Well, I hope some of you find this interesting and if not, I'm sorry to bother you, but here is a little more info about our trip to Singapore.
We were surprised to learn that Singapore was actually an island, a very small one at that, and is only about 250 square miles, separated from Malaysia by 2 different straits of Ocean. I guess I thought I would see a rustic country side with Sampans and Junks in the water and Rickshaws in the streets, but no way! If they were there, they are a thing of the past and not even a tourist attraction as it is an unbelievable clean and modern city. We had expected to see some rural areas and some countryside, but basically, there wasn't any.
Singapore is a very modern city with lots of new construction and
many new high rise buildings, an architects dream.
The Lion is Singapore's mascot, trademark or logo and this is the smaller fountain. The larger one is behind this one and was in our very first picture spraying water out into the Marina Promenade
The fountains have the head of a lion and the body of a mermaid, combining courage and beauty with the body also being symbolic of Singapore's fishing culture.
There are several distinct sections of the city, one being China Town as approximately 70 %
of the population has Chinese Heritage
Inside a Buddhist Temple
Burning Incense and offering a prayer.
Singapore is also known for it's food and this dish is a Black Pepper Crab, although the most famous is the Singapore Chile Crab, which we had but didn't get a picture of it before it was all gone. Delicious.
Ok, did you look closely at this dish. I think the name of it is Fried Rice with Salted Fish, so if you can enlarge it and look closely at the black dots on top, you'll see that these are the eyes of the very tiny fish, sounds awful, but it was delicious - for the adventurous of course, I loved it, but can't remember if Joy ate any of it at all.
The fruit above is called Durian and although it is tasty (with an acquired taste)- Just ask Jason, and one of these can be around $ 30. Unfortunately, it has such a bad odor that it's not allowed on the subway and if you take a cab, it has to go in the trunk!
This is one of Jenna and Jason's friends in Singapore, Crystal, she is showing off a Jackfruit!
Another section of the city is Little India. We had Indian food several times and it was awesome.
Cloths shopping in Little India - - - - Honest, this was one of several piles of cloths that shoppers (local Indian laborers) were going through to find what they wanted.
Dinner in Little India - Love that Curry (Did I mention we ate a lot there)!
An Arab section as well where we had Murtabak.
A popular place to eat were the many "Hawker" centers.
Years ago, Hawkers would set up anywhere until the city came up with specific centers for them to probably rent spaces or stalls to control the sanitary and cooking conditions.
How about some nice roasted duck?
or cockles anyone?
Jenna and Jason had wanted to try this since they had been there, but it was a first for all of us. They taste like clams and the Hot sauce was great.
Basically, you had rice or noodles with every meal. Joys favorite was this dish to the right of the screen, which was called Carrot Cake with an assortment of vegetable in a fantastic sauce and we enjoyed it so much that we had it several times.
Wings and things.
But I didn't take any pictures of the chicken heads and necks, nor the chicken feet.
They run the bamboo through a crushing press several time to extract the juice to drink.
We took this picture around 10 pm showing the center area of a Hawker center, with Hawker stands all the way around. It was only about 2 blocks from their apartment and there were very few available tables.
We had Dim Sum one day and Dumplings several days later.
There is a scale to the Chefs right and as he rolls these out and cuts off the little portions, he weighs every 4th or 6th one or so to make sure that they fall within the specific standards. From here, they are transferred to another area where they are rolled out to around a 3 inch circle. Then a "measured" filling is put in the middle and they close it up into a dome, with exactly 10 folds, and then finally onto the bamboo steaming trays.
Lots of activity with everyone concentrating on making their portion perfect.
The steaming section.
Lots of Rice Bowls, all cooked and steamed at the same time. Efficiency.
Have you heard of the famous Singapore Sling, made famous at the famous hotel "Raffles".
It was originally introduced so Ladies could sit around and have a drink when the men weren't around to be lady like as it just looked like fruit juice. But it has about as many different things in it as a Long Island Iced Tea.
The pool area at Jenna and Jasons apartment complex
Ok, do you see the window washers on the building, no, not on what looks like washing scaffolding, they are the 3 men to the left side with red buckets hanging below them.
Comfy ?
Below are some pictures from what is called the "Wet Market" where you can go shopping for fresh fish and meats.
Check out the size of those prawns.
It's called the "wet Market" because so many things end up on the tile floor, that they hose it down periodically or at the end of the day (hopefully).
Grinding or Shredding Coconut
Getting ready for Fish Head Soup. A delicacy that we didn't get a chance to try.
Sack goods and dried salty fish
Jers favorite, very HOT red Thai Chile Peppers
Getting ready for Christmas, Singapore style.
Laundry Day. If you look closely, can you see the bamboo polls sticking out from the holders by the windows with the laundry drying.
Here's a mystery, where is the side of this building? Check the angle. It should be there !
Answer - - - later.
The fantastic Sands Hotel and Casino, 60 stories tall and the top is all connected and shaped like a ship. Can you see the palm trees at the top?
The Infinity pool looks out and down 60 stories.
It's like kissing when you are on top of a cloud.
Here is another view from the top and those are all hundreds of large container ships in the harbor area waiting to be loaded or unloaded.
As far as the eye can see.
Hundreds of ships.
Singapore is the largest shipping port in the area.
Ok, here is another shot of the Sands Hotel and Casino, Look at how the sides of the building go in and then go out.
This is the Singapore Flyer, the largest Ferris wheel in the world. It's around 550 feet and 42 stories tall.
Here's a view of the Flyer and the city from the top of the Sands Hotel and Casino. Those tiny little things that look like seats or chairs are almost the xize of rooms that can take whold groups of people at a time, and some people have had weddings on them (anyone want to go to a destination wedding in Singapore, or Hawaii, or San Francisco Wine Country- we'll keep you posted) Hey J and J, we're not hinting. Also, it takes about one hour or so for the Flyer to make one complete rotation.
This is a view of a very long escalator that took us 3 to 4 stories down below ground where we took another escalator down 2 more stories to get to the MRT (4 - 5 Subways that run all over the city). Sometimes we were 6 or more stories down when MRT's ran different directions with one at one level and another going a different direction below, and you just transferred from one to another at certain junctions. We took several trips daily, all over, on the MRTs and never used up the original $ 5.00 on our electronic cards
Hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did!
And by the way, did you figure out where the side of this building is yet?
Nope, it's not trick photography, nor photo shopped.
It's a building that's built like a wedge or v shaped and you're looking at a very pointed end.
Wow
Hope to see all of you real soon, Jerry and Joy
very nice ,i like
ReplyDelete