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Published: October 12th 2015
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We are both feeling a little tired this morning, so are quite relieved we do not have much booked today.
Just before we left Tenerife we heard, through Trip Advisor, about a food trail they do through the hawker centre in ION Orchard Mall. This is a free activity that looks to be sponsored by both the food stalls and the centre.
Initially there were just the two of us, but we were later joined by a lady from Indonesia and her disabled son.
Our host took us into the hawker centre and explained how many of the local and non-local foods are prepared, and in some instances were able to offer us a small sample. The guide was obviously very knowledgeable and the tour was very interesting and delicious. Think we will be eating very well here.
One of the other activities we had heard about in this mall was the sky tower, but we thought we would not be able to see today it as it does not open until 3pm, and it was about 11am when the tour finished. We explained this to our guide, and a couple of telephone calls later and we
were on our way up the tower for a private visit. It´s all about asking the right person the right question.
The views from the 56
th floor were great. Would have been even better if it was not so hazy from the recent fires in Indonesia, but we cannot do anything about that. We had good views over the city and as long as we wanted to take photos. We are averaging between 100 – 300 photographs each day.
At the end of the tour, our host gave us a book of vouchers for the Mall plus two S$5 vouchers for the Hawker centre, so we headed there next to grab some lunch. It was very busy now, so getting a table was a bit confusing, but it was great to be able to select from such a wide selection of foods. We enjoyed our free lunch.
We headed back to the hotel and whilst George got a quick siesta, Theresa headed to the local laundrette to do all the washing. In Dubai, it was service laundry by the item only and appeared to be rather expensive, so we have three sacks of laundry now that needed
doing. It was really great to get that out of the way.
In the evening, we headed out into the local streets.
Our hotel is in the Little India area of Singapore, so the area is currently preparing for the Hari Raya Haji celebrations later this week. This is referred to as EID in other countries. The streets are bustling with people and shops wanting you to look at their wares and eat their delicious foods. Eid al Adha is about to be celebrated across the Muslim world.
There are many local restaurants around, but most are really small and we are not used to this yet. We eventually settle on the Banana Leaf Apolo restaurant that we have heard about before getting to Singapore.
The restaurant is trying to give a local feel, but aimed more, we think, at tourists. They did not have plates, but you are presented with your bowls of food and a banana leaf to eat them from. Locals would eat this with their hands, but here they give you a spoon and fork. The food was excellent and we left promising to return before we leave Singapore. The meal was
a real education as well as very tasty.
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