Our last full day in Singapore, after some administrative activities (the wash), we spent downtown and on the Bay. After all, Chinatown, and many uptown stores, were closed for the holiday. Our plan was to do Raffles, the Esplanade, Merlion, and walk around the Bay to the Gardens, there watching the evening Super Tree show and then moving on to the Marina Bay Sands Shoppes for the fireworks and sound and light show (again).
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Raffles Hotel, the great old colonial hotel named in honor of Singapore's British
"founder"; never mind the Bentley cluttering the photo |
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| Nice grounds |
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Raffles' Long Bar is where the Singapore Sling was invented, so, booze historian
that I am, I had to see it |
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| The staircase up is a bit of a museum |
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Not all that long, actually; I'd already sampled three Slings
in and en route to Singapore, and was not that impressed; if
you're going to dilute the gin, make it a Negroni for me; or
a dry American martini; or, better, just an olive |
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The War Memorial; Japan took Singapore from the British
in late 1941; the city's sufferings were great, many atrocities |
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| Outside the Esplanade theaters; you can see why the locals call them the ""Durians" |
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Although it's all over the air and cable waves, this is the
first written notice we've seen |
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We're taking reasonable precautions, washing our hands a lot,
avoiding very dense areas where we can; at this writing, we're
rather more impressed with the fact that, to date, 19 million
Americans have had influenza type B, and 10,000 have died;
American exceptionalism again |
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| Us on the Bay |
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| Mr. Merlion again |
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| Short-cutting through a nice restaurant |
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| Thinking |
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| Merlion, Esplanade, and weird buildings |
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| Skirting the financial district |
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| Now short-cutting through one arcade of the Shoppes on Marina Bay |
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Of course if you're not into walking, you can always just cruise the Shoppes
(one level only) |
