Day 25; Singapore (Tues; 22 Apr)

Today was the first of two full days we spent in Singapore. All of the folks that we talked to that have been to Singapore would say 2 days is not enough, and I'd agree. However, when we (the royal we, Donna really...) planned this we would have been gone nearly a month and likely ready to get home, which was true. I think Singapore could easily warrant staying a week or more and while you could eat well for reasonable expense, lodging, on the other hand, especially at the Marina Bay Sands, would be eye-watering.

 Today's plan:

• Big Bus tour of Singapore;
• Singapore botanical garden;
• Orchid garden;
• Raffles bar;
• Dinner at a real hawker centre;
• Swim in the MBS rooftop infinity pool.

First stop of the day was the buffet breakfast. We'd had several buffet breakfasts in the last month but the MBS buffet has to be seen to be believed - the best ever!  

During the months of planning (literally) that Donna put into this trip she discovered the Viator travel website (previously mentioned and how she arranged for us to get from the airport to the hotel the day before). That website highlighted the "Big Bus Singapore Hop-On Hop-Off Tour". We had used a similar service (maybe the same company...) in New York City and liked it so Donna reserved tickets for the day for us. The bus stopped very near the entrance to our hotel and short of picking us up at the door, it couldn't have been easier - if we knew east from west, which I didn't so we spent some time looking on the wrong side of the street... Once on the bus we rode the Red Line (see map below) through Suntec City Mall, Little India and past the Sultan Mosque then changed to the Yellow Line at the St. Andrew's Cathedral. From there we traveled along the Singapore River past Clarks Quay and Robertson Quay to the Singapore Botanic Gardens where we hopped off. The botanical gardens are huge and one could easily spend a full day there, but we didn't have that kind of time... Within the botanical gardens, which is free, lies the Orchid Garden, which is not. I don't recall what we paid to go into the Orchid Garden but it was minimal. The Orchid Garden was yet another highlight in a city of innumerable highlights - it seemed every spectacle we saw (including those while riding the bus) was our (at least my) favorite until we got the next one. In any event, we spent almost 2 hours in the Orchid Garden capping off our exploration with lunch in the Halia restaurant, which had an indoor, air-conditioned seating area... ahhhhhh.

After lunch we hopped back on the bus and made our way to Raffles Hotel and it's famous Long Bar to sample a Singapore Sling. The hotel, first established in 1878, has gone through several boom and bust cycles with several owners (including, at one time, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund) and several associated restorations and expansions. The Long Bar, where we imbibed, was actually relocated from the hotel lobby to it's present location in 1915. There was a half hour (at least) wait to get into the bar at 2 in the afternoon, but it was worth it. We each had a Singapore Sling - invented there by bartender Ngiam Tong Boon in 1915 - at $41 a pop. There are actually 2 sling prices, one for the "original" - $41, and a second, I guess not original, for $35. Oh, and there is a "Vintage Sling" for $188, so I guess there are 3 sling prices, I'll consider the $188 version when I win the lotto (which is not likely since I don't buy tickets, but the statistical probability of me winning is numerically the same, to several significant digits...). These are all Singapore dollar prices and somewhat less (but not a lot less) in US dollars. The price was hard to take but we'd likely not be back (you know what's coming...) and went with the $41 versions. I have to say it was good, maybe not $41 good (but 3/4 of the way through mine while Donna had nursed about 1/4 of hers, I was considering a second, after all, we were only going to be there once... sanity prevailed). As others have said, it's not about the drink alone, the whole place is essentially a museum and we toured as much as we could (keep in mind we'd walked a lot in the gardens and it was, by then, late afternoon). 

Back on the bus we continued on the Yellow Line, hopped off again at the St. Andrew's Cathedral to catch the Red Line back to the MBS as we (I) wanted to spend some time in the room and hotel (the cost per minute occupied was on my mind...). After a short rest we walked to the Lau Pa Sat, a real hawker centre (I guess they've stuck with their British heritage by misspelling center...I'll follow suit out of deference) which took us about 15 minutes. This was yet another saturating experience. It is said that many, if not most, folks living in Singapore don't cook and with the extensive variety of food choices and almost unbelievable low cost, it's not hard to believe. The Lau Pa Sat hawker centre was crowded, not China crowded, but most of the semi-randomly placed seating areas were occupied. As I mentioned, the choice of cuisines was incredible, we decided on chili crab tacos. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and it was likely the most inexpensive meal we paid for directly during the entire trip. As we were leaving they had closed down a street adjacent to the hawker center and were setting up tables and chairs. Apparently they were expecting a lot more people. I don't know if the extra capacity was needed due to a special event that was to occur later, or they do this every night. I'd bet on the latter though.

We walked back home along the Marina Bay, the same way we came but this time paying a little more attention to what was around us as opposed where we were going. There were a lot of folks out in the parks and along the bay running, doing yoga, etc. but I don't recall seeing any personal water craft in the bay (i.e. sail boats, boards, jet skis or the like). I suspect that it's not allowed. We eventually made it back to the hotel, jumped in our swim suits and made our way to the pool. It was amazing, up close and personal the infinity part is not as scary as it looks - there is a trough of sorts just beyond the "infinite" edge, of course. There is no "accidental" way one could fall out and over the edge as it would take a serious effort to do so... After about an hour in the pool we made our way back to the room. No pictures of us in the pool (neither of us wanted to risk dropping our phone/camera in the water - didn't seem to concern most other folks though).  I caught part of the Marina Bay water-light show - we'd both forgotten about it - Donna was in the shower and missed it 8-( 

The room view looks different in the daytime ...

