Singapore pure

On our first full day in Singapore, we wanted to see as much of the city as possible. Wake up at half past seven, have a quick breakfast, off to the Botanic Garden!

We were awakened because of noise in the hostel hallway. Already almost ten! Since the schedule was already blown anyway, we had breakfast in peace and decided to let the Botanic Garden wait for us one day longer.

We took the bus to the next district, which is advertised everywhere: Little India. The hostel staff recommended us a good Indian restaurant, which we quickly found. The food was delicious, although sometimes extremely spicy. The Indians in the restaurant ate their food exclusively with their right hand (and without cutlery), as is usual there. Stephi was so brave and tried it. :-)

Little India is truly a different world! So many different and unfamiliar impressions, smells, sounds... In general, Little India is quite loud and dirty (probably similar to India). Singapore is super clean for such a big city, but you can't see much of that here.

In the district 'Arab Street', as the name suggests, almost exclusively Arabs live and work. There are many small shops, pubs, restaurants, hostels, etc. It's really nice here! The Sultan Mosque, built there in 1928, is really beautiful. Unfortunately, we could only visit it from the outside, as it is only open to visitors for two hours a day. There is so much to discover, try, and buy here as well...

According to a tip from the hostel staff, there is an old, white-bearded man in Arab Street who is said to make the cheapest and best tea in town. We wanted to see for ourselves. And yes, he is right! The tea is a milk chai tea (and, if desired, with ginger). Absolutely delicious! We will come back!

In Maggi and Richard's blog, I read about the amazing light show at Gardens by the Bay and wanted to see it for myself! And it was truly beautiful!!! The so-called 'Super Trees', plant-covered steel structures between 25 and 50 meters high, are illuminated to match the music, which can be heard far beyond the boundaries of Gardens by the Bay. This time the theme was 'A journey to Asia'. So we lay under the trees and enjoyed the spectacle on this wonderful warm summer evening.

The green ending of this phenomenal day was spent at the 'Marina Bay Sands' hotel (this famous one that looks like three towers with a surfboard on top :-)). We took the elevator up to the 57th floor, where the Skypark with a bar and the panoramic pool is located. The entrance fee is normally €16 there, but thanks to Ladies Night, which takes place every Wednesday, we got it all for free. Plus a drink of our choice. We opted for white wine, which was by far the best of our lives! There was no price list, we can only speculate...

The view was simply magnificent! Unfortunately, we were not allowed to use the pool. ;-) After dancing for another hour, we joined the line at the taxi stand and headed back to the hostel and bed.

What a day!