Singapore
Friday, May 2nd, 2008We had a good time in Singapore but it was way too hot and humid. On our first day there we decided to take the Singapore airlines hop-on, hop-off tour bus, but after waiting an hour for it, it was overflowing with people so we got off after about 1 stop at the Raffles Hotel. Sarah got some teppanyaki-style ice cream at the Raffles Creamery. The teppanyaki-style ice cream is created by blending ice cream with toppings on a cold marble slab. We shared a delicious chocolate ice cream with oreo cookies and fresh strawberries blended in. instead of ice cream, Eero opted for a famous Singapore Sling from the Raffles Long Bar. We knew the Singapore Slings were pricey but we didn’t expect them to be about $25. At least we can say we tried an authentic Raffles Sling and got some free peanuts out of it.
After our expensive ice cream and Sling we headed over to see the Fountain of Wealth. The fountain is supposed to be the biggest in the world and is supposed to symbolize good fortune the way the water flows inwards or something like that. We were hoping if we walked around it we would have some good fortune, but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance so we couldn’t see it in action. By this point we were really hungry since it was mid-afternoon so we headed to a hawker food market for some cheap eats. There was a sweet potato stall so we decided to try their sweet potato smoothie…it tasted like sweet potato, which we like, but we wouldn’t recommend it as a smoothie.
Next we wandered into Chinatown where we went into the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. It was a beautiful temple and we learned a bit about Buddha in the museum. For supper we went to one of the many hawker food markets where Eero had some Indian food and Sarah had fried carrot cake. Fried carrot cake is not actually carrot cake that has been fried but white radish cut into pieces and stir fried with soy sauce, eggs, garlic, and spring onion…it was tasty.
On our second day in Singapore we went out to the Zoo. We saw lots of interesting animals, including white tigers, elephants, orangotangs, chimps, baboons, mongoose, otters, a polar bear, saltwater crocodiles, giant tortises, hippos, proboscis monkeys, manatees, white rhinos, etc.
After the zoo we went to the Haw Par Villa, otherwise known as Tiger Balm Garden. it was built by one of the Tiger Balm brothers for the other. It is a bizarre place. The description of it from the Singapore tourism website is “Twenty-five clusters of original statues and figurines replicate Chinese mythology characters like the Laughing Buddha and the Fu Lu Shou (Taoist deities). A must-see exhibit is the Ten Courts of Hell, featuring the ten steps of judgement before reincarnation. Literal and leaving nothing to the imagination, the statues and sets immortalise moral values and Chinese cultural heritage for generations to come.”
On our way back to our hostel in Little India we stopped at Vivo City, a giant mall, and checked out the view of Sentosa Island from the roof.