Singapore

Well our last day here in Singapore. I can't believe our 2 weeks have come to an end. What a lot we've seen and done and for me. I reckon I've eaten more in the past 2 weeks than what I have in the last 6 months.

So we walked to Bugis this morning as opposed to getting on at City Hall and MRTing and changing to the Downtown line. It was nice to do that and quite easy and nice walking outside instead of through the tunnels under the earth.

Anyway on the downtown line to Chinatown where my main objective was to find a mahjong set. But of course we'd planned out a morning and afternoon around that.

A wander throught through the closed off Pagoda Street with all the souvenir sellers selling their wares. To my embarrassment I bought one of those stupid waving chinese cats for my desk at home - a fat gold one. And some litte satin zip bags because they are always handy for bits and bobs when youre travelling or for your handbag.

We then visited the temple of the Buddha Tooth Relic. It's a relatively new building but it's gorgeously and very, very richly decorated. The bonus was there was a chanting ceremony starting when we got there. So there were about 6 monks in yellow robes near the deities chanting and playing instruments, and then the congregations were mainly women. Some definitely Buddhist nuns with shaved heads and brown robes; some were in black and grey robes so we're not sure who they were - maybe devotees?

Through the streets to a few other temples as we wound out way to Lau Pa Sat hawker stall for lunch in the downtown area. Walking throught the back part of Chinatown was very trendy streets. Lots of old houses that have been turned into trendy restaurants or boutique hotels. Lau Pa Sat is hugely popular with office workers and a bit more expensive than the other hawker stalls we have been to. But a beer and a fragrant hainan chicken rice and a dish of garlic bok choy was just the order for our last day here.

So next port of call was the People's Park Complex. This was THE original shopping place in Singapore and I remember Aunty Peg and Uncle Jim talking about it back in the day. Now it's still full of ramshackle shops with heaps of chinese ambience - not like Bugis - but kinda better quality maybe? And more local Chinese with travel agents, banks, goldsmiths, shoe shops - kinda cute.

We could have walked for hours to find a mahjong set but we asked in a shop and there was a dedicated mahjong shop there!!! Only a small shop but full of colours and tiles and dice and different coloured bits and specialised carved tiles. Oh my :) the old couple were really cute (the guy had really little hands) and showed us an "English set" - which really meant they had numbers carved into the tiles. It was heavy and expensive (198 SIN). And it looked junky thugh it was big. So I don't even know the game yet so said no to it. However when we walked outside he raced after us with an alternative. Mahjong cards! So I bought a red set for us and a blue set for Josie. I didnt look at the cards so I've probs spent SIN 20 on blank cardboard. Who knows :)

Back to the hotel to pack and get our heads around going home. We'd like to be going out but Mick's tummy is a bit yuck so a quiet one before our early wake up tomorrow.

This has been good for me. My first overseas trip for as long as I can remember almost. Hopefully it kick starts the flame again, I think I'm on the way...Read more