Time to go (Sinapore Airport)

This lady we met in Singapore told us about a famous restaurant at the entrance into China Town that had the best Chicken Ball Rice. She did not know the name but we found it. Line up 15 – 20 deep when we arrived and the same when we left. The restaurant only makes rice balls and served chicken (you could get it with or without bones). It was really good. We got the boneless variety. They sat us with another couple and when they left they sat someone else with us. No chair went empty. It is a good way to meet other travelers.

We spent our last day hanging around our hotel and the beach area. We headed to the airport early to get checked in. What an amazing airport.

Grave Site

We were walking around a grave yard in Malacca and I found this tombstone. The inscription read "Captain Kidd" Date of Birth Unknown. Passed away 1756. I assumed it was the Pirate Captain Kidd so we took a picture of the grave and later research said Captain Kidd is at the bottom of the Thames in England. Can anyone tell me who this guy is?

Another church in the town square in Malacca

St Pauls Church in Malacca

Melacca (aproximately 60 miles south of Kuala Lumpur)

One thing we did notice was that you could not go more than 2 or 3 blocks without finding some kind of food station. Singaporeans do love their food. Because of my food allergies I had to be careful, and we did not have any problems. There are these large areas of different stations of food vendors called Hawkers Stations. Food was very cheap. Plates ranged from $2 - $5. Occasionally we ate at these places but finding someone who was fluent English was rare. A lot of these places sold very interesting food. One sign said 1 frog $4, buy 2 and get 3rd one free. So we tended to find more food court kind of places where it was a bit more expensive but they spoke English. However after 10 days we were getting tired of rice, noodles and soup.

We met a local lady at one of the food courts and we started talking. She told us to go to Malacca which is in Malaysia. She grew up in Malacca and recommended that we see it. So we did some research and hopped on a bus (which took 4 ½ hours one way) and set out on a new adventure. We spent the night at a very nice small hotel. Malacca has a lot of history, and we spent the two days walking and viewing buildings that were built in the 1600’s by the Portuguese at the beginning of the spice trade. This is was the remains of a church ( St Paul’s ), then later when the British Army conquered the city they used the church for a burial ground. It was situated on the top of a hill overlooking the city and only the four walls remained.

Plenty of room to pitch a lawnchair on Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island

Sentosa Island

We took a small ferry, called a bumboat to a small island and rented bicycles for the day and road around. It was very small only about 100 locals lived on the Island. The scenery was really nice.

We also went to another island called Sentosa Island. It is noted as an amusement park. We walked around and ended up on the point that is called the most southern point of Asia. We also spent some time on the beach. A lot of people from Singapore come here to go to the beach. The water was warm, clean, and the tides were not to rough.

More Sight-seeing

We also spent an afternoon just on the train system (it is an above ground as well as underground) just transferring to the three train systems to see the city. Apparently that is wrong. When we went to exit with our cards, it would not let us go through so we had to explain to the transit person what we did. He charged us $2 on our card and sent us on our way. It was a very good way to see the city. Most people live in high-rises. The city is amazingly clean. Everyday people are sweeping driveways, and the sidewalks and street in front of their shops. Even areas that are filled with plants and shrubs are constantly being maintained by getting rid of the dead debris. Gum is not permitted in Singapore and there was not a stick of gum to be had anywhere. We felt very safe walking anywhere in the city day or night.
We spent one day at the Museum of History. You could really use about 2 whole days to see this one. Pretty interesting.
We also walked around this area and visited the Raffles Hotel. Wow! Pretty spectacular. We stopped in at the front desk and asked for information regarding room rates and the cheapest appeared to be $1200/night. Sir Thomas Raffles played a major role in the development of Singapore.

Singapore bird sanctuary

Singapore bird sanctuary

We spent another day at The Jurong Bird Park. It was also well worth it. They had birds from all over and in a lot of the areas the birds were flying free and you could walk into the cages. There also was an area where you could feed the “parrots” a type of sugar water. The birds flew down and landed on you or a rail and drank the sweet sugary drink.

A Toad having a bad day

Singapore Botanical Gardens

We walked down Orchard Road, which is like 5th Avenue in New York. Lots of high end shops, hotels, and restaurants.

We went to China Town. It was very interesting. They were decorating for Chinese New Year so shops all over Singapore were selling things for the New Year.
We went to the Botanic Gardens. We spent a whole day there and well worth the walk. It was beautifully landscaped and the flowers smelled so incredible. I have never seen so many turtles and ducks, swans, and birds. We also happened to come across a lizard that had just captured his lunch (a frog).

Steph on the Beach

Busy Port

January 18, 2009


Well we arrived in Singapore on January 3rd. We spent the next 10 days there and did a lot of exploring. We bought cards called EZ pass, which are preloaded cards that you used to get on the public buses or public trains. The bus and train system was very easy to use and people were always helpful in giving directions.
Our hotel was a short distance to the ocean and we spend a couple of afternoons walking and biking down the pathways. You could see cargo ships for miles waiting to load, or unload