Bridget's Scooter Tour on Day 2

On our 2nd day in Singapore, Bridget did a scooter tour while I did stuff with the SSB fellows for the main part of the day.  So, here's Bridget's scooter tour blog post. :)

To start Bridget's day in Singapore, I slept gloriously late. It was fabulous and much needed rest. Even though I didn't set my alarm and woke up 30 min before I had to leave, I started out on the kick-scooter tour with Michael from the Inncrowd as my guide. There were 6 German travelers and 2 French who came with. We all made introductions at the beginning and I had difficulty making it clear that we were indeed here on holiday (the rest of the world's way of saying vacation) instead of business even though Jeremy was in a "meeting" that day. Once all the basics were covered, we headed out!

The first stop was at a public housing apartment building that has several Chinese shops in the first floor. As part of the culture, some Chinese believe that if you write a deceased person's name on a paper shaped as a certain object (like a phone or piece of food) and burn it as an offering, that object will appear in that deceased person's afterlife. Therefore, there are shops that have everything you can imagine in them (all made out of paper) like ipads, smart phones, water, money, rolls royces (with cheauffeur of course) and tons of other things.

Everything you could ever want...

Next we went down the road to see a couple of Buddhist temples. They were very pretty and had many followers there. We were allowed to go in and even to participate in the prayers, but I declined.

Temple 1

Temple 2

Temple 3

Buddha artwork

After we headed towards Raffles Hotel. It was here that I learned about the origins of the Singapore Sling. My grandpa encouraged me to try it out the fruity alcoholic drink while I was here because he heard of it while he was overseas. I didn't try it here since the one drink  costs S$30. Kinda pricey. So I just took a picture of the pretty courtyard.

Pretty Courtyard

We then set off for the major tourist sights including the Esplanade (which from above definitely looks like a fly's eyes) loving called by Singaporians "the durian," Sands Hotel, and the Lion. We rode past Fullerton Hotel (currently the 2nd most expensive hotel in Singapore costing a mere S$400 per night...) and I was the only one that knew that it used to be a Post Office (I got bonus smarty pants points from my guide for knowing that one). Then we went to the Old Market which is now a bunch of Hawker stalls and we got lunch.

Bay Sands Resort

Me in front of the Esplanade

Then we set off for my favorite part of the tour. We went to a building that explains the architecture and future of Singapore. 

Richard Rogers Architects

There were several interactive displays that showed what Singapore used to look like, what it looks like today, and what it will look like 10 years from now. It was so cool!

Scale model of the city (including future buildings!)

After the museum, we had a brief stop where Michael gave us a short lesson on how the crime and punishment works in Singapore. It is well known that Singapore is a very clean city which is very true. The reason is because there are strict punishments for offenders! Here are a few of them: S$500 fee for eating or drinking in the publich trains or their stations, for littering one must wear the jacket of shame and pick up trash throughout the city and pay a fine, for being suspected as being in a gang (with out ANY proof) the cops can put you in jail for up to 7 years without trial. For more severe crimes, in addition to fees and jail time, they also use caning. So basically, you don't want to break the rules in Singapore unless you are willing to face the punishment for them.
Then we stopped by another Buddhist temple, went through Chinatown, then up to Clark Quay. It was here that I discovered a lovely boardwalk along the river with lots of cute restaurants and shops. (Jeremy and I went back there later in the day for dinner)

Clark Quay Picture 1

Clark Quay Picture 2 (looking across the bridge over the Singapore River

It was here that I found a cheap place to try the Singapore Sling! My grandpa will be happy :) At this store that specializes in the Singapore Sling there were individual bottles that you could purchase in order to try it (which I did). Turns out it was kinda like most other fruity cocktails... but I'm glad I tried it.

Singapore Sling Store (on the left)

After Clark Quay was a quick stop at the Art School

Art School Work

Then pictures as a group!

Group photo!