Singapore

Do not take an overnight bus from Malaysia to Singapore, unless you want this to be the result: (If the embedded video doesn't work, go here to view)



After our great swim, we made contact with Hav's relatives Carolyn, Hawksing and their sons Josh and Jonathon. They graciously took us in for the three days we were in Singapore, introduced us to the amazing cuisine available there, and acted as our excellent tour guides for the city.

Day One: After relaxing and settling in in the morning, Carolyn took us out for lunch at a nearby mall, and showed us just how diverse the food in Singapore is. From what I could tell it was a mix of Indian, Malay and Singaporean dishes of which I have no clue what the names are. (feel free to comment on this Carolyn). But it was delicious, I know that. Later in the afternoon, we met up with Josh and headed to the Botanical Gardens. It had just rained so the gardens were incredibly green and lush, perfect for photographing. We went for a walk through the orchid garden, and learned to our amazement, that there are hundreds of varieties of orchids there, coming in all assortments of colours and sizes. Here is a sampling:


Day Two: Being exhausted from the previous day's activities and lack of sleep, we opted on sleeping in to recoup. We ended up taking most of the day pretty easy, taking advantage of the computer situation to burn dvd's of what is now amounting to thousands of photos, and then waiting out the sudden downpour and thunderstorm to get moving. Hawksing, Carolyn, Josh, Hav and I eventually went out to Sentosa Island just a short train ride off the coast of Singapore. It is now a resort island but was previously used by the British to set up a defence against Japan in WWII. Because we arrived later in the day, some of the exhibits were starting to close, so we chose to go mini golfing as it was still open.



It's been a long time since I've been mini golfing, and this course was particularly hard as the putting surface was cement, allowing the ball to roll and roll and roll, nevertheless making things frustating, but we all had a lot of fun anyway.

The highlight of the day for me, however, was what amounted to the BEST Chinese food dinner I've ever experienced. Oh my. If you think ginger beef is the pinnacle of Chinese food, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken. Some of the memorable dishes were a seafood curry, bean curd, sweet and spicy soup, and a beef dish that was the most tender beef I've ever had. I love food.

Walking through China Town after the meal.

Day Three:Hav and I took a tour of the National Museum of Singapore, which did a great job of describing Singapore's fascinating history.


And it did in a high tech way, which always gets me excited. I love tech. We were given a lime green box we hung around our necks with headphones attached, which was basically like a little computer with a colour lcd screen on it. So when you enter the museum, you just type in the number on the display into the computer and then you get an audio description in your headphones. It would even sync up the audio to videos being displayed on the walls. We could have spent all day there, but unfortunately didn't have time with all we wanted to see. Nonetheless, we were very impressed.

View of downtown buildings from cricket field.

Next, we checked out the Singapore Art Museum, housed in a cool old Catholic boys school.
We didn't have too much time, so we kind of whizzed through it, but enjoyed it also as it featured mostly local and other artists in neighbouring countries. Then we were off to meet up with our hosts and wandered around the river where many old buildings have been converted into upscale clubs.

View from the river. One of particular interest was called Clinic, and was based on a hospital theme.
The drinks came in IV tubes, it included a morgue behind the front desk, and the waiters wore scrubs. creepy.

To cap the day off, what else to do other than have yet another excellent meal. This time it was Indonesian, and one of the highlights was the fishhead curry, a common dish in this area. (note the teeth)

It was excellent, and I over ate. But much worth it. A great end to our time in Singapore.

Thank you so much Carolyn, Hawksing, Josh, Jonathon for your hospitality during our stay. And for being such excellent historians/tour guides/people that can predict our every interest and/or whim before we we even think it. You really spoiled us! You win the "Hav and Scott's best tour guide award" hands down.