We ended our first day in Singapore with a wide spread buffet and to start our second day with another buffet is something both of us were not overly excited about. If our gastrointestinal tract could speak out loud, I bet it would display its displeasure of having to work overtime. But since hotel breakfast is on our bill ( cheapskates!), we rolled ourselves down to the restaurant Global Kitchen to have the most important meal of the day....Breakfast..Ugghhh already?
I did a more checking out than eating. Here's whats on the counters or at least some of it. Singapore hotels take buffet business pretty seriously. (^^)
The savory: left: Dimsum that changes everyday, middle: cold cuts and sausages,hash brown, and bacon, ham and baked beans and right: egg station with a chef who could do almost everything with eggs except lay it and some local delicacies featuring mostly Indian cuisines as well as pancakes and waffles.
Left: Fresh salad and cheese station. Center: Carbs spread Right: Fruits and Joghurt
Nom..Nom...Nom..
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One of the best way to visit Singapore's tourist spots is getting a day tour at Hippo Hop on Hop off bus. These tours provide different routes ( land and water) allowing visitors to explore Singapore at their liesures. Simply go to their ticketing station ( just across our hotel at Suntec City, hah!) and buy a day or 2 full day pass. You will be given a map with the different routes stated on it as well as the bus time schedules. Costumers get a ticket and a sticker which should be put on their garments so any Hippo tour bus driver could easily spot it and take them in. Tours usually starts in the morning and costumer could get down at any given bus stop, explore the place of their choice and wait for coming bus that will bring them further to the next tourist destination. Convenient as a taxi, only bigger.
Tour buses are usually open-top and doble decker. It provides passengers an excellent 360 degree view of the city. Looks like it's going to rain, no wonder nobody's with us on these exposed-to-nature's-mercy- seats.
We have been reading a lot about the beauty of Singapore's Botanical Gardens. Tucked in the middle of the city, this is a paradise made my man. No flowery and flattering words could describe how enchanting this place is. I hope these pictures will give the place some justice. I doubtfully think so.
Trees so big and almost as old as the city. A remnant of what Singapore was before it's transformation into a modern metropolis that it is today.
The place holds artificial but never the less beautiful water bodies like water falls, streams,lakes and fountains like the one above.
FF marvelling at the beauty of this place. Trully a man of nature, this was his favorite tourist site. Well, babbling spoon's favorite place is naturally where the foods are.
The place is relatively cooler compared to the other sites we've been to in Singapore. Perhaps because of the surrounding greeneries.
Although admission to the Botanical garden is free of charge, getting inside this Orchid Garden requires some payment. For 5 Singapore dollar, you are in for a treat.
Samples of the hundreds and hundreds of breeds of orchids that adorned the place.
Like a kaleidoscope of colors, each flower from
these extensive collection of orchids is an absolute eye catcher.
The beautiful white Gazebo. I won't be surprise if this is used for some romantic wedding ceremonies.
The entire place is very clean, spacious and inviting.Each plant, tree and flower graces the landscape harmoniuosly. The wide lawns are perfect for liesure walks and picnics.
The Swan Lake. I could almost picture somebody taking shelter under shades of the trees with a good book in the hand. Such as place could make anybody forget stress and take a breather from the hustle of a rapid paced city.
It took us half a day to explore every nook and crannies of this 74 hectar haven. We literally forgot the time! It was around 3 PM when the slumbering monsters in our stomach woke up and and make themselves known and audible. It's a good thing that Botanical Gardens has few restaurants . We enjoyed a cozy lunch while being serenated by some chirping birds . The downfall was the satay which tasted too strongly of spicy curry. I used the whole pack of Tempo paper to wipe my dripping nose while eating these kebabs. Not as good as the ones I had before.
After the very late lunch, we headed back to the entrance of the Botanical gardens where tour buses drop and pick the travellers up. No having any particular destination in mind, we simply hopped in and enjoyed the ride.
Oh look! Somebody decided to join us in our longer-than-any-stretch limousine-and-hair-tussling-ride.
Not really knowing where to go, we got down at a relatively busy street. After few turns we found ourselves facing the famous and legendary Raffles Hotel. Thanks to google I found out that a night of stay at this place could get as high as 600 euros and more! It made me curious. What made this hotel so famous and yeah so darn costly. Feeling a bit unsure, I almost pulled FF and headed to the open courtyard. The place has a colonial look with a classic flare and undeniable timeless elegance, different compared to the other new and modern neighboring hotels. I am expecting to see ladies in big pearls, 20's hairstyle and perfectly dressed patronizing the place but to my surprise the Courtyard was filled with normal looking costumers, mostly casually clad in shorts and flipflops. Not so different from what we have on so I suddenly felt more comfortable! They are probably tourist who wants to check the place out (like us, uhurm).
We took a seat and have some refreshment. What do you know, the Raffles Hotel serves San Miguel beer! Even few service crew were Filipinos! FF enjoyed his San Miguel and I had some cold fruit shake. The spoon and the fork looked at each other and shared a grin. Nothing beats enjoying life's simple joys in a lavish surrounding. Good things don't need to cost a fortune.
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The Babbling Spoon's face is full of love and it shows!
Later that night, I met some old college friends and classmates who are now working at the different hospitals in Singapore. With a nervous and quieter than usual FF in tow, we headed out to the nearest mall and decided to eat some Indonesian foods. Bintan blues?
So what do nurses talk about when they get together? Certainly not health issues and catheterization! Between laughter and gulps, we spend the night talking about family, friends, facebook ( hehe) and yes...weight issues. We realized that sharing talks and gossips (!?) over dinner is not enough so we decided to go back to our hotel. I sent a very relieved FF back to our room while I stayed downstairs with the girlfriends.
He can't stand hearing me cackle and quak in my language for hours and told me I sounded like an excited chicken when talking to my friends!
The girls and I had a private cabana at the The Atrium Bar all to ourselves and without FF, we got even louder! Girls need no alcohol to get crazy, we were on sugar rush. We ordered the entire dessert menu.....weight issues forgotten! My throat felt rather raw from all the yapping and yelping and I went to bed slightly light headed but grinning at dawn. I don't know how did those women manage to go back to work in 3 hours time but hey I still was on a holiday! Hah!
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