Day Two

It was a long day! In the morning we woke early and took a bus tour around the entire island. It was storming in the morning, so it was nice to be under a roof! We passed through major construction areas, housing areas with large buildings of flats, called HDB flats, and we eventually passed into a less-populated area where things were actually green! It is such a fascinating country - so many different aspects of life and culture all concentrated on one tiny island. We drove through a massive cemetery, and there were various sections according to religion. Even though the country is very diverse and people are fairly tolerant of each other, the cemetery was obviously segregated, with signs reading "Muslim cemetery" or "Christian cemetery". It was interesting to see the differences in the graves and how the dead were buried and treated from religion to religion. I took many pictures in the graveyard. There were also many fish farms in the northern region where it was secluded and green. These were farms for tropical fish or koi to be sold eventually. From a rest stop we could see Malaysia across the Johor straits, and there was razor wire along a vast fence...meant to keep the Malaysians out. It is reminiscent of the US/Mexican border and illegal immigration issues. They face a similar problem with still-underdeveloped Malaysia, where people try to cross into Singapore illegally by the river.

We stopped for lunch at a large mall, crossing back into the modern world and technology of the big city with huge sky scrapers and the constant construction that goes on in this area. It is amazing how expensive goods are here, but how cheap food is. We went to a food court, which is nothing like the food courts of America..no McDonald's or Sbarro here! Fei ordered us some random things in Chinese, and I got to try chicken feet and some kind of dumplings and a pork ball. All was very delicious, although I must say I probably won't go for the chicken feet again! Haha.

In the afternoon we got our MRT cards set up and took the MRT to the Museum of History. MRT is a metro system, and it's very well organised, clean, and fairly cost efficient. They are all about efficiency here, which makes sense because they must fit 4 million people on one island and make it all work! The Singapore Museum of History was very well organized and very beautiful, inside and out. We got audio companions and at each stop there were detailed stories and descriptions of the artifacts and the history of Singapore. There were two paths to walk - the events path, with the viewpoint of the British and others, and then the Personal path that displayed the thoughts of the locals and people who were subjected to different rules. There were many many things to look at and listen to, and of course I didn't get to all of it. We didn't even go to the upstairs exhibits on food and modern culture of Singapore. For a nation that has only been independent since 1965, it has changed a lot, and the history is almost more extensive than the US...I also find it more interesting, but that perhaps may be because I don't live here!

Post-museum, we walked around the city in search of drinks. We suddenly realized that it was Saint Patrick's day, and of course, like good college students, we sought the nearest bars. I was rather sad because I did not wear appropriate shoes for extensive walking - I thought they would be comfortable, but really one should not wear new close-toed shoes without socks. My feet still hate me today. At any rate, we made our first stop at the Loof, a bar on the rooftop of a building, where we took advantage of happy hour discounts (it being only around 5-something). We each got fancy cocktails, of which there are pictures, of course..haha. Then we decided to hunt down an actual (well - as real as it can get) Irish pub called Molly Malone's. It was so crowded, and it seemed that entire white population of Singapore was concentrated there. Very intense..But pints were fairly cheap (in comparison, but still very expensive), so several of our group got one. I, not really enjoying beer, ordered something called an F.B.I (full-blooded-irish) drink, and it was very delicious. After this we decided that food was in order, so we found an outdoor cafeteria-type place (of which there are many just about everywhere) and got some eats as well as Tiger beer, 3 1-Liter bottles for only 15 dollars (that's about 3 us dollars for 1 liter of beer..pretty snazzy for Singapore). It was local Singaporean beer, and I found it tasted similar to Natty light...but at that point we were a little more relaxed and didn't really care what it tasted like. The evening was quite a success, and we made our way back to the inn by the metro before 10pm...haha. Very classy. It was definitely a social experience, for we managed to find the non-touristy places and enjoy some local, more down-to-earth excitement. I kind of prefer it that way.

Singapore Photos Day Two