After eating god only knows what for breakfast at Clark Quay today, I decided it was time to do the river cruise. The key difference between the one I did in 2007 and the one that I did today was the fact that in the bum boats have been cleaned up and are now eco-friendly electric boats, not the stinking diesel fumes and cassette tape player commentary that I experienced in 2007, which I was of course expecting to have experienced again today. A bit said really, clearly the greenies and hippies have taken over.
After some more bus dramas which I didn't mention yesterday, namely one of the hop on hop off buses apparently starts and ends at the flyer, where you may have about a one hour wait until the next bus leaves. Would be nice if they mentioned that somewhere before you get stuck here. However, I was able to catch another line bus over to the orchid gardens. I didn't bother wasting my time with the botanic gardens - been there, done that.
The orchid gardens are still fantastic. It was an extremely hot day and I was sweating like crazy, however there were lots of shady areas and a few new bits and pieces added to the orchid gardens that were not there six years ago. Yes, I did take about another 500 photos of orchids! My entrance fee was included as part of my Singapore pass.
I decided to forgo lunch st the overpriced cafes inside the gardens and walked abiut minutes to have lunch at the food court nearby. Yes, more roasted pork rice and iced lemon tea. I know it is a little boring to keep eating the same thing all the time, but when you have the dietary dramas that I do, it is sometimes the safest option. Who needs to be sick every single day?
Back to Suntec on the bus for a little more light shopping. I went back to the dress shop that I saw yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to be able to find dresses priced two for $10 up to $10 each. $20 later I had four dresses in a size medium. OMG, they are awesome. One of them is absolutely beautiful, I may be wearing it to a friends wedding in the next few months!
More stupid Singapore Flyer arriving bus drama later, I'd had enough and elected to catch a cab back to Chinatown. I visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, arriving in time for prayers. I then caught the
MRT to Paya Lebar station and visited the Geylang Serai night bazaar, nothing much has changed there!
The first time I came to Singapore, I stayed in this area and was delighted by this night market for Ramadan. Watching people buying food for the dinner after breaking fast is really interesting to watch. I was also privileged enough to enjoy a very beautiful sunset. It was the first decent one I have ever seen in Singapore, mostly because I have only ever been here in October. I think the smoke haze from the recent fires definitely added to the beauty of the sunset. I have been very fortunate in that I have enjoyed mostly sunny weather and blue skies this time around, which is a big contrast from the first time I came here and it was overcast for three weeks straight!
After a complete waste of time MRT ride to Tanjong Pagar where I found that the juice bar that I had a group on four was unexpectedly closed, it was back to Chinatown for dinner, a Durian Crunch McFlurry and I bought a few more dresses. Yes, I did say Durian. I actually quite like Durian, even after the initial smell of dirty socks and first taste of dirty socks, it is actually very nice!
So, here I am back in my hotel. I am very excited that tomorrow I will get to have breakfast with orangutans, and finally visit Singapore zoo and Night Safari, as well as the newly opened river safari. It will be a very long day and I expect at some point I will need to bunk off to a shopping mall, but it should be awesome.
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