March 6
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| Store Front, Little India, Singapore |
We were able to sleep late in a large part due to our
blacked out rooms and in other part due to our increasing fatique. It is difficult to have a cumulative travel
experience…..every once in a while you just want something to be easy or to
chill out for a while. Those
opportunities do not present themselves very often and is why we have decided
to stay in Singapore for a few days and then fly to Bali for a brief beach vacation
to rejuvenate. After we arise, we get
some coffee and breakfast and we are not sure which direction to turn as
Singapore is fairly huge and we are not yet familiar with the transit
systems. No worries (to paraphrase our
Australian counterparts). We have heard some pretty harsh commentary on how strict the Singaporeans are about certain things like littering, yawning in public, not chewing gum, etc. We are trying to be on our best behavior, but some of this stuff is simply non-intuitive to us.....you cannot touch your head or anyone elses.....which makes you want to scratch your head. Its kind of like putting a "wet paint" sign everywhere and we are destined to see if it is really wet! We head off in
the direction of Little India to see what that quarter has to offer and we
discover and huge array of shops and restaurants and smells that are both
exotic and enticing. The shop windows
are filled to the brim with products and the official past-time of Singaporeans
has reared its head…..it is shopping in case you were wondering! Buy me, try me, taste me, take me home…..the
lure of the sale lingers in the air and we are more than fair game. Only problem is we are not in need of a new
sari or a sack full of spices. We look
with interest and wind in and out of the local shops before arriving at the
behemoth shopping mall known as Mustafa Center….wow. We tip toe inside to check it out and get
sucked into the vortex. We are obligated
to find something to buy and once we find some art supplies we are on our way
again. We begin to look for a nice
restaurant and in about 2 minutes find one that we all agree on. We order a selection of three dishes and
share and enjoy with each other. After
lunch, we continue on our way in search of the subway or MRT. The sun is about a million degrees and we are
sweaty and tired now, but we push on to purchase our three day transit
pass. We find the station and disappear
below the ground to be told that those passes are only sold at certain stations
and we must make our way to City Hall.
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The boys' new ride....Fullerton Hotel, Singapore
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We purchase tickets and get our groove onto the MRT. We arrive at the right station in about 33
seconds flat….this metro is very efficient and easy to use. Once at City Hall we purchase our tickets and
we are off……Raffles Place is next where we disembark and walk around the
waterfront. We approach the Fullerton
Hotel when we spy a gorgeous Lamborghini out front. The boys are in awe of this machine. We get a wonderful view of the Marina Bay
towers and find a great bookstore where we purchase some new reading
materials.
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| Panorama of Marina Bay, Singapore |
Once we return to Raffles and
are on to Bugis….to see the outdoor markets.
We get there and more walking around and we discover an ice cream
vendor. He slices off a piece of ice
cream and sandwiches between either 1) a wafer that tastes like a cone or 2)
pieces of brightly colored sweet bread.
Interesting to say the least. We
get to the markets and more tasting ensues…this time it is fruit juices. We try pineapple and lime…..yummy and
refreshing!! We mingle among the stalls
and are just about to give out when we decide to return to the hotel and rest
up for about two hours. We are dead on
our feet and can only muster enough energy to walk across the street to the
local Food Court. After a wonderful and
inexpensive dinner – the ultimate combination – we return to the hotel. We put the newly acquired art supplies to
good use and create home-made birthday cards for Paulies’ birthday tomorrow.
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