We took an evening fight out of Seoul, with a connection through Hong Kong, on Cathay Pacific. We were impressed with the airline – well-run, large seats with good leg room in plain economy, good food, nice selection of in-seat movies, etc. We did have to put our daypacks above as there was smaller than usual under-the-seat height, but maybe that’s was helped make the seats more comfortable.

We arrived around 6 am, picked up some SIMs for our phones, and decided to try the subway (SMRT) to our hotel in Clarke Quay. The ticket office for three day-tourist cards was not open yet, so we just bought some single ride tickets and headed in to town.

Singapore has been shrouded in a lot of haze and unclean air this month due to smoke from Indonesian slash-and-burn farming. It was pretty hazy as we arrived, and stayed that way most of the day. It’s also hot and humid year-round, but the haze is an additional weather element.

We left our luggage, after some re-arrangment of items, at the desk and headed out for breakfast, which for the first morning would not be at the hotel.

Clarke Quay (pronounced “key") is in the Colonial District. As with most cities, there are neighborhood names — Colonial District, Chinatown, Little India, Orchard Road, etc.

Our first stop was Fort Canning. Fort Canning Hill is one of Singapore’s most historic landmarks. [It was believed that the palaces of ancient Malay rulers stood on the summit of this once ‘Forbidden Hill’. It was here that Sir Stamford Raffles built his bungalow. The hill also became an important communication centre. The hill was converted into a fort in 1860 and renamed Fort Canning in honour of Viscount Charles John Canning, Governor-General and first Viceroy of India. In the 1920s and 1930s, the hill was transformed into an artillery fort with barracks, officers’ quarters, old gunpowder magazine and a hospital. An underground bunker was also constructed during the period.] It’s a good-sized hill with a number of footpaths and loops up and around the hill, and lots of signage pointing out the history along the way. Trees and plants were labelled as well. There was also a really nice spice garden area. We started up in the top left of the picture at River Valley Road and went down the hill through the spice garden onto Canning in the middle bottom of the picture.

The gate and adjoining wall are all that remains of the fort.

After getting our 3-day tourist passes at the City Hall MRT, we walked around the close-by St. Andrews Church exterior [The current English Gothic structure dates back to 1856, which replaced the original chapel destroyed by not one, but two lightning strikes in 1852].

We then headed to the famous Raffles Hotel, as must-see for Eileen (Larry had been there on a previous trip). We wandered around the public areas of the hotel (guests only in the lobby and rooms areas), which included bars, gift shops, museum, etc. We of course stopped in the Long Bar, the home of the Singapore Sling, a terrible drink made worse by the S$30 price tag. We did not try one.

We went around the corner and had beer/wine and split a very tasty lunch at a small café called TESS.

We retraced our steps and walked passed the church and the MRT, walking past the Cricket Club, the Old Parliament House, Supreme Court, etc. We were too exhausted and wanted to check in after that, so we headed back to the hotel via the MRT by City Hall to check in and sleep for a couple of hours.

After showering and resting, we headed to Chinatown, which actually abuts the below-the-river Clarke Quay area our hotel is in.

We wandered the two pedestrian streets — Pagoda and Sago – and stopped in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and the (Hindu) Sri Mariamman Temple a block apart from each other. We then walked and looked at the exterior of the (southern coast Indian) Jamae Chulia Mosque.

We walked to the Maxwell Hawker Center, a well-known food-court, and took a picture of the most well-known stall called Tian Tian Chicken Rice. It was quite hot and crowded, so we headed back to Smith Street and ended up eating at what turned out to be a busy and good indoor multi-floor (a/c) Sichuan restaurant on Pagoda Street – Old Chengdu Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant. We had a great meal of foods we like – dry-fried tofu strips, asian eggplant, and stir-fried string beans, all spicy and tasty.

We headed back to the hotel and collapsed – literally.

Just to give you an idea of Singapore island and of the main tourist areas, here are some maps. Arab Street in the first map corresponds to Kampong Glam in the second map. Clarke Quay (as well as Robertson and Boat Quays) are in the Colonial District, marked as Riverside in the second map.

October 16, 2015

Eileen Samberg