Tiong Bahru, Orchid Gardens and Little India

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On our first full day in Singapore we decided to explore the local area around our hotel (Tiong Bahru), visit the Botanical Gardens and then finish the day in Little India. Wangz Hotel staff are exceedingly friendly and over breakfast we were welcomed by Sylvia, the hotel PR rep who told us about the local attractions.

Some years ago I bought Hazel an Alaskan gold nugget Seiko watch. It was old when bought and had never worked well. We thought that we might find a Seiko repair watchmaker in Singapore. A search of the internet showed that there was such a place in one of the streets near to the hotel and armed with a steetmap on my I-pod, we headed off to the watchmaker. When we eventually found the place after asking around, it was a hawker stall at the back of the local market and food court. Owner Mr Tan explained that he only fixed really OLD wind-up watches but put in a new battery and oiled the mechanism. He took a modest fee but could not give a guarantee that it would work. Within a few hours it stopped again - but it was worth a try.

We spent some time exploring Tiong Bahru market. There were dozens of hawker stalls and a food circus. WE were the only non-Asians in the place and felt that we had managed to escape the usual tourist spots. One evening we will return to the pork and noodle hawker stall for dinner.

Next it was onto the MTR (underground) where we bought tickets for the nearest station to the Botanic Gardens - which is called 'Botanic Gardens'. The MTR is ultra-clean, ultra-efficient and above all, relaxed. You never see running, pushing or queue-jumping. It's also cheap and a real pleasure to navigate and use.

The MTR station is right at the edge of the Botanic Gardens and in a few short steps we entered a world of floral beauty and tranquillity. The Orchid Gardens were every bit as splendid as we had remembered then from 2008. We took lots of photos and after a couple of hours headed back onto the MTR for Little India.

Deepwali/Diwali is just a few days away and the Indian quarter was a blaze of bright colours in preparation for this important festival. One of the very nice things about Singapore is that festivals are shared across the multi-cultural community. As a surprise impulse decision, Hazel decided to have a henna tattoo applied to one hand. The photos show the process.

It was then off to the Banana Leaf restaurant for a really splendid dinner and then home on the MTR.

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