SIghtseeing
Trip Start
Feb 13, 2006
1
21
62
Trip End
Aug 14, 2006
Sinagpore, Singapore
Monday, April 17, 2006
its my last full day in singapore off to bali tomorrow. spent yesterday wondering around singapore catching up on sights i missed the first time round. got the bus down to central area, retraced my steps from the last time. i've been to so many different places recently i'm struggling to work out what i saw and did where! got off outside the hotel tien stayed at, the charlton, felt a little sad that i couldnt pop in to visit like before, its strange being in singapore with helina, tien or wing.
went down into the malls, most of the shopping centres are connecting through underground tunnels. it really is so hot in singapore, you have to spend most of your time inside in the air-con. picked up some leaflets from the tourism information centre then sat outside in the bonsai garden to work out a plan.
decided to walk over to the riverside and check out the esplanade, a theatre shaped like a giant durian (v. smelly tropical fruit, thats banned in most hotels!)and the merlion park, i think its the symbol of singapore. sat in front of the merlion and ate my ice cream wrapped in a piece of sweet bread. then it got too hot and had to go back down into the shopping centre.
got the mrt to chinatown and explored the chinatown heritage centre which was really cool. they reconstructed rooms to look like the living and working areas of chinatown in the pass, when the chinese first settled in singapore. the building was seperated into lots of cubicules with the front area on the ground floor as a shop, it use to be a taliors. then behind that was the workshop and then various size bedrooms and a shared kitchen and bathroom. its all done so well, when i wondered into it, for a moment i thought i was in someones home! they played recorded conversations in the rooms as well, felt like i was eavesdropping, really cool. afterwards i got a bite to eat in the food food which was full of old chinese people, sitting around gossiping. didnt know what to order, ended up getting some beef kway twoa, ho fun (flat rice noodles) in some brown sauce with beef and beanspourts, i thought it was going to be fried! while i was eating it starting pouring bucket loads of rain, on my way back to the station my legs got soaked even though i had an umbrella.
as it was raining so hard, theres wasnt much else to do but window shop. got the mrt down to orchard road, the major shopping street. i feel like i've been in countless shopping centres since i arrived in asia. i can't afford to shop at the moment and if i could i couldnt carry it anyways. strangely enough i managed to wonder into a shopping centre with a library in it, spent an hour or so reading up on bali.
i feel pretty safe in singapore, im not sure i would dare to wonder around any other new city at night by myself. decided to take a leisurely stroll in the direction of home. orchard road is just one shoppping centre after another, everything opens till late, so theres always people around and the streets and shop fronts are all brightly lit. somehow managed to find my way back to the bus stop outside the charlton hotel, luckily its a tall brightly lit building, turned out to be my guiding star!
however the bus journey home wasnt to be so straightforward. sat near the window to look out for my aunts road but somehow managed to miss it and ended up 1 mrt station away. the annoying thing was that the bus runs on a oneway road so couldnt simply cross the road and get the bus going in the opposite direction. by then it was dark and quiet, being in a residental area, theres no one walking around, got a bit scary. didnt realise just how far i had gone until i stumbled pass the mrt station, didnt want to jump on as it's still a 10 minute walk from the station to my aunts house, the bus route stops directly outside. tried to find the road going back towards the city centre but after walking a full circle i realised it was hopeless and better save time and my nerves by getting the mrt back one stop. once i got out of the station i still had to guess which way was home, such drama! luckily i didnt go in the wrong direction and finally reached home, pretty flustered, very sweaty, exhausted but extremely relieved. what a missions!
after such a manmouth day i'm going to take it easy today. wanted to go to the zoo and the night safari but my aunt's maid is making laksa for lunch and then my aunt is cooking dinner so have to stay local. got to read up on bali and sort out accomodation, have no where to sleep tomorrow night!
take care everyone xxx
