Day 1 in Sin

So now the real work/tour begins - after breakfast at 7:30 in a garage!! Yes - the hotel is renovating so they have their restaurant in a car port!! We set of at 8 for the first of 3 planned visits. First stop - Ministry of Education heritage centre - housed in a former Primary School in Queenstown New Town - this was a museum of the history of Education in Singapore - we were shown around the centre by a former principal - From there we went to the Seragoon Garden Secondary school to meet the geography teachers and learn about geography teaching in government schools - we went into what I can only describe as the most uninspiring classroom I have ever been in - grey walls, drab not even a map. The students were very polite and quite subdued compated to mine.
Our final visit was to the Housing Development Board to learn about social housing and new town development - very informative with even a look inside show flats - so I'm out free time some of us decided to take the MRT to see the New Town of Punggol - which is supposedly sustainable. It certainly is well planned with integrated transport and lots of communal areas and green roof gardens. Shopping Malls and schools. However I couldn't help thinking it was a little soulless. We took a ride on the Elevated LRT on the way back to get an overview - many areas are still being constructed.
Evening was spent near Chinatown getting Satay in the street market overlooked by the financial district buildings and then walking along Boat and Clark Quay - which was certainly buzzing for a Friday night!Read more