New BFFs in Singapore

We went back to the food court across the street for a quick breakfast. You would think eggs, toast, and coffee could not get messed up. Wrong! The Singapore version provides four slices of reasonably dark toast with chilled butter packets, coffee with both creamer and sugar, however, the whites and yolks of the boiled eggs were warmed only enough to cook half the white and none of the yolks. Talk about soft boiled!

We took a taxi to the Singapore Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer. We arrived during the fellowship time before the English language service and while a Korean language service was in progress in another sanctuary. We were welcomed and were immediately handed a packet of chicken rice. As we ate, a lady parishioner, originally from Germany, introduced herself and explained she has lived in Singapore, since her late Thai husband passed, and has remained active in the church.

We were pleasantly surprised at the contemporary service, which was lead predominantly by the praise team. Their music was very familiar to us and included “Amazing Grace: My Chains Are Gone", " Build My Life," and “My Living Hope” for a very familiar service. The friendly parishioners were mostly Asian with a few Western Europeans. Our attendance tripled the number American worshippers.  

We had planned to walk to our next destination, the Botanical Gardens, however, because it was raining, one gentleman offered to drive us in his own car. We accepted the friendly offer and were taken to the entrance for The Orchid Gardens. I had visited this national treasure during a familiarization tour several years ago and vouched that practically every variety of orchid in the world is on display among the flower beds. Even in the rain, Don was like a kid in a candy store with his camera and took over 150 separate images in about 2 hours. The garden has many well placed and often covered seating areas, where I sat and waited for him to get too tired or too wet to continue.

We even encountered a trio, who were engaged in a fashion shoot of traditional formal attire. The model and assistant, immediately, fell in love with Jane's multi-colored, "swoosh," hairdo. We exchanged photographs with her newest BFF's. The weather broke as Don called an end to his flower power session. 

With the aid of two policemen, we found our way to the bus stop for the direct route back to our hotel.

For convenience, we chose another vendor in the food court across the street for dinner; this time selecting  Asian entrees. We violated a family maxim, 'Life is too short, Eat dessert first," and splurged on post meal gelato dessert at the shop next door to the hotel. I had a cup with yuzu and mango scoops. Yuzu is a Chinese citrus fruit, which tastes very good in this combination. Don, also, had a cup with chocolate and salted caramel scoops.

We shoehorned ourselves into our “tiny” room to rest and prepare for our next adventure filled day.