Chennai Journal: Singapore Fling

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Singapore Fling

Marty and I just got back from a long weekend in Singapore. I will spare you the pictures of Marty enjoying beef ribs at Lawry's or a real American hamburger at the Long Bar at Raffles. The Long Bar is home of the original Singapore Sling, and there seemed to be just trays and trays of this sicky sweet concoction being served to other Americans and Australians. We passed in favor of Singapore's native beer, Tiger.

The real highlight of the trip wasn't the food, though we enjoyed it, or the traffic, remarkably sane after Chennai. It was nature, especially the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The star of the Botanic Gardens is the National Orchid garden, which has orchids both rare and ordinary, some named after famous visitors such as Princess Diana and Nelson Mandela.

We also visited the Night Safari, next to the Singapore Zoo, where you can observe hundreds of species that you simply would never have the chance to even know about from Western zoos (flying squirrels among them). The intriguing thing about the Night Safari is that it is all done under the cover of darkness via a tram, with lighting around the animal areas to allow you to observe their movements. At the end of the adventure is a Ben & Jerry's outlet!

We bought a new digital camera, a Panasonic with a Leica lens. Marty patiently followed me from store to store to get the best price--there are literally dozens of camera shops on Singapore's main shopping drag, Orchard St.

We did miss going to the Singapore's small shul, because we way overslept on Saturday---there is about a three hour time difference from India. We'll plan better next time.
- posted by nred @ 10:07 PM

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