Feeling skint and up for a stroll Cath, Kate and I decided to walk to our hostel Sleepy Sam´s which was located in a very cool area called Arab Street that is slap bang in the middle of the Muslim area of Singapore. Being a little further than we expected we arrived quite sweaty but happy to find a decent cafe, some computers that worked and nice comfy beds!!
Not wanting to waste any time we had a bit of a freshen up, a small snooze and then hit the streets to find some mischief...or at least a much promised and talked about Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel. Given that we had put our best togs on (although you can never really be considered dressed up when backpacking) we were all a little disappointed when we eventually found the world famous Long Bar. Without wanting to cause offense to any North American readers it has the feel of a bar in Alabama - floors crunching with peanut shells, a dark interior and a sultry bar tender. Once we had gotten over our initial let down and found a table we ordered our drinks and started on the nuts (I guess with the shells on it solves the issue related to the popular urban myth about peanuts in bars - ask your mum if you don´t understand that one.) I must admit that I was quite impressed with cocktail though, quite a fruity little number that wasn't too strong and didn't have that slighty chemically taste that some drinks have!!
Sling's in Singapore
Crunchy floor
Raffles isn't the kind of place that you get going on an all night session so we adjourned to a cute little cafe around the corner for some tasty bites and more chatting...something that Cath and Kate were getting rather into!!
The following day we finally managed to find a way of getting our mobiles to work (it is so amazing how nice it is to have them switched off at the bottom of our bags) and gave a colleague of mine, William, a call. He was guide galore and took us on a whirlwind tour over two days of the Botanical Gardens and Orchid-arium (cue loads of photos!), the street track for the upcoming F1 night race, the all new Singapore Flyer (London Eye), all kinds of colonial buildings and landmarks and the BP office (some great views.) As part of our tourist experience we also went to Singapore Zoo and stcuk around for the night safari which takes you around a number of the more nocturnal animal's enclosures while they awake, stretch and eat...some were even roaming freely although thankfully not the hyenas, rhinos or gators.
One of many lovely orchids
Guide and guidee
Tour guiding, however, was not the best thing about having William with us...he is a food buff with a capital B and was very welcome to share his expertise. For lunch on our first day he took up the challenge of bettering the Dim Sum we had in Hong Kong, almost but no cigar...but it is the second best we've ever had. This was followed up with some of the best curry I have had outside Tooting, eaten off of a palm leaf plate with unlimited spicy sauces. On our final evening and after finding out about our recenlty discovered penchant for Roti Canai he took us to his 'local' and introduced a whole heap of different flavours and types including paper roti which stood proudly to attention in a pyramid!! As if this wasn't enough we were then whisked off to the secret of his eating out experience, a small market outside the centre where we found great Satay and a lovely drink whose name passes me by now but William you know what it was!!
Yummy curry on a leaf
All in all another great food experience in a great food city - made possible by a friend very generous with his time, knowledge and secrets!!
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