Singapore

Flight to Singapore (3 hours) was uneventful. When we landed I said my goodbyes to the other guests from the Minahasa. Went thrugh immigration in a heartbeat, my luggage was there fast and my driver was already waiting for me. He brought me to the Swiss Court Merchant hotel which is very close to a lot of things and had been recommended to me by my travel agency. It was a good choice.

Across the street was a shopping center so I went over to find a supermarket to get something to eat and to drink. I finally found one and went back to my room. I was tired and it was dark and I didn't really want to go out any more so I called it a day early.

The next morning I got up early and first went down to the breakfast buffet... GREAT!!!! Didn't have that much time though since I had booked a city tour and we were supposed to be picked up at 9 AM. Well, they were not really punctual and the drivers didn't have a list of names who to pick up so it was sort of a mess. This vans were only pick-ups and since they came to our hotel only after 9:30 we were the latest ones to arrive at the 'actual bus'. That meant last row for me...

We drove throught the city first.





Then came our first stop: Little India








There were a lot of indian tourists in my bus and those stopped at a 'Krishna' (or is it Vishnu?) statue to perform some religous rites. The women were making noise while the men were making circles with the flame.




Looks like appartments are not very big in Singapore...


A typical taxi


Indian shopping mall


Thenwe got back into the bus


The next stop was not too far away and that was where the 'national sign' of Singapore is.






And this is what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris and the statue of Liberty for New York: the white lion.


Strange architecture..




These were all plastic cups




These are for Sctx...




Next stop was Chinatown..
Pagoda




That one is for m german friend Torsten again...






Not sure what this sign is about...


A temple


And next to it the mosque


And they are close to the pagoda...






Typical design of cloth in Singapore.






Looks good, does it?



Then we went to a factory where you could buy jewelry. Duty free (they omitted the information though that when you don't pay tax in Singapore you will have to pay tax in Germany which is 19 % - and much more than VAT in most foreign countries... ). I didn't wanna spent a 4 digit amount on a necklace so I was out of the factory rather fast....

The last and longest stop was the National Orchid Garden. Singapore is famous for orchids and there are lots of different ones in the park.


















Then we were brought back to our hotels. It was 2 PM by then and I was hungry so I went over to the Shopping mall and went to have a burger at Billy B..... (don't remember the last name).


Since my next appointment was only later that day I took a taxi to Orchard Road which is 'shopping paradise'. I had seen a Borders shop from the bus and wanted to buy books.










Lots of shopping malls in Orchard Road. The problem is that you need to know in which mall there might be shops that are of interest for you. If you don't know that there is now way you find them. E.G. I would have liked to have a look at photo equipment. Didn't find a shop that had this... so for me Singapore is not a shopping paradise. At least not if you don't know where things are... so I got back into a taxi and went back to my hotel....

Singapore 2