Day 13: KL to Ao Nang, Krabi, Thailand

My last morning in Malaysia consisted of breakfast at PappaRich, where I ordered steamed bread with kaya.

Goodbye rainy Malaysia

KowFu drove me to KL LCCT for my AirAsia flight to Krabi. It took 45 minutes or so. I was confused by the airport...entered the baggage drop area and had my carryon bag scanned even though I did not need to be there. The procedure for carry on luggage here was different from when I flew AirAsia from Singapore to Penang. Before, my luggage needed to be verified to be close to 7kg to qualify as carry on. Now, I just walked directly to the gate.

It was pouring while I was waiting, and the passengers actually had to walk outside on the tarmac to board the plane. They gave us umbrellas though.

Met some nice Chinese Malaysian travelers on the plane who are my age. They gave me their info in case I want some company.

After the shaky and nauseating plane ride, I took the airport shuttle to Ao Nang. I was afraid I would have trouble finding the shuttle, but it was literally outside of the airport. Just crossed the street. 150 THB for a 45 min ride directly to my hotel.

The first thing I notice about Ao Nang: TOURISTS. So. Many. Tourists. A lot of Europeans. It is a huge contrast from my time in Malaysia, where I spent my time in small towns and areas where locals frequent, and where I stood out as a tourist.

Main street in Ao Nang.  Oh look, more tourists.

My hotel is in a good location, which is the primary reason I booked it. However, I will not choose to book with them again in the future. While it serves its purpose, there are little ants in the room. They must be getting in through cracks near the sink. I went on a crazy repellant spraying frenzy and thoroughly covered the bed. I don't want anymore bites. I already have 14 mosquito bites from the trip so far. Also, since the hotel is right on the main street, that guarantees it to be subject to the noises of the street. The loud bass from music at night, for instance.

I also accidentally closed the in-room safe before setting the password, so I tried to have an employee come up and open it for me. Originally they said 10 min, but then changed it to 30. I waited until after 40 min to ask again, and the response was "Yea ok" followed by hanging up. No one showed after 10 more min, so I just told them nevermind for the time being. So, I essentially waited around an hour for help.

After eventually making it outside, I looked for tour groups. I had read good reviews online of Starlight Tour and Travel, so I made it my first stop. A ladyboy! Amie was very helpful actually. I looked at other prices, but got the best one through Starlight, negotiating the Phi Phi Islands tour down to 950 Thb. I also made reservations for SmartCook cooking school tomorrow morning/afternoon, for 1100 Thb.

Longtails at Ao Nang beach

Chose to eat at Tandoori Night's a few shops down from the hotel. 199 Thb for nan, butter chicken, rice, beverage. That's only around $6 USD. How great. The chicken was very good actually, and the nan fresh and hot.

How could I finish the evening without a massage? I went to Let's Sea Let's Relax, also nearby, for a 60 min hand and foot massage. 300 Thb ($9 USD), although I think this is considered more expensive in Ao Nang. The shop was clean and had a relaxing ambiance though, so I guess you pay for that. The masseuse cracked my back in such a funny-looking way. We were both laughing about it. More massage please!

Day 12: Genting Highlands to KL - 1 Utama Mall, Thean Hou Temple

View from Genting Highlands of the temple and the city

Our last morning in GH. We had dim sum at Restoran Good Friends. I like their Haam Sui Gok. They are filled with Bbq pork instead of the usual filling.

On the way back to KL, we stopped at Tesco to pick up some goods, i.e. sweets, and met up with Auntie S.P. Rested a bit at her condo, which has a nice view of KL city and the twin towers. Auntie S.P. and uncle took us to a good Thai place, Restoran Janwa Thai Restaurant, for lunch. The Tom Yum was good and spicy.

Back down the Genting hill...

We were dropped off at 1 Utama Mall for a couple hours. It is a large mall, although smaller than KLCC. We spent quite a while in Jusco, eyeing their vast selection of baked items and desserts. I wished I wasn't already stuffed.

Next, we spent time at my Kow Fu's place, where we will be staying overnight. We went to Tropicana Mall and ate at Sushi Tei. My first sushi while on the trip! The restauarant is conveyor belt style, although nicer than the ones back in WA, offering a menu full of items other than just sushi. The salmon and rice bowl was good.

To walk a bit after eating, we stopped by the Thean Hou Temple for 15 minutes. It was nice to visit at night without the crowds. The view of the city was also great.

