First Walk in Singapore

We arrived in Singapore early Sunday morning after an overnight flight from Mumbai, and even through our bleary eyes we could tell we were in an entirely different and exciting place.

What surprised us first? The taxi driver got in on the right side of the car and drove on the left side of the road. We’ve been in places that drive like that for over a month now (South Africa and India), and somehow we had forgotten that Singapore was another one. The next surprise? Being able to see the city skyline clearly in the sunny, blue-sky weather. Mumbai had been hazy and Agra had been hazy.

After those novelties wore off, the excitement came from the incredible modern architecture of downtown Singapore. We saw a building shaped like a lotus, a ferris wheel reminiscent of the London Eye, and a set of three skyscrapers that seemed to have a cruise ship sitting atop. We were beat, though, so we got some breakfast then took a nap, hit the pool and then dinner and then bed again to end our first day in Singapore. Our first venture out of the hotel came today. We are staying in the Marina Bay area, and we walked to lunch at a place caddy-corner from the Singapore Stock Exchange. It’s called the Telok Ayer Market (also known as Lau Pa Sat) and was built in the Victorian era. It was recently renovated and is the coolest food court I’ve ever seen.

After lunch, we walked down to the Funan Digitalife Mall to buy a hard drive. (We’re running out of space for all of our photos!) We saw so many cool buildings on the way, crossing the Singapore River, passing by some museums and government buildings before reaching the mall.

We took a slightly different route back, this time along Boat Quay. It’s lined with restaurants of all cuisines, pubs, and shops.

Then we wandered a bit through Chinatown before returning to the hotel. It was a fun and easy walk through a city with a lot of personality.