The famous Raffles Hotel where we had high tea
Hello from Singapore where we are having a marvelous time. It’s an interesting place with its Hippo buses which the tourists use to get their bearings when they first arrive, wall-to-wall shopping malls if you are into that kind of thing, great (and cheap) places to eat and 4 million local people for me to sit and watch all day if I had so want.
Notre Dame de Paris on Friday night was everything I expected it to be. It was magical! I bought a new dress for the event (what girl wouldn't? It was the premier, after all), glammed up my hair and then sat and watched and listened in awe! I'll also admit to humming along to a few numbers ... LOL.
Before the show, Paul and I sat outside at an Indian restaurant on the water's edge and sipped a 'golden chandon' each - erm, I drank his while he enjoyed a local beer. This is a new taste sensation for me and I guess you can tell that I liked it. It's champaign with a parfume of Cointreau & Tia Maria. Most delicious!
Singapore is not like other places I have visited. I'll preface my next comments by saying that I did little reading about the place before I left Australia, so don't send angry emails if you don't agree with my next statement. I find the city to be souless in a way I've never experienced before. The core aim appears to be to chase the mighty dollar. Also here is none of the Asian insense or signs of religious awareness that I've seen in other Asian countries (and I've been to a few). Apart from a church and Raffles Hotel, all that isn't new and about to make mega millions is torn down and replaced with something that will.
Take, for example, the Sentosa magical light & laser show in the musical fountain and the beautiful jetty that welcomes visitors to the island. Although these attract thousands of people, they are being pulled down to make way for a casino to augment the entertainment value of the golfing facilities on the island. Will the Merlion (part fish part lion) standing majestically at 37m tall also be bulldozed for the sake of progress?
The funny part about the Casino is that it's not encouraged that locals waste their money there. There is to be a compulsory $100 entrance fee for Singapore residents that will not apply to gamblers from other places. Husbands can ring and forbid wives to enter (and I suppose vice versa) so that the housekeeping $$ stay intact. Weird, huh?
Sadly, I can't find any craft outlets and few book or music shops, so I'm going home empty-handed except for some duty-free lipstick and a couple of cheap watches. I think the thing that shocked me most about shopping was the lack of places to buy books. I can understand that cross stitch may be my passion but not everyone's passion so it's not popular in shops, but books??? There are many libraries here, but large proportions of these structures are devoted to books that are not allowed be borrowed. Everything has its purpose and place. It smacked of little done for pleasure - except for eating, of course.
The food! What can I say about the food except that I will have to go home and starve for a month because I have eaten far too much? My guess is that there are no kitchens in the homes of the Singaporeans. LOL. Everyone goes out and eats in restaurants, in food 'markets' etc. The latest fad is the chocolate fountain idea that Paul and I first encountered when we were planning our wedding. There is liquid chocolate, solid chocolate and chocolate icecream laced with more liquid chocolate in nearly every food location. Even I, who never goes out of her way to buy a chocolate here in Australia, was tempted to try a little.
All in all, I enjoyed the trip. Next time I go (which will probably be on the way to somewhere else), I'll make sure that I get a few days in with one of my daughters. Each of them inherited their grandmothers' shopping genes that skipped my generation. LOL.
And that's my story. More news and views of Daily Bliss from home later in the week.
Happiness & laughter always,
Bliss
Notre Dame de Paris on Friday night was everything I expected it to be. It was magical! I bought a new dress for the event (what girl wouldn't? It was the premier, after all), glammed up my hair and then sat and watched and listened in awe! I'll also admit to humming along to a few numbers ... LOL.
Before the show, Paul and I sat outside at an Indian restaurant on the water's edge and sipped a 'golden chandon' each - erm, I drank his while he enjoyed a local beer. This is a new taste sensation for me and I guess you can tell that I liked it. It's champaign with a parfume of Cointreau & Tia Maria. Most delicious!
Singapore is not like other places I have visited. I'll preface my next comments by saying that I did little reading about the place before I left Australia, so don't send angry emails if you don't agree with my next statement. I find the city to be souless in a way I've never experienced before. The core aim appears to be to chase the mighty dollar. Also here is none of the Asian insense or signs of religious awareness that I've seen in other Asian countries (and I've been to a few). Apart from a church and Raffles Hotel, all that isn't new and about to make mega millions is torn down and replaced with something that will.
Take, for example, the Sentosa magical light & laser show in the musical fountain and the beautiful jetty that welcomes visitors to the island. Although these attract thousands of people, they are being pulled down to make way for a casino to augment the entertainment value of the golfing facilities on the island. Will the Merlion (part fish part lion) standing majestically at 37m tall also be bulldozed for the sake of progress?
The funny part about the Casino is that it's not encouraged that locals waste their money there. There is to be a compulsory $100 entrance fee for Singapore residents that will not apply to gamblers from other places. Husbands can ring and forbid wives to enter (and I suppose vice versa) so that the housekeeping $$ stay intact. Weird, huh?
Sadly, I can't find any craft outlets and few book or music shops, so I'm going home empty-handed except for some duty-free lipstick and a couple of cheap watches. I think the thing that shocked me most about shopping was the lack of places to buy books. I can understand that cross stitch may be my passion but not everyone's passion so it's not popular in shops, but books??? There are many libraries here, but large proportions of these structures are devoted to books that are not allowed be borrowed. Everything has its purpose and place. It smacked of little done for pleasure - except for eating, of course.
The food! What can I say about the food except that I will have to go home and starve for a month because I have eaten far too much? My guess is that there are no kitchens in the homes of the Singaporeans. LOL. Everyone goes out and eats in restaurants, in food 'markets' etc. The latest fad is the chocolate fountain idea that Paul and I first encountered when we were planning our wedding. There is liquid chocolate, solid chocolate and chocolate icecream laced with more liquid chocolate in nearly every food location. Even I, who never goes out of her way to buy a chocolate here in Australia, was tempted to try a little.
All in all, I enjoyed the trip. Next time I go (which will probably be on the way to somewhere else), I'll make sure that I get a few days in with one of my daughters. Each of them inherited their grandmothers' shopping genes that skipped my generation. LOL.
And that's my story. More news and views of Daily Bliss from home later in the week.
Happiness & laughter always,
Bliss
2 comments:
lovely to hear from you albeit indirectly, looks very familiar, hope you are having a brilliant time! will you be crossing into malaysia, they have charming little villages built over the water and excellent seafood dishes!love joanne
Hi Jo,
having a marvelous time! We had high tea (i.e. scones etc) at Raffles this afternoon. No crossing over to anywhere but Sentosa Island to watch the fountain laser show.
'Notre Dame' was brilliant!
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