Day 2 in Singapore

Danae By the National Day Banner

Danae on the top of our tour bus

Today was the National celebration day in Singapore. There were flags flying every where. Even on the cheeks of little kids.

We took a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city. Basically, a London double-decker styled bus, which is open on top. It tours the city's most famous and/or notable sites. It has about 20 stops where you can get off and explore. After which, a bus comes by each stop every 20 minutes. Also, they have a tour guide on the bus describing the different sites. We saw a lot more of the city than the previous day. Our impression: Wow. The city is beautiful. I posted a whole mess of the pictures at the bottom of this blog from the tour.

One of the interesting things we learned about Singapore is about their housing. The government provides housing to about 86% of the population. Moreover, the exterior of the governmental housing, usually high-rise complexes, is almost indistinguishable from the private residencies (which are VERY expensive, think in the millions). The one distinguishing feature is that the governmental housing doesn't come equipped with washing machines and driers. Consequently, everybody has to hang their clothes from bamboo sticks outside their windows.

Gov't Housing: notice the clothes hanging

Later, we came to Chinatown and it was interesting. It is like any other city's Chinatown, but only nicer. While here, we splurged and had Singapore's most famous dish: red chili crab. It was delicious, and very messy. They take a huge fresh crab and serve it you cooked, over a mess of red chili sauce, hence the name. It is difficult to eat.

My Chili Crab

The Remains of my Chili Crab

Again, for dinner, we had a bad dinning experience that caused us to leave before our food came. We ended up giving up on Singapore's culinary offerings and settled on the Whooper Bar (our first real American meal in a week). Thailand spoiled us with it's wonderful food, friendly service, and cheap eats. Anyways, for those who don't know, the Whooper Bar is a Burger King that has better burger toppings (like grilled onions and mushrooms) and serves beer.

We seem to meet people every time we go out, and tonight was no different. We met a group of French guys at The Whooper Bar. They were interning at the French Embassy in Singapore. We had a good chat, and headed home.

One thing about Singapore that I don't think I've mentioned yet is safety. Although at no point in Thailand did we ever feel uneasy about our safety, Singapore is on a whole new level. It is the poster country for safety. It does not matter where you are or what time of night it is, anybody would feel safe. I've read that it's the safest city on the planet by any measure. But then again, what do you expect from a country that executes drug users and traffickers. They even warn you on their custom cards you fill out.

Sent from my iPhone