Curry Galore in Singapore!

The Singapore Sling in Raffles
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Arrived in Singapore not really having a clue what to expect. Its a real mix of Chinese and Indian cultures. A really vibrant, colorful city.

Singapore is made up of lots of different regions, all of which a quite different from each other. We stayed in Kampung Glam (the Arab quarter) which is quite a small area with lots of little shops and cafes that are open 24 hours. The cafes sill out onto the streets and fill up with locals on an evening.

....selling things such as pig intestine soup...

The $25 drink itself
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There are lots of impressive temples and mosques around the city. Amazing to look at. As you walk by them there is often the smell of incense burning.

We walked around the Little India an China Town areas - China town in particular - was really colourful as it gets lit up by red lanterns hanging over all the streets. There are lots of clothing and material stalls and spice shops as well as a huge amount of restaurants and bars especially along the Singapore River..

You can get food in Singapore to any budget. Popular places with the locals are the Hawker centres which are basically areas filled with food stalls selling all different kinds of different typical meals and snacks. We tried out Lau Pa Sat, a Victorian Hawker Centre. It was much more civilised than I had pictured. There was so much choice. Obviously we avoided the stalls selling things such as pig intestine soup and other wierd sounding dishes and stuck to what we knew, but it was good and sooo cheap. We also had lots of Rotis and Maturbaks (different Indian style breads) which were yummy with Dahl. Ben was having these for breakfast too.

Chinatown Singapore
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The Botanical Gardens were lovely to walk around. We sent a morning in the orchid garden, very impressive, before heading to the shops on Orchard Road.

Orchard road is shoppers paradise. A long road crammed with huge shopping malls which themselves are crammed with shops! All the staples from back in the UK too - M&S, Top Shop, Warehouse etc.

We went for a mandatory Singapore Sling at Raffles, in the Long Bar where they were first invented. A cool bar full of people all drinking the same cherry brandy cocktail and munching on mountains of monkey nuts. We could only afford to stay for one!