On to Singapore

We flew from Chiangrai to Bangkok, and were immediately aware that we were moving south, to more humid climes. Whew! We were only in Bangkok overnight and caught a plane the next morning to Singapore. We ate in the street stalls for our supper, but the buffet breakfast at the hotel was the best since we had stayed at the Sheraton.

Singapore is an amazing city/state! Yes, very clean!

We stayed in the Malay district in an Indian run hotel. It was cheap and clean and there were places we could buy cheap food right nearby. We tried roti bread with curry gravy, chicken samosas, chicken satay with peanut sauce (our very favorite) and drank lots of very strong, very milky tea.

We were there for the celebration of Chinese New Year and watched the Chingoy parade on TV (since we were told it had already happened when we asked and couldn't get there). The next everning we had our own little New year's parade right in from of our hotel, a bunch of boys doing the dragon dance!

The next day we took trains all over the place! We went to Little India, wandered around for a while and bought "Bride and Prejedice" (as recommended by Peter and Amanda). A very fun movie! I also bought an outfit (anwar chemise?) for a really great price, which I wore home to Manila. I love the look of Indian clothes! Such bright colors and so distictively feminine. It seems like all the ladies look good not matter what their size or age.

We went to the Science Museum and watched an IMax movie on the human body, and for the very first time, got a senior discount for being 55 or over! We went out to the bay and saw the Merlion from a distance, and wandered around in the Performing Arts Center that looks like a giant durian.

We saw people performing on traditional Chinese instruments, and the music was really nice.


Someone was telling me the other day that the reason why Singapore 'works,' with all its ethnic diversity, is that the government decides where people will live, and they mix all the nationalities in all the neighborhoods and apartment high-rises. People are only together as ethnic groups when they plan gatherings, or go to designated ethnic areas, like the Malay Village or Little India, the rest of the time, they live and work side by side with people of all different ethnic backgrounds.There are no ghettos. And the system works!