First morning here we had breakfast in the hotel complex (it was included in the room rate), so we just went out for coffee afterwards to my favourite coffee place here “Common man Coffee Roasters”. Walking out of the hotel there was no mistaking we were back in South East Asia, the lovely enveloping humidity of the early morning, tropical plants everywhere along the side of the road and the unmistakable pungent aroma that passes from time to time “is the smell durian ? Or is it a bit loose sewer gas”. The coffee was worth the short walk and we came back to the hotel to get ready for our next trip out to Little India.
Little India was only a few stops on the MRT from our hotel, so only took a few minutes. We had forgotten masks were mandatory on the subway here, and everyone is 100% compliant with the regulations, unlike what it was like at home. Luckily the staff at the ticket/info desk were able to give us a few so we avoided having to go out and find some.
Overall I found little India somewhat underwhelming, I’d had visions of walking down the streets surrounded by Diwali colour festivals and passing Bollywood dancers but in reality it was just fruit and vegetable stores, cheap clothing stores, mobile phone/electronic shops and small supermarkets selling Indian staples. There was one interesting Temple (Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple). Sharon and Sally spent some time cruising the “Mustafa Department Store” – massive building selling all sorts of things.
The best part of the day was undoubtably the High Tea experience at Raffles Hotel. The food was amazing, although as a non-seafood & egg eater it seemed every sandwich was seafood or egg based, either crab, salmon or tuna. If you don’t eat seafood, tell them, and they will bring you chicken sandwiches.
The scones & jam were spectacular food. Probably the best strawberry jam I’ve ever had. The grounds of the hotel are great, wander around and take in the ambiance of the architecture. After the High Tea, we headed over to the Long Bar to sample the Slings. I expected the Long Bar to be, kind of “Long”, but as far as bars go it was relatively short. The “Long” must be based on the amount of time you wait to get in!
As a tip, when you book your High Tea, book your place in the Long Bar exactly 90 minutes later and you can experience both without a wait.
We had planned to do a river cruise tonight, this was pretty much the only thing I hadn’t pre-booked and of course it was all sold out. No Boat cruise for you!.
Dinner was down at one of the oldest Hawker Centres (essentially a Food Court) in Singapore. Its massive with so many people everywhere. We got a table near a massive inflatable rabbit (Display for Chinese new year) so I thought it would be easy to find our table once I had my meal, but of course there were dozens of inflatable rabbits everywhere!. At least that equaled a few more steps for the day.
Just outside Lau Pa Sat is Satay Street, with dozens of vendors all selling various satay dishes. We will be coming back for that another night for that.
It's all about the coffee 