Blurry, not-good-shot of busy street in KL

To end the night, we drove around KL for half an hour, circling areas like Little India and Bukit Bingtan Street. There were many tourists around here, and the nightlife was busy despite being a Tuesday night. There was one street of massage shops, where 15+ employees were on the street trying to advertise their services.

Tomorrow morning will be my last in Malaysia! Off to Thailand...

Day 11: More Genting Highlands

Another day at Genting Highlands today.  The entire mountain was covered in heavy fog throughout the day.

Horrible.

Part of the Chin Swee temple

In the afternoon, we went to the Chin Swee temple a little down the mountain.  The fog in the background actually made the views more beautiful.  There were statues depicting Buddhist's view of hell, the nine hell chambers.  Depending on what sin was committed, one is sent to the appropriate level of hell.  I was surprised to see how graphic the scenes were, depicting beheadings, tongue-cutting, spinal cord removal. It was windy and cold, so we only stayed here for an hour or so.

The rest of the day was relaxed.  We ate many times of course, and spent time at the casinos.  Played roulette, but just broke even.  I like their minimums -- $10 RM, or $3.33 USD.  Good.

Tomorrow morning we leave for KL again!  It will be our last night in Malaysia...

Should have tried this arcade game...

Day 10: Pusing to Genting Highlands

I had a heavy breakfast (as I have been every morning on the trip it seems) of delicious noodles in an anchovies broth.  Little stray puppy was hanging around, and I tried giving him some leftovers.

Family friend's cute dog!

I was sad to leave Gooh Poh's place, it was so nice to spend some time and get to know her.  She's already 93, but in really good shape.  Hopefully I can come back to visit again within the next couple years.

Uncle Allen took us to his brother's home.  He has a cute, fluffy dog who I played with pretty much the entire time.

Then, our drive to Genting Highlands began!  Halfway there, we stopped at a small town called Kalumpang, which is even smaller than Pusing.  Had some delicious bbq pork buns.

The first thing we did after arriving at GH was take the cable car, Genting Skyway, from the carpark to the hotel area.  It is one of the largest and longest in distance in Asia.  The ride was scenic, being able to see the entire mountain full of healthy green trees, and a burst of color every so often from flowers.  It was foggy, so unfortunately as we were approaching the top of the hill, we could not see the buildings too well.

View of amusement park and Hotel First World

We are staying at Hotel First World, the record holding hotel with the most number of rooms.  The conditon and quality of the place is not great though.  Seems like the priority was to build lots of rooms.  A couple casinos connect the major hotels, so I of course stopped by and signed up for a membership card, although it took half an hour.  We got free meal vouchers woohoo.  There is also a large asmusement park outside, and Asia's largest indoor amusement park just a few floors down.  The outdoor park reminds me of Wild Waves back at home, except this may be smaller.

Cute stuff-animals disguised as other animals in the midway section

It is interesting to compare the table games here vs those in the US. They have simple ones that are just like children's games, like rolling a ball and betting on the numbered hole it will fall into.  Very easy to understand.  Another is called Casino War, where you just bet that your single card is larger than the dealer's single card.  Another practice here that I am not familiar with is betting on other player's hand.  You can just place your bet on top of theirs, and trust whatever they do.  They win, you win.  Or no winning at all.




Tomorrow we stay another night here.  Maybe we will sing some karaoke or I will finally get a massage...

Day 9: Back to Ipoh and Pusing

No AC again last night...so no sleep!  We started the drive to the Syuen Hotel in Ipoh at 8am, stopping for breakfast along the way.  I had eggs that were cooked in a watery way I've never had before, and bread with kaya, a sweet yellow-colored spread.

Got to the hotel two hours later.  My mom's primary school reunion was a big event; 43 years after they've last been in school together.  The buffet featured some good eats: rices, satays, noodles, but my favorite-- the dessert.  I was the first to dig into the mango pudding and ice Kachang.  Spent most of the time reading The Hunger Games since I did not want to chat with 35+ strangers.  We were there from around 11:15-3:30, so only half a day left to play.

Dessert.  My friend.

More of my friends.

Following the reunion, we went to Tesco to meet my mom's old friends.  I liked exploring the aisles of this large Walmart-like store, and bought some Malaysian sour candies.

We then spent a little under two hours at one of the friend's homes.  The Goonies was on TV here.

