Singapore: Chinatown.

By far the best place to find unique and interesting things in Singapore is Chinatown. Here you can have a custom stamp made with your Chinese zodiac or even a suit tailored specifically for you. My favorite treasure is my new collection of calligraphy brushes! Chinatown is full of open vendors selling anything you might want. If you are making a trip there this is on your "must-do" list!

 

The metro station nearest to Chinatown is People's Park and I loved the sign!

 

Oddly at the end of the open market is a grand Hindu temple.... shouldn't that be in Little Indian. Very Beautiful though! 

 

Can't have Chinatown without the lanterns!

 

I just loved the vibrant colors of Chinatown! 

Singapore: Little India.

While in Singapore we travel to one of the distinct cultural districts, Little India. Here are several shops with outdoor carts full of produce and goods. There is a large open market called the Tekka Market. The upstairs has clothing and electronic stores. I bought a fabulous tunic there. The lower level has more produce, butchers and fresh fish.

 The main street of Little India.

More markets. 

 

The Tekka Market, lower level.

We passed stands selling this beautiful floral arrangements. They are very fragrant ornaments. Jeff decided that Caitlin and I needed more "leis" and bought us 15 lbs. of flowers! We walked all around town with the locals giving us odd looks. After lunch, with a sore neck, I passed a car with the same arrangement hanging from the grille! I then realized that Jeff was making us wear car ornaments! Turns out they are for cars, temples and other things worth blessing. How embarrassing! We were the stupid Americans for that afternoon, thanks Jeff.

 The massive "Leis"

Yes, we look ridiculous.

For lunch we ate at the Banana Leaf, an Indian restaurant. I am always nervous about eating curry because it is an intense flavor and not always my favorite. However, the food here was amazing and a little fun since you eat off of a banana leaf!

 You eat off banana leaves. How eco-friendly. 

The best picture of us.

Singapore.

A few weeks ago I had an adventure; I went to Singapore! The true purpose of the trip was to see JJ, he just so happened to go to a fabulous place. The USS Charlotte pulled into Singapore for 5 days in March for some R & R and several of the wives met up with the guys. When people ask me what I thought of Singapore or how my trip was I have a one word response "wonderful."

Other questions people asked me about my trip were:

What language do they speak there?
Singapore is a melting pot of cultures and people. Everyone there speaks English as it was a British colony until the 1960s when they gained their independence. So it was pretty easy to get around while there. I didn't have to stumble over words and make a complete fool of myself.

What did you do?
Singapore is famous for their food, you will never go hungry. In between eating you can visit one of the 36523827 malls! There is a ton of shopping, with so many stores and you do not see repeats; it is amazing. Most of the shopping I did was in Little India and Chinatown, I liked how those areas were culturally different and you could really get one of a kind items.

What was your favorite thing?
Truly my favorite thing was just spending time with my husband. However, I understand that you don't really want to hear about that mushy stuff. So I would say the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo was my favorite adventure. You really feel like you are with the animals, there actually do take you into some of the enclosures..... just not with the tigers!

How were the flights?
The flights were long! And I had to flight through Narita in Japan which is not exactly a direct flight. On my way back I had a 5 hour layout, in which I experienced an earthquake. It was a 4.8, but to me that was significant! At first I thought a plane hit the terminal because there were exploding sounds! I was very glad to be boarding my plane two hours later.

I have to say over all I was disappointed with my photographs. I must do a lot of editing before I really like a few of them. In the mean time, here is an ablum of some of the unedited photos.  Click on the photo below to check it out.

I will try to blog more later about specific things I did in Singapore with edited images.

Ginger Snaps. Updated.

 

Ginger Snaps has been updated with a new topic.