Singapore ... and back Again :)

Singapore is such a small country/city that has so much energy! This is the only place that we have ever been to where so many people with such diverse backgrounds peacefully co-exist together (well of course besides Canada). We would come back here in a heart beat!

On our first full day here we went on a morning city tour. Here we had the opportunity to see Little India (which was so fascinating) there were vendors on the street selling all kinds of goods, the smell of yummy curries, and stores upon stores of sarees and suits! Don't worry i didn't buy anything, because i still have so many clothes from my wedding trousseau that haven't yet been worn (although now i wish i did, because we ended up staying here for eid - story to come shortly) There was even a street here called "Baboo Street"

Our next stop was in Chinatown. The street which we were driving down to enter Chinatown had a church, a mosque, a mandir and buddhist temple all practically next to each other!! Can you believe that?! This is a country that celebrates all the important festivals for all 4 of these religions. The government wants to be fair for all of it's people. I would love to Have Eid off as a public holiday!!

We had a great time in Chinatown where we did some shopping and bought some fancy chopsticks. For those of you that know me - i wasn't able to use chopsticks until i went to Tokyo a few weeks ago- here i was desparate and was forced to learn how to use chopsticks!

Then we went to the riverfront where we had a nice view of the financial district (and the tall modern buildings) of Singapore. The main industries here are private banking and of course Tourism! We then headed to the Singapore botanical gardens which were lush and filled with many species of orchids, the official flower of Singapore! My favourite!

We then headed to a very interesting mall on Orchard Street called Ion Orchard (lots of nice high end streets. Orchard Street is the main shopping area in Singapore. We did some shopping at British stores including my fave (Top Shop and for Nads Top Man)


That night we headed to the Riverside where we dined at a trendy Tokyo style sushi restaurant!

Yesterday (Which was supposed to be our last day in Singapore), we started off our day by checking out the famous Raffles hotel. This was a very lovely hotel with British style architecture. Next we headed shopping of course for a little while (and mainly to get some air conditioning as it has been SUPER HOT here - over 30 degrees every day). Although we hear that it's still pretty warm back home? Lucky You! Then we went to Arab Street to check out the famous Sultan Masjid. Arab Street was another cute place with persian rug stores and great restaurants.

We then headed back to the hotel to pack up and leave. Our tour company dropped us to the airport. We went to check in and learned that our ticket is actually for TOMORROW - Nov 27 rather than Nov 26. WHAT THE $#&*? Our tour company royally screwed up! All of our itinerary and hotels were booked based on Nov 26. So we got to stay in Singapore an extra day! Which wasn't so bad because we liked it so much. We even made arrangements to go to JK for Eid. That night we went out to Clark Quay a trendy spot with lots of restaurants and bars. And because it was long weekend with Eid and all it was so lively and fun. We went to a really nice persian restaurant here called "Shiraz." The food was amazing. They even had belly dancers!

So this morning we headed to jk for Eid Namaz (9:30am). There are only about 160 ismailis here in Singapore. The jk is quite small and is actually in an apartment (with the walls torn down). The jamat here is filled with many ex-pats. The people here are so friendly. Rahim (Rajan) we met your uncle Amin - he is super nice and your cousin Natasha says hi! You know we are truly lucky to be Ismaili the jamats all around the world really make you feel at home.

Some interesting things that we learned about Singapore:

1) You will get the death penalty if you commit one of the following crimes: rape a woman, kidnap or are caught doing drugs (even a small amount)

2) You are not allowed to sell gum. However you are allowed to chew gum as long as you dispose of it appropriately. The reason why this law came about is back in the 90s after the train system (MRT) here was developed ppl would dispose of their gum all over the new trains and doors. This costed alot of money to clean up. Thus this law was created.

3) Singapore is about 24km by 42Km wide. You can practically get anywhere in 10 minutes and drive all across the island into Malaysia in 45 minutes!

4) The population of this small island that would fit into Calgary numerous times is about 4.5 million people. The government here pays people to have children (only married people of course) because they want to increase the population here

5) The official language here is English!

6)Although you hear that Singapore is so strict, you barely see any police around

7) We feel extremely safe here!

8) Personal tax is very low (5-10%)


This has been our favourite and shortest stop so far.

Eid Mubarak to everyone! And Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!! 31 Years together!!

Now we are really off to Bali! LOL

Soph & Nads