Got picked up and driven to my Gooh Poh's place for the rest of the night.  I met my second cousins, and my mom's cousins + their spouses.  A total of 12 people.  My second cousin and his gf took me to basa malam here in Pusing, which is actually in the same location as the morning market I went to last time.  I had some home made ice cream/popsicles.  So creamy and delicious!  There are little pieces of fruit in them.  I had the chendol and some other fruit flavor.

Dip your satay sticks in some sauce at the Basa Malam

Another one of my second cousins told me about Bazi, a Chinese method of fortune telling based on your birthdate and time.  It was interesting hearing about my supposed strengths, weaknesses, future prospects.  I'm not convinced there is truth to it at all.  Will have to see!

Tomorrow we head south again, and will stay at Genting Highlands for two nights.

Day 8: Kuala Lumpur - Batu Cave, KLCC, KL Sentral

Batu Caves.  Look at all those steps.

The day started off by going to the home of my mom's cousin in Petaling Jaya.  Next, we had dim sum at Restoran Jin Xuan Hong Kong.  I tried their big special bun.

It was about a twenty minute drive to KL.  After having some trouble reaching the entrance, we made it to the Batu Caves.  It is a limestone cave and temple, one of the most popular.  So, there were plenty of tourists here.  I met some girls from the US also.  Reaching the caves is a feat in itself...272 narrow steps up!  There are plenty of monkeys and roosters along the way up, watching the tourists for any sign of food.  The cave is very tall, but not as large as others I've gone to this trip.  A tour through the cave is available, although I did not want to pay for it.

Patronas Twin Towers

Afterwards, we headed to KLCC.  It features a large shopping complex, with a wide range of stores, from affordable to luxury brands.  There was a little shop called Durian Durian that sold all things durian flavored, like durian-flavored egg tart.  I was hoping to be able to go up to the skybridge of the Patronas Twin Towers, but the tickets were sold out.  Apparently one must get them up to two days in advance.

It was so crowded during the afternoon time, and I learned that all the workers in KL are given a couple hours off on Friday afternoons for mosque and prayer time.  So, for those who do not partake in this, they can choose to do what they please, like hang around the mall.

Lunch was with many of my mom's old co-workers, at a small, hidden restaurant.  We ordered intestines of pig I think, but I did not try it.

Inside KL Sentral.  This is the Chinese section.

I've gained weight since coming here!  So, I tried to walk away some calories by going to KL Sentral.  It is a clean, air-conditioned indoor marketplace full of vendors who sell arts, crafts, and other accessories.  There were many stalls of purses and scarves.  One vendor showed me how he makes sand art.  I would have considered bringing some back if it were not so heavy.

On the drive back to uncle's place, we toured (by car) Chinatown and Petaling Street.  Both were very, very busy and many tourists were seen.  Chinatown was a bit dirty.  I'd be wary of eating from the stalls directly on the main streets.

Petaling St.  Not really a good picture showing much of anything.

We spent the rest of the evening at family's home, where I met many, many extended family members.  Tired, but have to be ready for an early start tomorrow as we head back to Ipoh for a school reunion.

Day 7: Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur

Yum..?  Fat frogs at the street market

The first half of the day was pretty laid back.  I went to the nearby street market where fruits, veggies, meat, fish, and clothes + accessories are sold.  All the food attracts stray baby animals.  I only bought some candies that I was nostalgic for, remembering I had eaten them over 15 years ago last time I came to Malaysia.  Sugus!

Packed up, and was taken to the train station by Uncle Mike and his wife.  The train is clean, fairly new.  We passed by many water buffalo on the way to the Kepong railway station in KL.  Immediately after arriving, Uncle Allen took us to eat some fat noodles, I forget the name of the dish.

Getting on the train to Kepong

Later on in the evening, we went to the Waterfront at Park City area.  First, the park (I think Desa Park).  We came here because uncle heard I liked dogs, and he says there is a "parade of dogs" here.  The first dog I saw?  A white Peke!!  I actually ended up seeing three Pekes here!  So, I got my Peke fix for the next few days.

Park at the Waterfront at Park City

The park is very large, and the first of its kind that I have seen so far on this trip.  It is clean, well maintained, and beautifully landscaped with bridges, a variety of flowers and trees.  A large man-made lake is in the middle, with thousands of fish.  The huge schools of fish follow your shadow around, because they are used to food being thrown in when there are shadows.