 

... spectacular in its own way..

The MBS breakfast buffet, maybe a third of the selections available shown

First course for Donna... don't ask me what that green drink is, it has to be healthy, right?

 

The Hop-on Hop-off Big Bus in Singapore (We didn't take this picture, but that's what it looks like...)

The Big Bus red and yellow routes. We started on the red, transferred to the yellow, then back to the red. This is really the way see the most when you're time constrained.

Off we go. The architecture in Singapore is world class. It appears that there is some sort of contest to see who can build the most extravagant and/or unusual buildings. Hopefully some of the following pictures will convey a sense of it...

There's a skyscraper in there... somewhere...

I believe these are apartments. More on this below...

Old mixed in with the new - there were several old neighborhood pockets mixed in amongst the multiple billion dollar buildings (does that mean multiple billions or multiple buildings? both!)

The Gopuram of Sri Mariamman Temple in Little India, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore

The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is another famous Hindu temple in Little India

A close up of part of the roof-line adornments 

The Budda Tooth Relic Temple and Museum in Chinatown

This might be "Arab" street, although I'm not really sure...

 

The Sultan Mosque named after Sultan Hussain Shah and designated a national monument in 1975

I believe this is public housing. The driver who picked us up at the airport said there is no homelessness because if the police find someone who appears homeless they take them to a place that provides housing and gives them a menial job to pay rent. They put repeat offenders in jail, and jail is basically 3 walls, bars and a bucket - no bed, no sink, no window - most folks are highly motivated to minimize their time there  (all this according to our airport-hotel driver)...

I'm reasonably certain that this is a private residence. Again according to our driver, homes like these cost tens of millions...

Entrance to the Botanic Gardens (I don't know why they aren't named Botanical Gardens - tomaytoe tomahtoe I suppose...)

This is the extent of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, we spent about 2 hours in the relatively small Orchid Garden circled above

First wildlife sighting of the day in the gardens... as we make our way to the Orchid Garden

Although there were many signs explaining the plants, environment and so on, I didn't see anything that explained why someone hung up this fish...

Map of the Orchid Garden - so much to see...

Into the Orchid Garden we go... most, if not all of the flower pictures that follow are Orchids of some sort or another ...

... which were incredibly beautiful

This permanent resident, ostensibly an Asian Water Monitor, wondered what we were doing in his 'hood...

... and he (she?) was big, about 4' nose to tail (used my telephoto for these shots...) - didn't seem too concerned with visitors

Ran into the first guys pal a little further down the trail - noticeably bigger than our first "greeter". Donna refused to take advantage of the photo op and pet him (and, I was the official photographer after all and couldn't take the picture and pet the friendly lizard...). I used the telephoto again as this guy seemed a little more interested in us (and I've heard/read that monitor lizards can be deceptively fast)...

There was an indoor display of orchids that required much cooler conditions - we were happy to get out of the heat as well (~90 F / 90% rH)

The orchid namer folks are pretty imaginative...

I can imagine these guys saying "feed me"...

I don't think this is a orchid but a leave with thorns, that was worth a picture...

Back outside, we made our way to the restaurant...

... which was air-conditioned

Lunch at the Halia restaurant, we weren't particularly hungry (after gorging at the MBS breakfast buffet) but it was cool inside...

 

It looks as though I drank my lunch. If memory serves (but don't bet on it) these were some kind of tea drinks. Looks like mine had an alcoholic enhancement... it could have happened...

Now searching for the entrance to the Raffles Hotel. Apparently we were on the back side and spent a fair bit of time trying to find our way in

Finally, we're in! The place is as much a museum as a hotel.

The Raffles Hotel has been renovated and expanded several times. It appeared to be quite nice and, after a bit of research, I found that you get about $30 off on your Singapore Slings if you are a guest. I definitely would have had 2 in that case...

I'd like to think that this is a rendition of Ngiam Tong Boon, the bartender/inventor of the Singapore Sling, but I don't really know...

After wandering around the hotel for about 1/2 hour we finally found the Long Bar, and got in the 30 minute waiting line to go in...

... and spend $80 on two drinks...

... but where else would they let you operate the drink shaking machine. Here Donna operates the machine that shakes 8 drinks at a time.

A defective Singapore Sling (in that it somehow is empty)

Our walk along the bay to the Lau Pa Sat hawker centre... 

The Lau Pa Sat hawker centre. This is what a proper hawker centre looks like - there were several hallways with food vendors everywhere and tables kind of wherever they'd fit. The food was incredibly inexpensive, alcohol not so much...

We got chili crab tacos here ... 

... they were tasty!

They were setting up for a lot more people as we left - hawker centre to the left, looking down the closed road where they were setting up tables and chairs

This is what the water light show looked like from our room - full disclosure, I didn't take this picture...