Singapore Continued

Day 2 

My second morning in Singapore I went to the famous National Orchid Garden in the Botanical Garden, which has more than two thousand varieties of orchids and hybrids. This whole section of the gardens is absolutely spectacular and a really nice break from the busy city streets. I do have photo evidence of my presence there, but it is just so hot and humid in Singapore in the middle of the day that it is difficult to look anything other than sweaty and frizzy in pictures. The weather is about the same every day all year as Singapore is one of the Asian countries closest to the equator. It is tropical weather, which means it usually pours for an hour or so daily, so everyone walks around with umbrellas. Every day I marveled at how native Singaporeans manage to look so effortlessly put together and relatively sweat-free in the humid weather. Even people in DC don’t handle humidity quite as well as Singaporeans.

Later in the afternoon I went to the National Museum.  The museum is in a gorgeous old building, which has been updated with modern touches.  The Singapore history exhibit is very informative and innovative with interactive sections that give you an idea of what Singapore was like in other centuries and decades.

The highlight of my day was going to high tea at the Raffles Hotel with Vesna. The Raffles Hotel is also famous for inventing the Singapore Sling, a very popular and very alcoholic drink. When my Grandmother Katie came to Singapore some twenty odd years ago it was the first thing on her list, so I made sure that it was high on my list.  The tea is held at 3:30 in the Tiffin Room, which has beautiful high ceilings and gleaming white marble floors.  Each table has a classic high tea tier that is piled with fruitcake, little sandwiches and little cakes.  There is also a buffet with dumplings, scones, fresh fruit, little tarts and different cakes.  Vesna and I nearly died when we ate the bread and butter pudding with the warm vanilla bean sauce. It was one of the most scrumptious desserts I have ever tasted.

At night we went to Clarke Quay, which is one of the big tourist attractions. It is full of bars and restaurants of every variety and theme.  One bar is called The Clinic and has gold wheelchairs as chairs and other medical decorations.  We got lychee martinis at Bar CoCoon, which has a Forbidden City theme with replicas of terracotta soldiers and interesting chandeliers.  

Day 3 

In the morning I took a Singapore River cruise from One Fullerton, which is across the way from the Fullerton Hotel, one of Singapore’s famous hotels, which is a combination of traditional and modern, like many things in Singapore.  From One Fullerton you can see the city’s famous Merlion statue framed in the background by the Durian building which houses the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. The Merlion was inspired by the city’s name Singapura meaning “Lion City”.  Across the marina you can see the Singapore Sands Casino with a boat on top, which opened recently.  The boat has a bar and a pool and is a pretty unique sight to see. I The riverboat tour was fun and relaxing and gave a different view of the city.  I made friends with some friendly Western Australians who arrived in the morning from Perth who chatted with me throughout the tour and told me a little bit about their part of the country .

Clarke Quay in the daytime

Bumboats