 At the retail store area, I bought a phone to use while in Thailand.  Only $30 USD, not too bad.

How funny...Washington apples at the store!

Awesome fish-ball-bear satay sticks

Later on, we ate at an outdoor food area.  It seems like all I've been doing this trip is eat.  We also stopped by the Basa Malam (night market), and just browsed for 10 minutes.  Ended up buying a lot of fruit.  So sweet and delicious.

Tomorrow we see the sights of KL!

Day 6: Ipoh - Tongs

The day was spent in Ipoh again, with Uncle Mike and his wife.  We started with Haka mee for brunch.  I liked the setup for picking the dish -- you individually pick the pieces you want with the type of noodles.  Fish balls, tofu, wontons, a bunch of other things, and then choosing the type of noodles, served dry, in a curry, or in a soup.  Ipoh is known for its good iced white coffee, so I tried some.  I don't usually drink coffee, but this tasted more like mocha.

After eating, we went to three Buddhist temples that lie within caves: Kek Lok Tong, Sam Poh Tong, and Lam Tien Tong.  Ipoh is also known for its impressive caves.

Kek Lok Tong was beautiful.  Tall caves and luscious green trees on the hills.  Along the pathways and sides of the stairs were delicately chiseled limestone pieces, shaped like dragons, phoenixes, Buddhas.  Also within these pieces were bonsai plants, so many years old already.

Tsk tsk...

The entrance featured a large pond with a variety of koi fish.  There are also monkeys that roam about!  I'm surprised they don't try to catch and eat the fish.

Stunning garden at Kek Lok Tong

Towards the back of the caves, the opening leads you to a big and stunning garden and pond area.  With a path that goes all the way around, it is an area that is frequented by joggers.  Vibrantly colored hibiscus flowers adorned the vicinity of the garden, and more limestone and bonsai pieces.


Sam Poh Tong was not impressive compared to Kei Lot Tong.  It was small, and not maintained.  The fountain was aging, the garden area was dead.  Next to the garden was an enclosed concrete home for turtles, with a small pond for them.  It was so sad seeing them.  No one takes care of them, and they rely on visitors to throw leaves in.  Once I walked up to the railing area, the turtles came close and just stared at me, hoping I had some food.

Entrance to Sam Poh Tong

Poor turtles at Sam Poh Tong.  I like turtles.

Lam Tien Tong was also small.  The caves were not as prominent.  But, one feature I enjoyed was the "wind tunnel".  There was one particular cave area that led to another via a large tunnel, and the breeze that naturally blows just in this section is strong and cool.  We sat around here for some time.  Outside, there is also a redeeming garden, featuring colorful flowers, a playground of animal statues, and a large pond full of fish.  Koi, tilipia, tiny baby fish, and a fish with a huge brain-like bump on its head.  I kept scaring them with my shadow.

Garden at Lam Tien Tong

We had lunch at All in Cafe on Jalan Sehala.  Had some dried curry mee, and tried a refreshing aloe vera drink.  It was here that I saw the first non-asian tourists.  Ipoh is not a popular city for young tourists.

The train station was the next stop, where we bought tickets for our trip to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow, leaving at 2pm.


Back at Goo Poh's place, we all had dinner together across the street, at Restoran 33.  Tanks of eels and fat frogs were available to eat as well.  We had other dinner plans later, so this was dinner number one.

Oh look, eels.

Grilling the stingray!  Was tasty.

Dinner number two was at Ipoh Garden, with many of my mom's secondary school friends.  I could barely eat anything, but managed to have a good barley drink, a few bites of stingray, and a couple satay sticks.

It was yet another busy day!  Tomorrow I'll have internet access again.

Day 5: Penang to Ipoh

Had another early day as I woke up to loud birds that sounded like amplified squeaky toys.  The mosque next door also plays a loud recording of prayers starting at 6:15am.

The bus to Ipoh was comfy, but very old.  It took three hours, which was the perfect opportunity to watch most of HP 7 Part I again.

Spying on the neighbor's pig babies!

Ipoh is cleaner than Penang.  The buildings are also in better condition.  Some of the homes here are gigantic, with spacious driveways, compared to the cramped gated driveways in Penang that only fit one car.  We took a taxi for 25 ringgit to my Gooh Poh's home in Pusing, a small city south of Ipoh.  While resting up, I spied on the neighbor for a while because they had two baby wild pigs.  Apparently they hunted and killed the mother to eat, then stole the babies.

