Day 10: Exploring Singapore in 2011

We still had plenty left to do in Singapore at this point and Little India was one place I wanted to introduce my mom and brother to.  India is so different from anywhere else I've been.  At first it all feels like chaos, but once you've been in it a while, it somehow becomes order.  Or at least it no longer feels like chaos.  We did a quick walk up and down the main street, stopping by one of the larger Hindu temples.  We went to Mustafa, which is like Singapore's answer to....Wal-Mart crossed with TJMaxx.  It's got everything, but it's everywhere, with small aisles and lots of people. We needed to get out of the rain and probably spent an hour or so there.  Picked up a few items as we looked around.

We continued to walk around town, even spotting a Christian church in the middle of it all.  That's one thing that Singapore does right.  It seems all beliefs and races are generally accepted and celebrated.  The public holidays are split - 2 Christian (Christmas and Easter), 2 Hindi (don't ask me which ones), 2 Muslim (Hari Raya I think), 2 Chinese (Chinese New Year) and 2 Singaporean (Independence Day and New Year's Day).  Within a block of my apartment, there is some type of Muslim prayer hall, a Methodist church, Buddhist temple and a couple other non-denominational looking Christian churches.

It was late in the afternoon and we needed to eat.  There is an Indian restaurant chain I had been to before but at a different location.  We headed there to eat, but alas they had no naan.  You can't have Indian food without the buttered naan  :)!  So we went elsewhere.  It was 3/4pm and a lot of places closed between the lunch hour and dinner so we didn't have many options.  We stopped in at the Banana Leaf, which is a very well known restaurant for tourists.  As implied, you eat off a banana leaf!  Here are some before, during and after shots from lunch.  I ordered way too much food, but we all tried everything and I think overall it was a good lunch for everyone.  I believe it was a first time experience with Indian food for both Mom and Curtis!

Can't remember how we got from Little India to the Raffles Hotel, but we did in time for some evening refreshments.  The Raffles Hotel is one of the historical buildings in town and is one of "the" hotels to stay in.  It also has the famous Long Bar where reportedly the Singapore Sling was invented, or perfected, or something.  In most all travel guides, one of the must do items is a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar.  So that's what we did!  It is darn expensive, but it's all part of the experience.  *I have heard though that they aren't that good, so I was safe and went for the watermelon martini.  Although I think they actually ended up being good, so I missed out.

Across from the Raffles is the hotel complex I would stay at when I traveled here for work, prior to the move.  I became very familiar with the shopping complex underneath the two large, high-rise hotels.  I even found a favorite donut place :).  So after drinks and still full from the very late Indian lunch, we picked up some donuts before heading home.  Even a snowman for Christmas!