Blast from the Past | Singapore Once More!

So, here's the second part of our Singapore adventure. As I've mentioned in my previous post, I'm reposting this entry from my old Livejournal blog. :)

From Sentosa, we went back to the city. We originally planned to have lunch at the island, but Mum didn't quite like the food choices there. Hence, we opted to eat somewhere along Orchard Road instead.

I asked our cab driver to take us to The Heeren - the one place that I badly, badly needed to go to while in Singapore. Naturally, being a football fan (and an Adidas girl), their Adidas store caught my eye.

Chelsea's 2006 Home Kit!

But this is the store that I had to see (or else, it will be the death of me, har!). I had to stop myself from gawking at everything. And I mean everything. This is heaven for Havaianas addicts like me! :)

NUMFlipflops is Havaianas love!

I walked away happy and contented, with three new Copa Mundial Havaianas in tow.

More photos and stories after the jump! :)


But once again, Mum didn't like the restaurants there so we went mall-hopping. From The Heeren to Cairnhill Place to Thong Sia to The Promenade, Mum only stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the Gucci store at The Paragon. If Havaianas can make my world stand still, Gucci and Burberry can do that to my Mum. Haha!

We finally settled with the food court at The Paragon. And that was already 4 in the afternoon. Hello, famine! Anyway, we found a really nice restaurant called 'Mom's Cuisine' where we had local favorites such as Beef Rendang, Chicken Rice, and Roast Duck. We also had Cendol, Singapore's version of the Pinoy 'halo-halo'.

Cendol. :)

After our super late lunch, we went back to the hotel. Our Chinatown tour was slated that evening, and a chaffeur from the tour agency was to pick us up around 6pm. The chaffeur arrived on schedule.

He drove us to Suntec City Mall, where the rest of the tourists congregated. It was like a drop-off point or something. From the van, we moved to a bigger tourist bus. And by 6:30 pm, our night-out at Chinatown was well under way.

Our tour guide, Mr. Kong.

First stop - the Chinatown Heritage Center.

The Chinatown Heritage Center, the first stop of our tour, was an ancentral house, museum, and souvenir shop all rolled into one.

The place was teeming with early Chinese history. Like how the Chinese came to Singapore, mostly by means of boats such as the one in the photo.

All aboard!

And the kinds of stuff that they took along with them.

Travel essentials back in the days.

And how they paid homage to their gods.

August is Hungry Ghost Month in Singapore.

They also had the Chinese alphabet on display.

Learning the ABCs. :)

And more ancient artifacts.

This one is a reconstruction of an opium session. Opium was a staple during the early days, and Mr. Kong said that people back then would even kill for opium.

Seriously, this was my favorite part of the museum. So macabre. 

Prostitution was also a common thing.

A typical prostitute's room.

Now this is my brother's favorite part of the museum - the sidewalk restaurant.

Shumai, anyone?

This is how we shop in China in the 1900s.

Chinese figurines, elaborate costumes, and dragon heads.

An antique cabinet containing more antique stuff.

And other parts of the ancestral house maintained in such a way that every nook and cranny would look exactly the way it did during the early times.

The living room.

The kitchen.

Sleeping area.

I love the Chinatown Heritage Center. I really did. But more than that, I loved rummaging through the bargain finds along the streets of Chinatown, which was what we did after.

Dinner was included in the tour, and we had ours at the Yixing Xuan Tea House in the Chinatown Complex. A trishaw ride was next, and we cruised the city aboard this.

 

Singapore's version of our pedicab!

Our trishaw drivers dropped us off at Clarke Quay for the last part of our Chinatown tour - a ferry boat ride!

Group shot before riding the boat.
Thanks to our new-found Aussie friends for taking this photo.

Singapore at night.

When you see the Fullerton Hotel, it only means one thing.

You're about to see the Merlion in all its glory.

Home-bound the following day...

Enjoying free internet at the Changi Airport.
Checking my Friendster page, haha!

Basking in the Philippine sun.

Ah, I miss Singapore! Given the chance, I would definitely visit this country again. On my itinerary would be Universal Studios (which was not even built the last time we went) and the Botanic Gardens. Oh, and the Mint Museum of Toys, too! :)