Too much culture? I think this is just the beginning.

So far I have managed to cover alot of Singapore and I think I have seen most of the highlights thanks to a wonderful lady, Margaret who is living here with her husband Dean and are both originally from Scotland. In one day we toured via the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) to a famous shopping plaza Tangs which we only had an ice coffee at the Marriot and then off to the Singapore Botanical Gardens inside of which we also saw the National Orchid Gardens (Singapores flower) and the Ginger Gardens (who knew there were so many types of ginger!) Then off to another coffee house (TCC- The Coffee Connosieur), going to keep using jet lag as an excuse whenever I can! We also managed to get my first Singapore drink in at Raffles Hotel at the Long Bar. Something every tourist has to do apparently is visit this famous hotel and have a $26 Singapore Sling (that really wasn't that tasty but heck it had alcohol!) With being such a prestigious and beautiful old hotel I was kinda surprised that while drinking your expensive drinks in the Long Bar (all booze in Singapore is very expensive $13 for just a vodka, $12 for their beer called Tiger) everyone is quite thrilled that they get to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor.....I said we get to do that in Calgary but usually at dinghy little pubs!

Then we walked and walked some more over to the Singapore Flyer which is like a huge enclosed Ferris Wheel that gave us a great view of the city all lit up at night.

The next day was my real 'culture' day and it actually started out sunny! Walked up Bincoolen Street and off the beaten path and found Sri Krishnan Temple. I could smell that wafts of incense long before I turned the corner and then was amazed by the number of people mid-morning worshipping to the temple and then appearing to turn and bow to the sun all with 5 sticks of lit incense in their hands. Then I carried on to Little India which was very crowded and very smelly with lots of food vendors and shops. Met a very friendly monk who invited me to come and stay in Chang Mai, Thailand at his temple and kept saying free bed free food, all for nothing. He seemed a little too friendly for a monk but he had the right costume....

Then I met up with my tour guide Margaret again and we hopped on the MRT for Chinatown and looked at all the different fruits and stalls.

Saw the most beautiful temple called Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum and must have spent 2 hours there touring the 5 story building, watched part of a service, toured the museum and on the rooftop an amazing orchid garden with a prayer wheel in the middle. We were told the wheel is for people who can't read or don't know how to pray. You walk around it 3 times and the praying is done for you, I walked a little extra.

After that we headed to the hot nightlife spot of Singapore called Clarke Quay along the Singapore River but we had no life left in us once we had dinner and a quenching Tiger beer so headed off home in a taxi! Can I still say I am suffering from jet lag? Or can I use the excuse of walking miles in 30 degree weather? One day I will party again!

We did see a fun place called the Clinic....a restaurant using hospital furniture including wheelchairs....a little creepy but cool at the same time.