We then jumped on the metro to Chinatown, where we explored the main street . The colours were so vibrant and lovely, with the multicoloured buildings and the bougainvillaea flowers. The Mainstreet of Chinatown has a glass covered roof and some really great street art! We stopped at a restaurant called “Fortune Garden Restaurant”. I ordered tomato and scrambled egg, a major Chinese comfort food and Jives got a grated potato spicy and sour dish with chilis and green peppers. We also shared a Tsingtao beer. 

We then walked down the length of the Pagoda street, which has been a major trade street since the 1800’s with opium dens and the slave trade sadly (coolies). 

When I was a kid I had a book of international architecture and it included Sri Mariamman Temple in Singapore’s Chinatown. I said that I would one day see this beautiful temple, and today was the day! I loved the colours and details of the carving on the temple, and it looked so very different from all the other architecture in the book (I also said I would see the Sagrada Famillia one day, which I did!). The entrance to the temple was the iconic staggered sloped tower, covered in faces and every colour. Inside the temple was also colourful, like an attack on the senses. The ceiling was covered in murals depicting stories foreign to me. Garlands hung from every archway and statues were draped in floral scarves. There was so much to see and take in. 

Next we went to the Buddha tooth relic temple. The exterior of the temple was a series of Chinese style towers in the iconic red and white. Inside there was a small courtyard with incense before the main room. The walls of the main room were lined with little buddhas, thousands of them. People were placing coins in a series of jars around the perimeter of the room and the centre of the room was filled with little tables with pillows for the monks to kneel at and pray. Everything was dripping in with red and gold, another attack on the senses. There were shrines for each lunar zodiac sign, which you could visit. 

Next we ventured down an interesting street that happened to lead to a beautiful park called “Ann Siang Hill Park”. We then walked to Thian Hock Keng temple, stopping at another park with some lovely statues along the way. Thian Hock Keng didn’t look particularly welcoming… so we decided to head back to our room to cool down and shower before a night time adventure later… 

At about 6pm we headed to the metro, on our way to Maxwell Hawker Centre. For those who are not familiar with Hawker centres, they are like large outdoor food courts but with cheap and delicious food, some of it even Michelin star good! This Hawker centre had two long rows of stalls selling every major asian food imaginable. I really wanted to find carrot cake to try… not at all like north american carrot cake. We found a booth selling carrot cake and the lady explained to me that the white carrot cake was savoury and the black was sweet.

I ordered the white carrot cake and she said “not spicy?” I said, “no, spicy please!!” Jives went to look for a table but couldn’t as I waited for the carrot cake. It cost $4 for a big plate of food. An adorable drunk Asian man at a table near where I was standing beckoned me over and told me to sit with him, so I did! Jives went and bought us a Tiger beer to share as I sat and ate with the asian man. The carrot cake was delicious!! It was made of daikon, or asian white radish, egg, green onion and chilies. It was a lot more like an omelette actually, and it did have some spice to it! I loved it!! Our Asian seatmate left and wished us a good night. As we sat and finished our beer, an Australian couple asked if they could sit with us. It was nice to pass our table on to someone else… We then walked to the Gardens by the bay to see the night time light show. Maps.me as always gave us some questionable advice and we ended up on a mud pathway to the bay.

We arrived just as the show was about to start and sat on the ground. It was a “retro” themed show, and they played early disco tracks. We had perfect seats (the ground) with a clear view of about five to six supertrees. The show is every night at 7:45pm and 8:45pm and lasts about 15 minutes. Definitely worth seeing, but I wouldn’t go more than once. We then did the slow shuffle with 2000 other people to make it to the metro and back to our hotel.