Monday

JENNA We all woke up around 7:00 this morning. We had breakfast in the hotel and then we were off to Chinatown. Will, Allison, and I each got sculptures of ourselves at the booth that we saw yesterday. They are so realistic that you would think that the man just took pictures of us and made them into a sculpture! We also discovered that they are made out of dough. The only downside is that they take three days in the sun to dry, so we have to be extra careful, especially because we go on the plane to Bali in two days. If we make one mistake with them, they will get ruined. We also went into the Hindu temple with the people molded into it. It was amazing! My mom took at least a million pictures of the statues and paintings inside the temple, but it's hard to blame her because it was amazing. The pictures look like someone ripped them out of a magazine! I can't wait to give some of them to my teacher from last year at school. Last year was a big culture year, so he'll be so happy. I hope he convinces my teacher to raise my grade! When we came out of the temple, we walked around Chinatown a little bit more. I got a little smiling Buddha because yesterday our taxi river had a little smiling Buddha statue and so many good things happened to us, so I thought he might be good luck, even though I'm not the least bit superstitious. When we finished walking around Chinatown, we took the subway to Little India. It was so different then Chinatown and the regular city of Singapore. You couldn't go one block without smelling curry or exotic spices. It wasn't too great for me, because I can't handle even smelling anything spicy or my mouth burns. We walked to a restaurant called the Banana Leaf. When you sit down, in front of you is a big banana leaf. At first, you think that it's a placemat, but then, a waiter comes around with food, and if you want it, he or she just puts it on the banana leaf. It feels weird at first, but you get used to it. I think that the best part about it is that you can eat anything with your hands, and nobody will mind because that is part of the restaurant. Although silverware was optional, I didn't use it. It felt strange eating rice with my hands, but I loved it. I had the only things on the menu that weren't spicy, chicken and white rice. I am so excited for tomorrow!

BananaLeaf8 Originally uploaded by DonnaM123.