Aww..

Pusing is full of small shops which have had the same owners for decades, and we visited a few friends there.  The street food did not look too good...I saw a fly floating in some curry at one place.

Kitten in a box along the street

We want back to Ipoh for dinner with Auntie Juliana at Kintar City Mall...had some delicious clay pots of seafood, fish balls, and an octopus (I think) dish.

Geez.  So much food for dinner.  Notice my doughnut.

Day 4: Penang - Penang Hill, Kek Lok Si

Today we had an early start. We woke up at 6:00am from the heat because our AC was not on. Oops.

I saw a couple lizards (anoles, I think) on the hotel walls and sitting area.

While it was raining and more convenient to just join a day tour, we decided against it, in favor of spending as much time as we wanted at places, and opting out of seeing bees at a farm as mentioned on the tour schedule.

Our first stop was Prangin Mall and Komtar. We just walked 15min from the hotel. The Komtar building is 60 stories, with government offices on floors 4 through 50-something. The top floor is a viewpoint, where you can see 180 degrees of Penang. The weather was a bit hazy at the time.

View of Penang from Komtar

At Prangin mall, we discovered that we cannot unlock our cell phones as wanted because they are too old. Boo.

It was on the way to Prangin and Komtar that I saw the first stray cats of Malaysia. They are all so skinny and short-furred.

We purchased bus tickets to Ipoh for 9:30am tomorrow. Since we were already at a popular bus hub, we decided to take local bus 204 to Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera). The attraction offers a view from 2700+ feet above sea level. To get to the top, a tram provides service every 30 min. It was fun going up/down. At the top, the view was great, although there are some spots with trees blocking your view.

Hey!  Bellevue!

View from top of Penang Hill.  A bit hazy...

We had lunch at the top, where I also had a delicious lychee drink! There was also a bird sanctuary, but I did not want to pay to see a peacock when I had seen so many recently.

After Penang Hill, we took the bus to the Kek Lok Si temple. It is the largest Buddhist temple in SE Asia. There were beautiful flowers and green trees on the hills. And hundreds of turtles.

Colorful Kek Lok Si

TURTLES

We were so exhausted from the heat, but had to walk to the bus stop about 10 min away. We bought durian cake and wife cookies from some bakeries for the trip tomorrow.

After the bus ride, we stopped by a large convenience store called Mydin. I saw a tiny stray kitten under a motorcycle, eating a fish.

But I don't want to pay

For dinner, we walked along Chulia St to some street food stalls. I was surprised how busy the street was for a Monday night. It was much busier than yesterday, and there were many tourists walking about. We were drawn to a stall that had loud wok noises, and I had some delicious fish meat mee hun.

I did some people watching as I ate fruit in front of the hotel, and saw so many backpackers around.

Time to rest up for the travels tomorrow...

Day 3: Singapore to Penang, Malaysia

What a long day...

Aww...But why?

Started with some dim sum in Chinatown, at a great restaurant called Yum Chaw (how cute!). It was in a house-type hotel, with the restaurant above the hotel lobby, and the rooms on the floors above the restaurant. Delicious foong jeow and mango pudding.

Walked around the stalls at Chinatown. I did not buy anything -- prices seemed a bit high. Although, maybe I should have bought this one cute keychain of a girl wearing a shirt that said "Chinese". The odds and ends were pretty consistent from one store to the next: t-shirts, key chains, wallets, Chinese figurines.

Chinatown.  A bright red building.

Jerky at the airport.  Sooo delicious!

Chinatown visit concluded and we went off to the airport! The flight to Penang was only 1hr20min long. What a huge difference it was going from Singapore City to Penang....the airport was old, hot, wet, dirty.

We took a taxi from the airport to the east beach area and a mall (I'll have to look up the name again later). And the unpleasant portion of the day began...we needed to find a cell phone store that unlocked phones for you, but the appropriate stores were so very far apart. Had to walk around with my stuffed backpack all around the mall, not even finding a place that offered the service. So, we figured we could just go to the hotel and worry about the phone tomorrow. Took a taxi from outside the mall, but the meter was not turned on. We asked, and he quoted us 30RM and said "no meter". I said "NoO noo" and got dropped back off where we started. We tried waiting around the mall for another taxi, but metered. But, in the 15 min we waited, all were the money-stealing taxis. We walked 15 min to some nice hotel to see if there were taxis there, and here we were informed that Penang's taxis are all like that, that KL is the only city in Malaysia where haggling is not allowed.

