Garnerbiker's Journey on planet Earth

This blog started as a trip journal for the summer of 2011 Europe trip of 69 days. My wife Katherine, and I decided to use the entire summer break that teachers get, and go crazy. Everything was new to us. I was surprised at the blog's following. It has now become a tradition to travel on our breaks and blog about it. I write mostly as a journal for myself and students, but also give travel ideas to others that might want to travel like us, or go to the places we have seen. Take a look at what's on here. The experiences that I have had through travel are continuously shaping my life. I recommend you get out there and do it!

Translate

Sunday, June 3, 2018

Singapore 2

Since our party had all arrived, we headed out for another day of exploration.  First, we had to walk to the MRT station and then take it to Chinatown.  The metro is fast, efficient, and clean!  Almost everyone is on a phone and no one makes eye contact, ever.  Or, maybe it's just me?

View out of our apartment.  We are on the 7th floor of... 7 floors. Very nice.

K and Michael getting ready to board the MRT.


We strolled through many shops in Chinatown.  It was quite clean and organized.

From Chinatown, we took a walk to Marina Bay to try to get a closer look at the super trees. This walk took us a long time and we meandered through the area getting there.  Michael and Tommy said we hit 9+ miles on the trek!  

Once we got to the bay, we saw a huge dragon boat competition.  We just happened upon the Blaze the Bay at DBS Marina Regatta.  There were teams in the water and teams getting ready on the land.  What a sight.  Dragon boats?  They are long boats with teams paddling away to the beat of the drum captain.  Very cool!

It looked like there was a endurance race as well over the weekend. 

The Marina Bay Sands hotel with the iconic boat on top.  The pool up there is unbelievable, and hopefully someday we can get up there. 

Tommy, K, and Michael resting on the bridge after checking out the trees. 

More MRT tickets!  

Flower close to the apartment


T, K , & M

We got back to the apartment and decided to head out for food.  There are many cheap, good places to eat right by our place in the Geylang neighborhood, but one stood out in particular.  Frog porridge.  What is that?  Exactly what I said.  It's like rice oatmeal with boiled frog legs. Not much taste, but we wanted the plain version.  Michael ordered chicken wings since the deer hot plate was not available.  His wings were great, but in the center was the most deadly cup of hot sauce I have ever tasted. I could only handle it with the tip of a chopstick coated in oil from the chili.  Michael dipped a wing in it without a taste test and felt it the rest of the evening. 

Yup. Frog Porridge. 

Wings, Chili Sauce, and fried Oysters!!! Oh Boy!

Now, to get some sleep and head out for another fun day in Singapore. 

Singapore 1

Making it to Singapore took a lot out of us.  The flight was a little over 16 hours, and in darkness the entire time.  We left San Francisco at 11pm and chased darkness.  When we arrived, the sun was not up yet, Singapore was shrouded in fog, and it was pouring rain.  

Tommy eating at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas with some friends that wanted to tag along on the trip.  

Katherine and Tommy in the MRT

When we arrived in Singapore, we hopped on the MRT and headed to a hostel in Little India that has a service to hold your bags for a fee.  Since we arrived at 7am, we couldn't check in at the apartment we rented until 3pm, so leaving our bags somewhere made sense.  The hostel was named The Inn Crowd, and was a great place to use the WiFi, restrooms, and most of all, cool off!  Carrying the dive bags is not fun.  We left to go on a city walk with just a light bag and could move much more easily.  

One of the many temples we saw out on our walk. 


After a great Indian food breakfast, we were ready to hit the town.  Typical of hot summer travels in big cities, we headed to a giant mall called Orchard Central.  We never go to malls at home, and had no interest in actually shopping, but the AC is nice, and the people watching is even better.  The place was very crowded and hectic.  Prices were comparable to  a US shopping venue, and food was all around.  We did some exploring and rode the escalators to the very top of the building.  Some of the extremely long escalators were outside along the edge of the building, and others were inside, creating a crazy matrix of madness. The layout of the building, delightfully, did not make sense.  

To our surprise was this outside sculpture garden on the roof of Orchard Central Mall.  Very cool!

K with lunch.  

After exploring for a couple hours, we decided to eat lunch at the food court called Food Republic.  We got three claypot meals to share.  Drinks were served by a person going table to table with a cart. All of the employees cleaning the tables and serving the drinks were elderly people.  It seemed strange to us, but I think there is a city program to keep them active and get paid.  They were friendly and looked very happy in the dining area, but I felt like a jerk letting a grandma clean up after me while I stuffed my face. 

We ordered 3 bottles of water which came with a cup of ice and a straw.  I already felt bad getting another plastic bottle, but to top it off with an extra serving of plastic seemed over the top.  Refilling bottles will be the way we go from here on out.  Singapore water in fine to drink and doesn't taste too bad.

Chance taking in the Singapore skyline before the hockey game.

Change watching the Golden Knights put one in the goal.  Go Knights Go!

We lost.  Don't want to talk about it. 

Michael arrived in Singapore on the same United Airlines flight number 1 one day after us. He took a cab from the airport and made it to the apartment just after we woke up.  Now we are off to see more of the city in the next post. Stay tuned.