Return to the homeland: Chillin' with marine life (and then some) in Singapore

Singapore: Land of my birth, cleanliness, and strangely evil-looking Merlion statues.

I took an express night train from Malaysia to Singapore, but, apparently, the train wasn't so express after all. In fact, during the night, it almost derailed (or something like that), so I ended up arriving in Singapore 7 hours late. Well, better late and alive than...er, something else, I say. Yay!

Singapore has been great so far. It's my first time back in about 19 years (since I left as a 6 year-old). Needless to say, I don't remember much in terms of what things looked like, but the weirdest experiences make me recall memories from my youth -- in particular, eating some of the local food, with which my aunt, uncle, and cousins are stuffing me silly (no complaints from my end, though...)!

I wish I could say these cuties were the same ones I saw when diving, but they are courtesy of my trip to Underwater World, which is quite possibly the coolest thing next to scuba diving itself.

My family has also been taking me around to see some of the more popular, "touristy" sites. Today, I went to Sentosa Island. Nice family fun, really...especially Underwater World! Some pics follow below, some of them demonstrating the crazy things that one ends up doing when a few persistent cousins provide a bit of encouragement.

Fishies!

Encouraged to pet a pink/humpback dolphin...

...persuaded to put a large snake around my neck...

...and, after such crazy behavior, why not go all out and take a picture of some cranes blocking the Singapore skyline? In this brave endeavor, no encouragement from my relatives was needed. I'm really such a daredevil!