Singapore Pictures

This was our hotel in Singapore: The Inn at Temple Street, in Chinatown.  It was a small 3-story walkup in dire need of an air conditioner repairman.

The shopping in Chinatown was great.  This street was a block from our hotel.  Notice how clean it is - a person caught littering faces a fine of 1000 Singapore dollars (about $617) and we heard they enforce it.

The street scene in Chinatown, near our hotel.  Singapore is a former British trading outpost and many historic buildings exist today.

We were  never brave enough to go in and find out exactly which pig organ they were serving at this restaurant near our hotel.

We ran into a handful of friendly cats.  The girls had just finished petting this one when he decided to give himself a scratch.

This was a common sight: an apartment complex with tubes mounted outside each window to accommodate long poles for drying laundry.  Who needs a dryer?  Certainly not these folks.

A colorful display at an open air market.

Lauren and Katie with their new Picachu scrolls.

This was an interesting old building that captures the flavor of the architecture in Chinatown.  The street to the left (with the yellow and red umbrellas) is a pedestrian-only outdoor market, open all day and until late in the evening.  The street to the right was opened to cars in the day, but pedestrian-only in the evenings, full of food vendors with wonderful (and some not so wonderful) smells.  The first stall on the right had very good BBQ pork buns.   

We noticed a lot of signs in Singapore to encourage healthy living and responsibility among the citizenry, but this was a novel approach.

We took the Historic Singapore 'Duck Tour'.  Here we are shortly after entering the water along Marina Promenade.

On our Duck Boat tour we cruised around Marina Bay and saw The Esplanade, Singapore's large indoor concert hall.  We learned that it has been nicknamed the 'Durian' because of its resemblance to the tropical fruit.  This is unfortunate because the durian is a fruit with a bad reputation.  It smells so bad that, in Singapore, it is illegal to bring a one on the subway.

We also made a stop at the Merlion.  This half lion, half fish mythical creature was created a few years back as a symbol of Singapore by the tourism board.

We visited Sentosa Island, which was accessible by cable car.  To ride, just take the elevator to the 15th floor of that building to the right.

The cable car to Sentosa Island actually goes through a building.

Shortly after arriving at Sentosa, we got a good tropical downpour.  Here is Katie, trying to stay dry.

We learned there were several Merlion statues in Singapore with the largest one on Sentosa Island.  But because of the rain we did not get to see it while there, though we did get a glimpse from the cable car on the way back.

The Singapore financial district in the distance, as viewed from the cable car on the way back from Sentosa.

The night before we left Cheryl and the girls went to a practice for one of the Chinese New Year parades.  The start was delayed by more than an hour because of rain, but it was worth the wait.  The costumes and floats were fantastic.