tribal warm up dance. It was a hot day but something cool to go check out right in our neighborhood. 

2Cellos Concert

In the words of Papa S, when asked if he wants to see any Arts and Culture related event the tempered response is “I would rather go to a goat ropin.”  This apple did not fall far from that tree, until I saw a Youtube video of 2Cellos.  I heard about this concert from a local promoter who tends to bring in cool acts.  Since I had never heard of them he just told me to Google 2Cellos' rendition of AC/DC's Thunderstruck, and it was love at first view. (Watch it- it'll change your life.) The concert was at the Star Theatre, a venue we had not yet been to, but was awesome.  2Cellos was actually much more famous then we realized since they spent almost 2 years opening for Elton John.  We knew almost every song that they covered and were suprsied how 2 guys with electric cellos could mimic a rock song that had so many different instruments as part of the song.  While I still prefer rodeos this was so cool that when we got home that night we downloaded their two albums from the iTunes store.

Until then and happy trails,

Amy & Raegen