Singapore Sling for Genteel Ladies, ONLY?

We started in the rain and walked to Singapore’s Little India area from our hotel. Our plans were to grab a bite somewhere along the way and strangely did not find a hawker stand as we walked. I was disappointed when we got to the area and didn’t find the area of spices and colorful buildings that I had found on my previous visit.

We did wander through the area and found some photo ops for Don. He likes to find skilled workers at their trade. Here, we walked through a garment district and he got permission to take a couple shots of a tailor working streetside just outside his shop. There were some unique building murals which also caught our attention

We finally took the MRT to China Town for the Temple of the Buddha Tooth Relic. I had been there on my last visit but thought Don would get some good pictures. This Chinese style, Buddha temple was concentrated in one multi storey building and not spread out across a few acres. Singapore doesn’t have the room other cities have. In a massive open room behind the Buddha statue entry, a mixed group of men and women worshipers were chanting from their books, their cadence and pronunciation produced an overwhelming. I was surprised that pictures were only forbidden in this one room and in the room of the tooth relic, and not throughout the building. Don managed to sneak a short video of the chanting room using the auto-video function of his camera; however, the presence of a vigilant guard prevented this subterfuge attempt. On a lighter note: We finally found a small group of monks, who were apparently, also, visiting the temple and were using their mobile phones to capture their own images, where permitted.

We hopped on another MRT and headed to one of my favorite stops, the Raffles Hotel Long Bar, where the Singapore Sling was originally concocted. A resourceful bartender realized that the ladies attending the bar could not order the drinks the men chose as it was unseemly for a proper lady to drink in public during the late 1800’s. The drink appeared to be an innocent fruit punch! Just a pink drink of fruit juices with gin and a couple other liqueurs for additional PUNCH. This big hit put the bar on the map. Don had the full strength “Sinapore Sling” while I had the mocktail with just the fruit juices; we tasted a difference, though.

We also enjoyed the unshelled peanuts served in a small burlap bag. This is the only place in Singapore where littering is allowed, since if you do not deposit the empty shells onto the floor the waiter will sweep the table clear as part of the bussing. I was surprised at how small the peanuts were and learned they were imported from Indonesia; Texas RoadHouse would be embarrassed to serve peanuts of this caliber. We then headed back to our hotel by bus.

We found a Taiwanese restaurant to balance our light lunch and tried a new cuisine. We chose just appetizers since we had basically snacked all day.

Time to turn in since we had a pretty big day planned for our last day in Singapore.