Slinging Through Singapore

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Day 5 Tuesday October 6, 2009

I slept in this morning and decided to once again have room service for breakfast although I just had coffee and toast. I spent the morning catching up on emails and facebook. Since I did not have use of a camera today I decided to visit places that I could walk to that either I had visited before or would not be photo opportunities. Thankfully I had taken photos of these areas before so I could include them in my blog.

I decided to walk along the river towards Clark Quay to see what I could find. Interestingly even though it was approximately 11:30 the restaurants were all very quiet. I fear the economic crisis is also hitting Singapore's tourist trade. It is amazing to me how many restaurants I pass with no patrons. You quickly come to realize that Singaporeans must live to eat and drink because there are very few shops just restaurant after restaurant.

I continue my walk and see a mall across the street at the Park Place Hotel so I venture across the street watching the crowds to make sure I do not break any Singaporean laws while crossing. You quickly learn in Singapore that there are laws about most everything. No chewing gum, no riding bikes on sidewalks, or underpasses. The punishment for drug use is death, I would think this would do a lot to keep drug trafficking at bay. From all the locals we have spoken to they feel this has resulted in keeping Singapore clean and safe. I have to agree you feel very safe no matter what time of day you are walking through Singapore, and the streets and sidewalks are very clean. As I enter the Park Place Mall again there are very few stores but floor after floor of eating establishments interesting because you truly do not see overweight Singaporeans.

As I walk the streets of Singapore it is hard not to notice the contrasts of living arrangements. There are two types of apartment buildings. There are the public flats and the private flats. My research provided the following:
Since 1960, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in Singapore plans and develops quality public housing and its related facilities. Today, some 85% of Singaporeans live in HDB flats. Public housing in Singapore as such is not generally considered as a sign of poverty or lower standards of living as compared to public housing in other countries.

I think it would be interesting to speak to a native Singaporean to see if they agreed with that statement. As an observer just from the outside view of these buildings I question that your housing choice would not be based on your income level. Although I am told that to qualify for a four room public flat your monthly income can be as high as $8K. Very interesting to say the least.

As I continued to walk the heat was pretty intense and my clothes were starting to stick to me therefore I decided against any of the outdoor venues for a late lunch and headed back to my hotel to enjoy lunch in the air conditioned lobby restaurant. I decided to order a basic Singapore lunch which consisted of Fried Rice with shrimp. When it arrived it had a fried egg on top of the rice. I proceeded to cut up the egg and mix it in with the rice. It was the best tasting fried rice I had ever had. Not salty or over seasoned just very light with very fresh ingredients.

I retired to my room to take a much needed nap and wait for Rich to call regarding our evening plans.

Rich called around 6:30pm and said he would be home by 7:00pm and that we were on our own for dinner. I was glad to have sometime to do a few of the things I still had on my “bucket” list. Our first stop was the Executive Lounge because Rich will never pass up a free drink!
We have come to know some of the patrons on the Executive levels so we spent sometime talking with one gentleman from the UK or as he describes himself a bloody bloke. He is quite interesting he is from the University of Cambridge and here for a month along with three other “blokes”. He has persuaded the staff at the Executive lounge to keep bringing food out past the normal time and makes sure to pass it all along.

We decided or I should say I persuaded Rich that we had to go to Raffles Hotel to the Long Bar to have a Singapore Sling. This is where the drink originated and the hotel is the oldest and finest in Singapore. Rich actually was fine with it once he saw the history and hey it was alcohol. So we grabbed a cab and drove over. Once we arrived at the hotel we entered into a beautiful lobby just amazing the colonial detail based on the early settlers of Singapore. We were told the Long Bar was around the back and up one flight so we proceeded along our way. It was so hot we were already dripping when we arrived at the bar. Long Bar is known not only for the Singapore sling but for throwing peanuts on the floor. We enjoyed our drink although it was rather sweet and the equivalent of $22 a piece US.

We then left on search of something light to eat as neither of us were very hungry. We ventured across the street and found a small tapas bar and had a very light dinner and a glass of Chilean wine. Once finished we headed to find a cab home. It is customary in Singapore to find a Taxi Que to wait for your cab. We found one across the street and proceeded to wait in line. The line was fairly long and it was very very hot and humid. It then became apparent that some folks in line were calling cabs on their cell phones so when they arrived it said on call and those patrons would get out of line and jump in. The whole process was somewhat frustrating and Rich said I was acting like inpatient American. After waiting probably twenty minutes we were both dripping wet we had one person in front of us and a cab pulled up the gentleman in front of us gave us the cab. That should have been our first clue, I thought he was just a sweet Singaporean. We traveled to our hotel which is normally a $5 cab fare and when we arrived the gentleman told Rich it was $10.80. Rich told him the meter read $5.80 he said this was the business district so Rich told him along with the hotel bell man that he would pay what ever the receipt that printed automatically stated. He then told them that it was broken, mind you the cab was brand new. Anyway he brought the fair down to $9 and hand wrote a receipt for Rich. So now we know why the nice Singaporean let us have the cab!

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Photos

Singapore River
Boat along River Walk heading to Clark Quey

Central Mall
Food Mall

Housing
Notice the poles to hang laundry from

Raffles Hotel
Lobby

Long Bar
Singapore Sling

Comments

[Irene]

Slinging in Singapore
That's it - I'm contacting our new building managers now to have laundry poles installed! What a feature! Of course, we wouldn't be able to hang much laundry out these days - the rain has returned.

[Cheryl]

Andrea, I'll be interested to see how you feel about the people when it is time for you to leave. When my friend was over there actually she was in Bejing for 3 months. Anyway by the time she left she was not a peace loving person, she had just about had it with the waiting in lines and by the end of the trip she was in confrontations with the natives. Sounds like your having a great time!!!!

[Jackie]

Hang in there....it's going to get better when you reach Sydney! I don't think it will be as humid and the people are wonderful. But it does looks beautiful and I know it is an adventure that you will always remember.

[Tom]

Singapore Sling
Okay, that should be your signature drink we you return. Only, you want get $22 from me for one. Good grief. Maybe its because the value of the dollar is so low.