Singapore City Tour

We were fortunate to have Exxon provide a private tour of Singapore for us. It was fun going around town with a local who could answer questions and point out the differences that are new for us, such as grocery shopping. You can either shop at Wet Markets, Cold Storage, Cold Storage Finest or Markets. Prices are all different and you know me, I'm all about bargains and exploring new and local foods! Or simple answers as to where to get a good juicer (I'm in desperate need of one), kids clothes, work clothes for Steve, electronics, etc.

At first it was difficult to understand our tour guide, Yvonne, who is Chinese but has lived in Singapore all her life. Singaporeans tend to speak Singlish, which is a Engish based creole language. There is a tendency when speaking in Singlish sentences to add in a 'ah', 'lah', 'leh', 'meh', 'ma', and 'one', at the end of spoken sentences.

Some examples:

 Not good one lah. = This isn't good.
 Can meh? = Are you sure it can be done?
 Tomorrow dun need bring camera. = You don't need to bring a camera tomorrow.
 Chop already = The seat(s) has (have) already been reserved.

We went all over Singapore: Little India, Chinatown (where we had lunch at Yvonne's favorite restaurant, she did all the ordering and was it delicious!), Harbor Front, Orchard Rd, Financial District, Holland Village, Dempsey,  Local Muslim Area where you can find awesome rugs, Wet Markets (generally a fresh food market where you can buy local produce, fish, poultry, flowers, and pretty much find everything and anything), Clarks Quay and so much more. I'll stop typing as I know you want to see pictures.

We took a ton of pictures, but I've made the best attempt to post my favorites.

Orchard Rd (High End Stores)

Entering Chinatown

Wet Market in Chinatown

Temple

Chinese New Year is Feb 10th!

Roxana having a Chinese treat for the first time - She liked it!

Chinatown Hawker Center

Chinatown Wet Market - The smell was a little intense, but we quickly got over it. It was clean and really interesting. Surprised (and thankful) Baby Romero #2 didn't cause any nausea for me.

Grossed me out. Had to post, notice the black chicken? It's rare, but all natural.

I wanted to save these little frogs. Poor guys.

Fruit smelled delicious!

Very nice butcher.

Close up of fishie.

Temple

Singaporeans call "clothes hanging" the official flag of all colors.

Random stuff, but cute.

Clarks Quay (pronounced Key)

Clarks Quay. Can't wait to visit.

Super high end condos by Harbor Waterfront

Bigger than the London Eye. On our to do list.

Looks like a boat from afar.

Harbor Front

Muslim area (awesome rugs, we'll be back to purchase!)

Entering Little India

The only place in Singapore without order. Very hard to drive through here. Can't wait to eat here.

Last but not least, if you know Steve, you know he loves his beer. He was just a little excited to find this on Dempsey Hill, a hip area for Expats with cool shops and a cute preschool for Rox.