My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
This morning Duke changed some money and then got a haircut. the barber did a very good job and with tip it cost him $5.77!
This afternoon Duke booked a tour for tomorrow. Then we went out for a walk along the beach.
We stopped and had lunch at one of the places overlooking the beach.
For dinner we went to Nhà Bėp Xúa, a place recommended by our hotel.
This morning after breakfast we took a cab to Singapore airport. Our flight to Da Nang, Vietnam took about three hours. We traveled almost due north but moved back another time zone, so now we are 14 hours ahead of Reno.
It was raining when we reached Da Nang. The hotel sent a driver to pick us up. The traffic and the driving getting to our hotel was crazy.
For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by the hotel, Phiėu Tam Tính. We had a very nice meal. Everyone has been very helpful.
This morning after breakfast at the big buffet we walked across the Helix bridge to the Marina Bay Sands.
We checked out the ArtScience Museum museum and walked through the Marina Sands Mall. Then we visited the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest and Jurassic World Experience.they are each gigantic air conditioned lush greenhouses. The Flower Dome had a show called Lilytopia. The colors, the smell and the abundance of the flowers was wonderful. The Jurassic Park show in the cloud forest was really cool too.
Walking back to the hotel it was raining. We didn’t get too wet and the rained cleared the air and cooled things off a bit..
Our package at the Pan Pacific Singapore, where we are staying, includes breakfast. We can eat at the buffet on the third floor, that’s where we ate yesterday, or we can eat breakfast in the lounge on the 38th floor. This morning we ate in the lounge. Breakfast was wonderful again.
Then we walked to the Asian Civilisation Museum. We were very lucky to get there just a few minutes before the English language tour began. The tour was excellent. The whole museum was really interesting but my favorite part was the exhibit about the Tang shipwreck.
The shipwreck is a ship that sank about 830 AD. It is a trading ship that was discovered in 1998 south of Singapore. The ship was carrying 25 tons of cargo including 55,000 Chinese tea bowls. The ship was built in the Middle East. its planks were sewn together using a thin rope made of coconut fibers. There are no metal nails or fasteners. The level of civilization and sophistication is fascinating to me.
When we got back to the hotel we had lunch and tea in the lounge. It rained a lot this afternoon so we didn’t go out any more.
I am loving Singapore.
Breakfast is included here at the Pan Pacific Hotel where we are staying in Singapore. The breakfast buffet was amazing. They had breakfast food from China, India, Malayasia, Japan, Singapore, Europe and the Americas. We each had a little bit of everything.
We discussed what we wanted to do today with the concierge. I asked him if he thought it would rain and whether he thought we would need our rain coats. He said nobody wears a raincoat in Singapore because you would get very wet from sweat in a raincoat He loaned us an umbrella.
We went out for a walk along the Singapore River where some of the old immigrant architecture still remains. It was all absolutely fascinating. But oh my gosh was it hot. 88 degrees and 71% humidity.
The Singapore Grand Prix will be Sunday, October 11. Much of where we were walking was along the course. They were busy setting up the course, bleachers and barriers.
The heat, humidity and sun were oppressive. We stopped at a restaurant along the river walk to rehydrate. Duke had a cold Tiger beer and I had a Lychee beer slushie
The river walk was lined with restaurants. We saw several Mexican – Indian Restatants
On the way back to the hotel we saw a Red Junglefowl. According to the bird identification App Merlin, it is the “original chicken”.
About 5:30 we set out to find the jazz club where Duke had bought tickets. Singapore has lots of malls, pedestrian bridges and walkways. Using them you can theoretically get to places while mainly staying indoors. It didn’t work for us. We kept getting turned around. The walk should have taken us 19 minutes instead it took 45 minutes!
It was a great day.
