Consumption city-state

Boris was brave enough to order durian juice, made from the stinkiest of all fruits. Too bad we can't convey the smell with a picture. Truly obscene.
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Singapore is a tiny but proud city-state which only separated from Malaysia in 1965. It has four official languages - English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil. In 1822, a Town Plan allocated neighborhoods to different ethnic groups living here, a system that has largely remained. It is a little-known but indisputable fact that Singapore is home to the world's friendliest, but least talented, cab drivers.

We learned a lot from these opiniated cabbies who speak the real official language here: Singlish, a nearly incomprehensible dialect, accompanied by chronic failure to shift from 5th gear when in traffic.

Murtabak in lilltle India, also prepared before our eyes.
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There is little to do in Singapore that does not involve consumption. And when your suitcase is already far above the airline weight limit, shopping is an impractical pursuit. So we did what anyone would do: we ate.

Our first stop was the Newton Circus Hawker Center. We haven't really figured out exactly what type of government Singapore has, but it is definitely concerned with tourism, because they have organized all the street food vendors into tidy little outdoor food courts. We sampled local dishes like chicken rice, fresh fruit juices (hallelujah, safe drinking water), and carrot cake (neither carrot nor cake, but a fried mix of white radish, egg, and soy sauce).

Singapore slings at the Raffles hotel where it was invented...guess I was thirsty!
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Because we are only 82 miles north of the equator here, walking is unpleasant, but we got to each of the various neighborhoods and explored them - Little India, Arab Street, Chinatown.

Another hilarious but nauseating cab ride brought us to the UDMC seafood center, a collection of restaurants on the beach where we gorged ourselves on local crab - one smothered in hot chili sauce, the other rubbed with black pepper, both extremely messy but tasty.

Our night came to a close after a night safari, where we lathered up with bug spray, then rode and walked through an area of the zoo where you can check out nocturnal and other animals (lions and tigers and bats, oh my!) - part corny, part spooky, part fun.

Chili crab is served! The hungry bib-clad patron awaits...good thing there are no "after" pictures.
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Another overnight flight tonight, the Australian Great Barrier Reef area tomorrow...