Okay, I'm really behind in posting and I apologize. I knew as soon as the conference started that despite the fact I'd have "constant" wifi access (in theory) the challenge would be finding the time to sit down and actually type up a recap. I'm currently sitting in my hotel room alone, it's almost 5am. Corinne left not too long ago for her flight and after getting up to say goodbye I haven't been able to fall back asleep. I hope I get sleepy soon though otherwise it's going to be a long last day in Singapore.
Anyways, where did I leave off? Oh yes, day 2. I have quite a bit of ground to makeup...
Day 2 - 11/26/12
We went to bed very late on day 1 and that was probably the best thing I could have done to get over my jetlag. It was a long day and even though I struggled to keep myself awake on the way back from dinner on the train following the laser light and water show, I made it. However Corinne tells me that the minute my head hit the pillow I was out. I'm not really surprised.
Not sure if I mentioned dinner on the first night or not, but what I ate that night by far was my favorite thing. It was from a place called "Pepper Lunch" in the Marina Bay Sands food court. I got pepper beef. The basic concept is a very very hot stone plate that they put rice and corn in the center of. Then around the circle of rice they put in the protein of your choice, so for me it was beef. They season it up with pepper and some other yummy spices and hand it off to you. You then take the plate back to your table, sit down and let it cook. Once the beef is no longer pink you mix it in with the rice and corn creating your meal, adding different sauces and dressings to get the perfect taste you're looking for. I would eat there every day if I could. Corinne had the curry cheese pepper chicken and WOW that one was amazing too. I'm definitely going to try to get back there at least once during the remaining part of my trip and then I need need need to find it back in the States.
This is pepper steak from Pepper Lunch.
We got to sleep in a little on Monday but met up with another friend of ours here for the conference, Gracie, and then made our way to the green line EXPO train stop to meet up with Scott and Kat. The 2 of them had planned another full day of sight seeing, including souvenir shopping, another museum, a visit to the famous Merlion, dinner and the world-famous Night Safari.
While waiting at the train stop I heard a familiar voice call my name from across the platform. Not expecting to know anyone here I ignored it but it called again and this time started walking towards me. I couldn't believe it when I finally saw a friend from home (not just back in the States, but home Cleveland home) Jim coming up to give me a hug. I had no idea for some reason that Jim was coming. Jim is one of the reasons I'm involved in SIGGRAPH (yes, I can blame him for all this) so it was such a nice surprise. We started sharing our planned adventures when the train came. We hopped on with everyone else and away we went.
After transferring trains, and saying goodbye to Jim, the 3 of us finally arrived at Kat's stop on the train where we then jumped to the yellow Circle line with Kat and Scott to make our way to City Hall. City Hall is in what I think is close to the center of town. It's a huge high-end shopping mall. I don't think I will ever be used to the malls playing Christmas music and being decorated with wreaths and trees here. It's just so odd for some reason. After winding through some streets, passing the famous Raffles Hotel, we stopped for lunch at a well known Chicken Rice place called Sin Swee Kee. For those of you who don't know, Chicken Rice is one of the dishes most associated with Singapore. We ordered quite a spread to share among the 5 of us including 2 kinds of Chicken Rice, fried pork chops (my favorite!), fried tofu, vegetables and barley juice to drink. My tummy was very happy.
Raffles hotel.
Chicken Rice from Sin Swee Kee.
This is what chicken rice looks like.
Right down the street from lunch was the Mint Toy Museum. 5 floors of toys from all around the world, most older than I am, but all of them so so cool. My favorite floor was the one that included all of the old Mickey Mouse toys. It was so cool seeing how he has changed over the years and how he was represented in all of the different countries Disney reached.
Old Snoopy at the Mint.
Old Mickey at the Mint.
Once we finished the museum we made our way through town, stopping for bubble tea and snacks from BreadTalk of course, and back down to the waterfront only this time we were on the opposite side of the bay from the ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands. We passed by the Esplanade performing arts center and by a really cool public art display full of cats and dogs. Making our way down along the river walkway we stopped to take photos and then headed over to meet Mr. Merlion at Merlion Park. Visiting the Merlion was the 1 and only thing I knew I HAD to do while I was here. I'm obsessed with him. He's just so cute how can you not love him? I might have an unhealthy obsession with him but that made for some great photographs from every angle, most which include the city skyline behind him. I just can't get enough of him. After everyone got their fill of photos, and after watching the Australian Better Homes and Garden TV crew film an opening for their show, we made our way further into town by cutting through the Fullerton Bay Hotel and down to the train station. Our next destination? Orchard Road for some souvenir shopping. To avoid any spoilers on the presents I'm bringing back I won't talk much about the shopping we did.
The Esplanade, a performing arts center that looks like a durian (a very stinky fruit).
The dogs and cats art piece at the Esplanade.
The view from the other side of the bay at the ArtScience Museum and Marina Bay Sands.
Mr. Merlion!!!
Inside of the Fullerton Hotel.
After Orchard Road we bid farewell to Gracie who had to head back to our hotel for a dinner meeting, and then we ourselves made our way into another part of town for dinner. This time we were going for something a little more, well, different than your typical Singaporean cuisine. As we were walking though a very familiar smell started to fill the air. I looked up and low and behold right in front of me was a Garrett's Popcorn! I couldn't believe it! I come all the way to Singapore and there in front of me was a big piece of Chicago. Maybe the world isn't as big as we think it is... I should have bought a Chicago Mix to see if it tasted the same but since we were on our way to dinner, and this isn't something unique to Singapore (HA!) we just did a quick photo op and then made our way to dinner with one other quick souvenir stop.
Um, really? Garrett's in Singapore?!?!
We eventually ended up at a local irish pub named Muddy Murphy's for beef cubes, onion rings, french fries and some hard cider. Yup, not what you expected right? But it was oh so good. The funny thing about Murphy's is this was the 1 place Corinne and I fit in. Like really fit in. Every where we go people tend to stare and even take photos because of how different we are being blonde. But here, everyone was clearly from another part of the world, one that wasn't Asian. It was weird, but oddly comforting.
From there we hopped in a cab and made the drive from the city over to the Night Safari, an entire zoo dedicated to nocturnal animals. It was so AWESOME! From elephants, to tigers, lazy bears, lions, hyenas, leopards, wallabies, fishing cats, otters, I could go on and on. The biggest surprise at this zoo I saw? 2 Binturongs!!! (Otherwise known as Bearcats) They were so cute and so active, not like Lucy at the Cincinnati Zoo who always seemed to be sleeping or hiding when I went. But being night zoo, well they were up and around, making their cute little meow like noises and climbing all over the trees. They shared an enclosure with otters who were chit chatty and adorable as well. I wish I had a better camera to take night time photos because these guys were all so cute. Another really cool part was the walk-thru enclosures. Both the flying squirrels and the bats had these where you actually walk thru their open enclosures and have them zip by you. I was within 1 foot of a giant fruit bat, watching him eat a melon. I couldn't believe it, but again my camera didn't do it justice. After walking all the trails at the zoo we then hopped on the tram and took a ride through the entire zoo. This was like the safari ride at Animal Kingdom in FL only better.
The entrance to the Night Safari.
The first trail we took at the Night Safari.
This was the only photo I took at the Night Safari of an animal that came out. He's a cute little roof rat.
At that point we had seen it all and were really tired. We took a few photos and then loaded into a cab back downtown and back to our hotel. It had been a really long day and Scott and I had to get up early Tues to head out to a high school for our meeting with some students.
The exit to the Night Safari.
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