before the beginning has even begun: en route

it takes thirty-two hours to get to bangalore from san francisco.

no, scratch that. that isn't true. it takes ME thirty-two hours. with transfers and layovers, i left SFO late monday night (PST) and will arrive in bangalore sometime wednesday morning (PST). of course, it will be late night wednesday in bangalore.

anyhow, this is the beginning before the beginning.

i've never left the country, albeit for some rather reckless trips to mexico during my undergraduate years. in a few hours, this will change. actually, i suppose its already changed. after a thirteen and a half hour flight to hong kong, an hour and a half layover there, and a three and a half hour flight to singapore, i've been roaming about singapore's changi airport for the past seven hours. my layover here is eight and a half hours.

singapore airlines IS everything everyone says it is. fancy and doting and the stewardesses totally make you feel like you're near delicate porcelain. the first leg of the journey to hong kong, i slept probably a total of 5-6 hours, watched a bunch of movies, drank lots of apple juice and daydreamed about short story ideas. i sat next to an older woman traveling with her husband and teenage kids. she didn't speak a bit of english and was the sweetest thing. it was nice to be next to someone's mom, as odd as that sounds. 


on the way over from hong kong to singapore, the flight was not even halfway full and i really began to start to feel the disgustingness of being on airplanes that long.


the first thing i did when i stepped off the plane was spend 35 USD on a bed to sleep in for three hours [they have transit hotels in the airport. so rad, right?] and a shower. it's funny how long periods of traveling make expenditures that would normally seem luxurious now instead seem completely and totally acceptable. i would've sold my body to the first bidder for a hot shower and a quiet room; in that light, 35 bucks is a bargain.

changi airport is amazing. like mindblowing. i think i look like some lost twelve year old girl wandering around the vast hallways, clutching my dinosaur pillow, every so often consulting the guidebook for some sense of direction. yes, there is a guidebook. you thought i was exaggerating about the insanity that is this airport. ha, no, not even.


anyhow, india is soon to be. very soon, in fact. there will be much to update on when that time comes.



in the meantime, here are a few treasures i found here at the airport:

there are multiple gardens in changi. the most adorable, i think, is the butterfly garden.

the butterfly garden is a two level lush sanctuary for exotic plants and multiple types of butterflies.

pssh, i mean cmon now, there's a freaking waterfall?!

there's a long koi pond in the middle of terminal 3. these koi are HUGE. like chemically engineered huge or something.

this is for you, baby sipster, victoria malia. it's our three fave guys. <3 so adorable. and so overpriced, lol.

the second garden i stumbled on is this orchid garden.

the sunflower garden, the last of the gardens from what i could tell, is on the top level of terminal 2. the deck is both an open air viewing area and has a smoker's lounge. well, and sunflowers, of course. lots and lots of sunflowers.

seriously, i cannot even describe the amount of amenities in this airport. if i wasn't so enamored, i think i'd be scandalized by this. i mean, there are movie theatres that show free movies, a rooftop swimming pool, every designer store known to man, etc etc etc. here i think is something that i found adorable: the free gaming room, complete with a flatscreen to hookup consoles to AND a pod of computers specifically for lan gaming. talk about thinking of everything.

okay listen, like i said, i haven't internationally traveled before so duty-free is still pretty snazzy to me. and of course, so are these three different types of special reserve jamesons. if only mitchell the dinosaur pillow wasn't taking up so much room in my carryon bag. le sigh.