Singapore, day 2

 

After a great sleep we headed down for the breakfast buffet at the Fullerton. There is a huge selection, with American, European, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Malay sections. One of the best things I had was the Laksa, a spicy coconut fish soup. Also the local coffee, beans roasted in butter then served with condensed and evaporated milk.

This morning we had booked a private tour with Tours by Locals. Our guide Michelle met us at our hotel at 9:30am. Her family has lived in Singapore for 3 generations, and she gave us a lot of the history of Singapore and many stories of the area. Our 4 hour walking tour (longer distances by bus and metro) started in the Civic district near our hotel. Most of these buildings are from the British colonial era, and are now museums, galleries or theatres. This area also has a lot of parks. It's a lovely area to walk around, and quite a contrast from the Central business district across the river.

We then caught a bus over to Kampong Glam the Malay district. The old shophouses are now shops and restaurants, and are very expensive. The most modest are about 3 million Singapore dollars. There seems to be every kind of cuisine, and many kinds of shops including quite a few "theme photo booths" (plane, hotel and aquarium are 3 we saw). One of the largest Mosques is here, and the old Malaysian palace. We stopped to have some traditional Teh Tarik, or pulled tea. This is black tea with condensed milk which is poured back and forth from a height to mix. Very good! On the way over to the Metro we stopped to see a lovely building that has an incredible bar on the main floor called the Atlas Bar. It specializes in gin, and has over 1000 varieties. Another reason for me to come back to Singapore!

Then we took the Metro to Little India. This district is less touristy, more an area where local people are working and shopping. The markets have food and spices for Indian food, and flower garlands. There are many fabric and sari stores, and a street of gold shops.

Then the Metro back to our hotel. The Metro is very clean, spacious and well marked. Some of the stations are huge, with many different exits and often stores or malls attached.

We were pretty tired and ready for a rest by the time we got back to the hotel. It was a pleasant temperature to walk around, high 20s, but very humid. Karen and I went to the pool while the guys rested. At 5:30 we did a Singapore River cruise from the pier by the MerLion. The clouds had been darkening, and it did rain a bit for part of the cruise. The boat was covered though a bit blew in. It doesn't matter if you get a bit wet at these temperatures! We went up the River to Clark Quay with all the restaurants and clubs, and past some of the other areas we'd seen from the other side while walking. And we had an extra go round of part of the bay for some reason. Afterwards Karen, Aaron and I walked over to a Peranakan restaurant near Boat Quay. I had a prawn with a curry sauce served with blue rice. Different but good. We walked back to the hotel on the other side of the river as it's much quieter. The light show on the buildings was playing, and we could also see some of the light show at the Marina Bay Sands.