Despite the fact that we arrived at our cousin's apartment at 11PM, exactly 12 hours after we rode the bus from Melaka, we were energized to tour downtown Singapore on Friday. We also had to get up and get moving because we were meeting friends and family that evening. Our cousin had work so we explored the city state on our own. We started our tour with breakfast at McDonald's at the White Sands mall at the Pasir Ris train station.
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| Sri Mariamman Temple |
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| Guava juice -- what became my favorite juice. |
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| Sister buying coffee. |
Our first stop is Chinatown. I read some books about Singapore and learned that the island was mostly inhabited by Malay fishermen and that the Chinese started coming in after there was a need to "modernize" the island. Now, the Chinese outnumber other cultures in the city state.
As usual, my brother went souvenir shopping crazy immediately after emerging from the train station. I opted to be more prudent because I thought the prices were kinda steep and I did not really like the products on sale, except for a drawing of Chinatown. I love drawings of local landmarks and I always make a point to bring one home. I just bought Chinese fans and scarves for my aunts and female cousins. We just walked around Chinatown and bought ice cream sandwich. I also bought two boxes of instant coffee from a coffee shop because I loved that it came in a box.
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| The grandiose Raffles Hotel. I was too shy to even step on the pathway. Maybe next time! |
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| WWII Civilian Memorial for those civilians who died during the war. |
Then I suggested we walk to Raffles Hotel, which was a bad idea because we went to the wrong direction. And we were walking for about 30 minutes until we had the guts to ask a local where the hotel was. Thankfully, there was a bus going there and one of the locals in the bus delivered us to the hotel. I know many people would say Singaporeans are rude, but the whole time I was there, all I can say was, they are not noisy people but they are courteous and helpful. Of course, as a foreigner and tourist, we also had to be courteous and respectful to the Singaporeans.
I was planning to have glam shots taken at the very wonderful and historic Raffles Hotel (Rudyard Kipling stayed here, and many other global celebrities) but I was dripping in sweat already because of the walking so I decided not to go in. Maybe next time, I'll be back still fresh looking and have high tea.
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| The durian-shaped Esplanade |
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| Marina Bay Sands hotel |
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| Viewed from the Merlion Park |
Another local also helped us find Merlion Place. We just walked from Raffles Hotel. It was a long walk and we passed by the Civilians' Memorial of World War II, an underground pass, and the Esplanade whose dome is shaped after a durian. By the time we reached Esplanade, only my brother and I still had the energy to cross the bridge to Merlion Park.
This is definitely a tourist place. There were lots of tourists that I had difficulty taking a photo of the merlion without a person being caught in my photo. But what I loved about the place was you can see almost all of the famous Singapore landmarks.
We just hang around the park and near Makansutra and waited for our friends and family and had dinner there.
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| The big merlion -- Singapore's iconic symbol. Though no lion lives in the city-state. |
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| The baby merlion. |
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| King crab is a must-try Singaporean dish |
We capped our night at Clark Quay, Singapore's famous night life areas. It was a long walk from Makansutra but the walk ways were well lighted and we felt safe because my husband's friends walked with us.
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