Tourists enter here --->

Singapore is an efficient society. There is not much doubt about that, I mean, it's an international center of business, what else would you expect?

 But one area that I would never expect to find such efficiency is the area of tourism. Enter the island of Sentosa. Sentosa is off the southern coast of Singapore, connected by bridges and cable cars. It is a one-stop shop of the tourism world.

Seriously, it couldn't be more convenient.

You get to to Sentosa by car, bus, train, or cable car and once you cross over, it's a whole different Singapore. Home to nice hotels, water parks, the aquarium, Universal Studios, and Singapore's only "real" beaches. There's shopping and restaurants, and all sorts of cutesy places to go. The best part is that it's all wrapped up in a nice, neat little package.

The only other thing on the island is a neighborhood of ritzy mansions and condos. And, as fate would have it, I have a friend who is lucky enough to live there. One Saturday, some other friends and I, made the trek to Sentosa to hang out at the beach and spend time at my friend's condo. The weather was gorgeous, and I was very excited for my first trip to Sentosa.

I got there late, and found my friends sitting at a beach side restaurant. Singapore is completely surrounded by other islands, which not only offers it protection from tsunamis and tropical storms, but also means that there isn't an endless view of the ocean. Nevertheless, it was a clear day and the view was great. We started walking along the beach, winding our way between tables, lounge chairs, and children playing in the sand. It wasn't long before we saw a familiar face:

Tucker! And a whole bunch of other people we know, who work at the International Community School. Our groups converged and we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, kayaking, and enjoying other sand-filled shenanigans.

Then we packed up and drove the winding roads over to my friend's condo. One thing that I love about the tropics are the insanely large thunderstorms (except when I'm with Caleb, who hates them). While we were sitting on this beautiful balcony, outside of this amazing condo, we got to watch a fantastic lightning storm. It was far enough away that there was no thunder and not much rain, but some awesome lightning.

All I can say is that it was really fun to just be a tourist for the day.