Day 37 Singapore

We were definitely tired as didn't wake until 9:30am & could easily have slept longer. The beds were really comfy & bigger than usual singles.

We started the day catching the MRT to Chinatown. The heat in the air is stifling...& finally Cam gets to wear shorts again.

Chinatown was mainly market stalls selling lots of the same thing...very similar to Hong Kong. We had a look at a couple of stalls but not much we wanted to buy & I doubt anyone would thank us for bringing back gifts from here. Prices were pretty cheap though & if anyone wanted key rings or t-shirts with Singapore on them, then this was the place for bargains. I did buy a couple of blue & white bracelets.  Cam started the day a bit grumpy as he doesn't like this heat.

We came upon the food street in Chinatown & decided to brave a grotty looking place for breakfast. Cam had read about Kaya Toast so we ordered a Kaya Toast meal which came with a very strong coffee & partly cooked egg.

It was actually quite nice though I thought of mum as I drank my coffee from a horrible mug. I would have preferred the egg to be fully cooked but I must admit dipping the toast in the egg mixture balanced the sweetness in the toast quite well. Cam also got a crushed ice lemon sour plum drink, which was very strong & had an unfamiliar flavour. We sat here for quite some time as there was free wifi & Cam needed to select tutorials for university online.

The streets were decorated for Chinese New Year last week, which made it even more colourful.  We then walked to the nearby Sri Miriamman Temple, which was less impressive than I remembered.

We had a quick look inside & then caught the MRT to Little India.  The station exit took us directly into a strange market of toiletries, combs, hair ties, etc. This led to a large food market where lots of locals were eating Indian food at incredibly cheap prices.

We weren't hungry yet but I had to try a samosa for only 70c. We walked around many streets of the Little India area, looking at the interesting buildings & a couple more temples.

We walked down Campbell Lane only because of the name.  

It was lunch time now & we went in search of a place selling roti prata - another specialty we wanted to try. Every place we went into didn't have it & wanted to sell us huge curry or rice meals that we didn't fancy. We were about to give up when we found a tiny stall that had some, so we sat at a rickety table & shared a plate, which set us back a whole $4.50.

We enjoyed this a lot, though would have preferred to pay more & sit in a nice air conditioned restaurant where the sweat wasn't streaming down our backs.

Our next destination was the Gardens by the Bay. We tossed up walking vs catching the MRT & decided to walk since it was only 3km. It's not so easy walking here as (as well as the heat) you have to wait a long time to cross roads & some areas only have proper footpaths on one side of the road. Most people seem to use public transport & save their walking for inside malls....of which there are plenty!  It ended up being a good decision though, as we came upon things to look at along the way & got a better feel for the place than below ground. We found ourselves in Bugis Street which was another enormous market area.  

Further down the road was Suntec City - a business area that had another large mall & we spotted a sculpture that led down below street  level to a Fountain of Wealth.

We joined others circling the fountain with our right hands in the water

....so now looking forward to this wealth that must be coming. Could do with finding a fountain of youth next!

A bit further on after crossing some very busy streets & a bridge, we got to the Marina Promenade & enormous Chinese New Year displays that were being dismantled.

There were great views of the incredible Marina Bay Sands Hotel

as we crossed another river over the Double Helix walkway. 

We went down into the Marina Bay mall, ignoring the high end shops to find somewhere to sit with air conditioning. I noticed the battery on my phone was getting low (from using the map to get here) & it was obviously my lucky day as there in the corner of the food court was a free battery charging station with lots of different adapters including one for my iPhone. We plugged in my phone & sat next to it making sure nobody would steal it. While waiting for it to charge we bought a delicious mango berry smoothie that was lovely & icy. We took a break long enough for it to charge to 50% & feeling refreshed we went back to the heat & to the gardens. The gardens are incredible covering a large area that is mostly free.

There are 2 enormous glass houses & we paid to go into these. It seemed quite expensive but they were amazing. 

First we went into the Flower Dome & we're thrilled it was nice & cool. This houses 30,000 plants, 150 species, across 9 themed gardens.

It was extra colourful thanks to more Chinese New Year decorations.  It is difficult to describe how incredible this Dome was....we took lots of photos but not sure they show what it was really like. 

Back in the heat for a few minutes we then entered the Cloud Forest, expecting this couldn't possibly be as good....but wow it was! You enter straight in front of a giant waterfall & again we felt refreshed.

 

 

The lush tropical plants were all around & above us. After walking around the lower level we took a lift & some stairs to a very high walkway looking down on where we had been, but also with more hidden gardens at this level.

At times it was scarey looking down, but generally it was just overwhelming looking at the beauty around us. It must been a major project building these glasshouses. We certainly have never seen anything like it.

When we came out of here we walked on to the Satay at the Bay....where we were looking forward to dinner. We started with a tiger beer each ....so refreshing in this heat...& Cam ordered hot plate squid

while I got 10 satay sticks (sharing just a couple with Cam).

There were lots of other choices we could imagine Nick ordering....fish head curry, fried stingray, pepper crab...to name just a few.

It was getting dark now so we wandered through the beautifully lit gardens,

pausing at the giant baby,

and on towards the bay. We knew there was a light show at 8pm but it was unclear where to view it from. By the time we worked out where we should be, it was over...but luckily there was another showing at 9:30pm. So we went back to the mall & plugged my phone in again (as  I took so many photos at the gardens) & we passed the time with another smoothie (mango this time).

At 9pm we went back out into the heat & claimed our space at the front of the promenade to view the light show. 

 

By the time it started there were masses of people behind us.

The show involved music, lights, flames & sprays of water with pictures projected onto the water sprays. We had a perfect view but got pretty wet from some of the water sprays. Pictures were of things like Singaporean people smiling, babies cooing, plants, flowers, an orchestra & other random things. Not easy to get photos but was pretty cool...& much better than Hong Kong's.  It was over in 15 minutes & we got the MRT back to our hotel.

Can't believe tomorrow is our last day & after tonight, our next proper sleep will be in our own beds.  It was good to stop in Singapore, but we feel ready for home now. Work is another matter!