Thursday, September 10, 2009

Friends visiting Singapore

After our trip to Bali, David and I flew back to Singapore together with all our friends. Unfortunately Yolanda had to go back to work, so she and her husband Rico flew back to Hong Kong the next day. The rest of our friends stayed for another four days and it was great spending more time with them and showing them around Singapore.


Marina Bay
The first evening back in Singapore, we took our friends to the Marina Bay area and had dinner at Gluttons Bay. Gluttons Bay is an open-air eatery near the Esplanade, offering some of Singapore's most popular and famous dishes. Gluttons Bay has a very casual yet lively atmosphere and after dinner we took a walk around the Marina Bay area to the famous
Merlion statue at the mouth of the Singapore River.


Chinatown
We spent a day at Chinatown, browsing through the stalls along Pagoda street, stopping for lunch at Maxwell Hawker Centre and then visiting The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.


Sentosa Island
We took the Monorail to Sentosa and spent a good part of the day there. There are many attractions at Sentosa, but the one that we all agreed we wanted to visit was Underwater World (it is an educational and interesting attraction for kids and adults alike). Underwater World is an Oceanarium with over 250 species of marine life on display from all over the world. Underwater World also features a 83 metre-long moving travelator through a glass tunnel, where visitors can view fish, sharks, stingrays and other creatures that inhabit the ocean. Admission to Underwater World also included admission to the Dolphin Lagoon, where we we got to see the pink dolphins in action - this was a hit with Sabrina and Damian.

On our way to Underwater World, we saw a guy with two large snakes on display. For a fee, those willing and daring enough could have their photo taken with these snakes. Out of all of us, only three had the courage to do this - Elaine, Veronica and Emelia. I think the look on their faces says it all !


Little India
On the day we visited Little India, some of the colourful decorations for Deepavali (Festival of Lights) were already up along Serangoon Road (the main road in Little India). Deepavali is a time for renewal and rejoicing, and Hindus all over the world celebrate the triumph of good over evil. To symbolize this, many Hindu homes are lit up with little lamps to usher in light and good fortune during this festival. During this festival, which falls on the 17th October this year, Little India is a beautifully lit and colourful area.
We started our visit to Little India at Tekka Market (a wet market selling fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, fish, meat and chicken), and then made our way along Serangoon Road to Mustafa Centre. Mustafa Centre is the only 24 hour shopping centre in Singapore and stocks a huge selection of food and goods. We all had a great time shopping there.



Clarke Quay
Clarke Quay is situated along the Singapore River and during colonial times, was the location for many storage warehouses for goods transported along the Singapore River. Today, some of these warehouses have been restored and now house many restaurants, bars, pubs and nightclubs. It is an area that comes alive at night and we had dinner there one evening at one of the pubs along the river.



A visit to our apartment
The group dropped by for a visit and got to see our new apartment. Afterwards we walked to Orchard Road and did some shopping.

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