Our taxi then took us to the wrong hotel, but that was not their fault. Apparently the hotel we made reservations at also had guesthouse versions down the street. So, finally made it to the hotel at 6:45. My feet hurt.

For dinner, we walked to hawker area on the next street over, called Red Garden.  Around 15 stalls to choose from.
So tired now...

SINGAPORE STYLE NOODLES ARE MY FAVORITE

Day 2: Singapore - Sentosa Island

After sleeping many, many hours, we went to Sentosa Island! It's pretty much an entire island of tourist attractions, like Universal Studios, museums, aquarium, things-that-appeal-to-asians.

Male peacock saying wassup to the ladies

It was pouring rain for the first half of the day which was too bad, but it kept the temperature cool. We started at Fort Siloso, a museum all about WWII. It holds the largest collection of WWII memorabilia of all Asia. It was actually pretty interesting. I did not think I would enjoy it too much because I tend to only like animal related exhibits, but the tour guide was great and it was good!

There were lots of peacocks roaming about the island. I like peacocks.

We walked around a lot, ate at Din Tai Fung, looked at people, and checked out the casino.

We stopped by Underwater World (an aquarium, of course). It was interesting to see the differences from Seattle's aquarium, which I recently went to. At Underwater World, there is much more interaction with the fish/sea-creatures. The "petting tank" was full of catfish, puffers, and lil stingrays. They also allowed people to touch gigantic stingrays, and fat parrot fish. I like fat parrot fish.

Look at those fat parrot fish looking at my hand

Before leaving the aquarium, we watched their sea lion and dolphin show. They were pink dolphins! I hope they are treated well there.

I wanted to bring my pet pig though...

The last part of Sentosa Island was the Songs of the Sea show. It was a pyrotechnic, laser, water, and fireworks show all in one. It was awesome to see the combination of water and lasers. It kind of looked like the Aurora Borealis at one point.

After leaving the island, we went to Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant. Yummy fish hot pot! Dessert was at Ji Di Chi, where I had assortments of durian desserts. Durian, so loved over here, and despised at home. I loved their selection of desserts, from shaved ice cream, to mochi, and puddings. Stores that only sell desserts like this should be required in all cities.

Now its time to sleep. I would like a foot massage one of these days... Tomorrow we head to Penang!

Green tea shaved ice cream dessert

Day 1: Seattle to Singapore

Hooray, arrived at Singapore yesterday. Started the journey by stopping over at Taipei, and then continuing on.

On the Eva Air flight to Taipei, we were served food at 2am. I was confused and asked if it was breakfast. It was instead supper, something I never usually have. The meals reminded me of school children's cafeteria meals on those trays, but more tasty and full of excitement because you never knew what would be in those little containers! 

I actually enjoy the airplane food...

   
 
The portion of the Taipei airport we saw was a bit dated...nothing too exciting to see, except a gigantic Hello Kitty shop. Changi airport was very nice though. Full of floor to ceiling windows, very clean and modernized.

After arriving at Singapore, we took a 15 minute cab ride to my cousin and his wife's place. Our first stop afterwards -- Bencoolen Mall, where we got our nails done at Auntie Irene's shop! I saw an astrology store that had a huge line, and the woman inside was using playing cards as her method of "predictions".

Outside the mall, there were a bunch of food shops, and a outdoor market area. I've never seen so many women swarming over $2 bras before.

Street market area

Next, we headed to a major shopping area, Orchard Street. My goodness, is it really necessary to have the same stores in each of the malls? I went to a food court at Ion at Orchard, it was good. So much selection of Asian food, froyo, and bubble tea :)

Awesome.  Any food shaped like an animal is great.

After walking all the way down Orchard Street, we took a taxi to The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. What a great view of the city from here! They also have a casino, one of the two in Singapore. Apparently, tourists are free to go gamble away their money, but locals have to pay for entry.

Hard-working, talented Singaporean kids on the street

Had dinner at a hawker food area. One word to sum it up: YUM. Oh and, "Why-did-I-eat-so-much-that-I-cannot-move"

It was a long and tiring first day, but it's great to be here! More of Singapore tomorrow...

Nice view from MBS.