Slings, spins and other things - Singapore 2019 - Day 6

[BONZO]

Thursday 12th September 2019


Cast:

Shaun - me, 50's, loves travelling
Alison - wife, 50's, loves travelling

Index: HERE

We breakfast downstairs again in the restaurant and noticed how much everything is getting geared up for F1 with flags adorning every table, the staff talking about it etc.

Today we thought we’d travel out on the MRT to see some of the places in depth that we’d been through on the bus tour. The day was very hot and sticky as we travelled out to visit Little India.
Our first port of call was the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple on Serangoon Road

and now the history bit: -

Built in 1827 (later rebuilt in 1862), Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore’s oldest and biggest Hindu temple. Sri Mariamman Temple has been declared a National Monument by Singapore authorities. The impressive “Gopuram” at the entrance on South Bridge Road, has 6 layers of statues. “Mariamman” means “Mother Mari”, who is the Goddess of Rain and one of South India’s main Goddess. At Singapore’s Sri Mariamman Temple, the main shrine of Goddess Mariamman is flanked by Lord Ram and Lord Murugan. Highlights of the temple are the impressive roof and the paintings on the ceiling. In addition to Goddess Mariamman, other deities worshipped at the temple are Durga, Ganesh, Aravan, Draupadi and Muthularajah. Main festival at Sri Mariamman Temple is Theemithi (Fire walking ceremony), which is usually held in October.

Anyway, Alison decided to sit outside and I wandered in for a look around. As with Hindu temples it’s highly colourful but not full of gold or bling but really impressive all the same.

We walked back along the road did some touristy shopping and ended up in a shoe shop. We both bought some cheap croc flip flops and chatted to an Indian lady who had come from New Zealand who asked how we were finding things. She did say that the local Indian community were reserved and probably wouldn’t engage in the same way, but as she’d lived in New Zealand for such long time she loved talking to everyone!

We wandered along the main road for a while absorbing the atmosphere and spotted some slightly odd vending machines:

looked in the vast array of small shops all selling a variety of items from clothes to electrical goods. We’d previously passed the Khansama Tandoori Restaurant who had called us over previously to offer a menu and cheap drinks so feeling a little peckish we doubled back and settled in upstairs in the air-conditioned room rather than outside.

We didn’t want a full blown meal so had a couple of starters which were delicious (tikka platter and cheese kebab).

The atmosphere was only slightly spoiled by an American family who thought Korma was way too spicy and another group of people whose mobile phones were constantly going off loudly – I think I’m slowly developing into a grumpy old man!

After the meal had finished we made our way to Arab Street and noticed some coloured and decorated elephant statues in a small park as we passed, not really sure what their purpose or importance was but fun to look at all the same.

At Arab Street the familiar call to prayer had started which meant that only believers could enter the mosque, not a big issue as we’ve been inside quite a few over the years on previous trips. The area around and nearby was very up and coming area, popular with artistic people and buildings in multi colours. Lots of very good street art on bare walls along with vegan cafes and henna artists – that kind of gives you a feel for what the area is like.

As we walked along we found a jewellery and watch market place that seemed mainly geared up to the tourist trade. We took a look around then I approached one of the watch dealers who manged to fix my watch strap problem in a flash (after yesterday’s mishap!)

We took the short walk to North Bridge Road to Raffles to go to the Long Bar and have a Singapore Sling. A number of friends had told us not to bother and it’s very touristy / expensive but as always we prefer to experience it ourselves and make our opinion. We found the entrance outside, I suspect it’s to stop people just visiting the Long Bar going through the main hotel. I knew that the whole place had recently re-opened after a long period of refurbishment and the faint smell of fresh paint was everywhere.

As expected there was a bit of a queue but nothing horrendous and there was quite a flow of people coming in and out. We made our way in and was escorted to a table where we looked over the world’s most expensive cocktail list whilst eating Monkey nuts.

Ok, a bit of an exaggeration as I guess the drinks were at the high end of the scale although things aren’t cheap in Singapore at all. While we waited for our Singapore Slings (is there any other choice?), I stopped by at the bar to marvel at the Cocktail making machine – all very Steam punk!

All good things must come to an end and after soaking up the atmosphere and sipping cocktails it was time to move on and we reluctantly made our way back to our hotel.

It’d been a bit sticky all day today so we dropped our bags off in our room and went for a cooling and relaxing swim in the pool and watched the world go by.

As we watched the sun setting in the sky we went back to the room to get changed and settled into the lounge for a couple of snacks and some cocktails before venturing out again.

The neon lights of the city were shining brightly as we made our way to the Singapore Flyer for a night flight. It was interesting to see how the F1 track and stands were taking shape, apart from Brands Hatch I’ve not been this close before.

A bit about the Singapore Flyer - It has 28 air-conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers. Has an overall height of 165 metres (541 ft) and was the world's tallest Ferris wheel until the 167.6 m (550 ft) High Roller, which is 2.6 m (9 ft) taller than the Flyer, opened on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, US, on 31 March 2014.

We queued up and bought basic tickets and were lucky as they had limited tickets available for the night so we’d be on one of the last flights. Unfortunately we were the last pair to board which meant that there was no room on the bench for my ample backside. Not an issue as when the wheel got going most people stood up and moved around anyway. Fantastic views and something really special and atmospheric with spectacular views across the night time landscape.

I can’t remember how long the “flight” was but we were really glad that we did it. We left the wheel and watched its final spin of the night before walking through the Gardens at Marina Central, across the bridge and back into Marina Bay sands hotel to take our chances back in the Casino.

Well, no luck for us tonight so we called it quits and took a slow journey back to the hotel, using the last day of our MRT tickets, and I enjoyed a couple of beers that I'd bought earlier

[kateh134]

We saw the orange juice vending machines when we went recently, but the salmon one looks interesting! We thought the Singapore slings at raffles were delicious, very expensive, but we were glad we went.