Day 2
This morning again we had breakfast but this time we (not very) successfully figured out the Singaporean metro system to which we utilised to travel first to the little Arab quarter, which when we walked along and through found that there was a lot of silks, gold and diamond shops like this.
On the way to the metro we saw some cool buildings including the hotel we're staying at.
The cheese part of the "chocolate and cheese" bar.
We also found that the Arab quarter wasn't as modern as the business district (for obvious reasons) and that the houses people lived in were made of wood and instead of curtains they had the cheaper option of wooden shutters.
We then proceeded to walk round the Arab district to another cultural hotspot: Little India. Although there were more shops and stalls in Little India than the Arab district I felt that the Arab district was more welcoming, open and more tourism orientated. The air smelt a mix of of spices and incense. Here are only a few things we found that they sold.
As you can see there is a variety of things to be found and/or bought. After visiting these places it was still only lunch time this lead to us looking for a place to have lunch, we were meant to have lunch at another traditional Singaporean reataurant but it was closed in respect for the death of the modern founding father of Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew so instead we went back to the same place we went to yesterday. After this we meandered around the mall, during this time we entered the Louis Vuitton shop which lead into it's own personal island on the Singaporean River, sorry but I had to crop a photo so it won't look as good as it should do.
Our Hotel
After that we returned to the hotel had afternoon tea and went for a swim in the pool which then lead to twenty minutes of sun absorbing (more commonly known as sun bathing). Post pool venture me and my mum just lazed about our room for a few hours (I think) before (all three of us) heading out to dinner except the original place we were going to was outside and therefore in the (still) overwhelming heat. This forced us to move indoors to the more comfortable restaurant of Osteria Mozza, this was a great Italian pasta based restaurant the meals of choice being (me)Spaghetti alla Carbonara (mum) Fancy Pasta(?)Bolognese (dad)Vegeterian (although he is not)Lasagne with very fine Pasta, Eggplant, Riccota Cheese and Olives. They all had good reviews. Following dinner was a return to the hotel in the case of me and mum but dad took a 3.3 Km walk around the main Clarke Quay which surrounds a part of the Singapore River, instead of going back to our room we decided to visit the 55th floor home to the chocolate and cheese bar. I think photos will describe best what happened.
This is the chocolate part of the "chocolate and cheese" bar.
actually this is coffee - the beans come out of an elephant (best not to think about this), then dried in the sun and ground for our pleasure (well, not ours actually - for the other guests who dared to drink it).
That's it so yeah time to head off to bed. Thanks for reading about my trip and if you want to tell your friends. Thanks.
Joseph Hewson
Love that diamond! And how clean everything is - the chefs with masks and all the boards covered in plastic under the benches. The range of food is amazing and the chocolate and cheese bars remind us of Paris. Wonder if you tried everything!!!
ReplyDeleteI would have had a ball amongst all that fabric and silk, but
I think I'd feel dizzy at the pool at the top of your hotel. Another great blog and enjoying your descriptions and photos of your experiences Joey.