Singapore Diaries - Day 2

We started our day a bit late this day. Today's day was supposed to be a city tour to places like Little India, Chinatown, Clarke Quay and so on. We had some fresh fruits for breakfast and started off from the room at around 9:00 am. We took a metro from nearest station to reach Little India. we reached quite early when the shops were just opening, the fragrance of fresh flowers scented in the air.

Little India is a place where you can see ethnic Indian immigrants reside. It was created under the British policy of ethnic segregation. Serangoon Road is the main commercial thoroughfare.  There is the Tekka Mall, the Little India Arcade, Serangoon Plaza, and the Mustafa Centre (on a side-road). Mustafa centre is a 24 hrs shopping mall of Singapore. They generally sell ready-made clothing and electronic goods here. Apart from these we also have a lot of Temples, Churches, Mosques and Buddha Gaya Temple along the roads of Little India.

The Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, along Serangoon Road, features a high gopuram (tower), and was built in 1855. While visiting all these places in Little India, we did not shop. After all, when the place has so much avenues to shop, there has to be a dedicated day for shopping :-) The restaurants along the streets of Little India offered us the best Indian cuisine. We had our lunch and moved ahead to Clarke Quay.

Clarke quay was a quite diff place to be in. It is known as the boat hub of Singapore. It looked very modern though the place is quite old. It is very famous for its collection of stunning restaurants, bars and clubs which are located on the water side. The Singapore river that runs through the heart of Clarke Quay is lovely. I am not sure if it has a much of nightlife but you can take the boat ride in the Singapore River during the evening time this will take you along the interesting places along way. This river eventually joins the one near Marina Bay Sands. The view of the Marina Bay sands from here looked marvelous. There is a bungee jumping spot here. Unlike any of the normal bungee jumps this was very tall and had 3 benches for 3 people each. It would swing from left to right for close to 180 degree and also move up and down. I wanted to try this but looking at people scream I didn’t have the dare to do it. It would have been a different experience altogether though.

After spending a good amount of time here we walked along the roads. We later took a metro to Chinatown.

Chinatown is a crazy place. It is an amazing place for shoppers. There are so many low rise building unlike the rest of Singapore and authentic Chinese restaurants here . You get a wide variety of things here starting from clothing to souvenirs. If you are planning to buy any souvenirs for family and friends then this is the place. It is very economical compared to other places in Singapore. There is a Buddhist temple in the center of Chinatown.

It is a remarkable temple with a high ceiling. The main focus for most visitors is the solid gold two-metre stupa on the fourth floor which is the place where the sacred relic is kept. The interiors are well planned and sculptured. It is so much peaceful inside the temple.

The street markets which spread along the roads of Chinatown have a wide array of street food of different cuisines, they are indisputably the best tourist attractions in Chinatown.

From here went to the Merlion park and Marina Bay Sands for the light show. Situated at One Fullerton near the waterfront at Marina Bay, is the Merlion Park which has the icon of Singapore, the Merlion. Merlion statue stands tall at 8.6 metres and weighs 70 tonnes. This area of the downtown singapore is a must visit place, particularly after the sun down. The view  of the magnificently lit tall and huge skyscrapers situated all around the bay is awesome.

In the Bay area, there is a very captivating water and light display show, which is an outdoor show free to the public. As the story unfolds in front of your eyes, you will be immersed in the orchestral soundtrack and light effects. I totally loved the dancing lights and music that could be heard from the Bay area.

Once this show was done, we went and grabbed some dinner and took a MRT back to our Venue Hotel.