March 8,

We were up & about by 0700, and I had my Java. I finally had my Panorama coffee ☕– it was worth the wait!  We went downstairs to Xin Chao for breakfast. Our breakfast is included and the “joint is hopping” – lots of people, but we found a place to sit. It is a buffet style. I had little bits of: scrambled eggs, toast, little chicken “sausages” with a BBQ sauce (?), some onion rings, apples in a mayo dressing, and some of a broccoli/carrot/mushroom mix. It was tasty and I enjoyed it. Jeff had the same. He had the tea down here, but said he won’t again. There was also fried rice (of which Jeff had) and fried noodles.

Now we head out to see more of Singapore. We catch a local bus, activating and using our Singapore Tourist Pass cards. Jeff got the three day package, which cost S$29 each ($21.79). It is unlimited transportation, and discounts for some activities. It’s a decent deal. Anyway, we were riding the bus to Singapore Botanic Gardens. It is a double decker bus and as we were going we taking in more of the planned architecture of the skyscrapers and landmark buildings. We did pass one of note, Parkview Square. It is a many storied Art Deco style building, which we like so much. It is a classic example and was built in 2002. There were so many other buildings – taking the bus enables you to see a lot. It was great.

We arrived at the gardens and it is massive! It has Gardens inside the Garden – some you need to pay to enter and some of them are tied in with UNESCO. We meandered through the free Marsh Garden, seeing unusual water lilies. They were small and white with fringe. There were also red dragonflies. Then we came to Swan Lake. It had a nice sculpture of swans, reminding me of the one at Ambassador in Big Sandy. We did see one live swan, chilling in the shade of trees. He was smart! It is hot and muggy out, I was wilting.🥀  We passed a couple of Heritage Trees, one of which is native of Singapore thought to be the last of its kind on the island! Then we went through a Ginger Garden. The Ginger family has over 1500 plants, and the Ginger order has seven plants, of which a type of banana, and a false bird of paradise (or lobster claw) belongs.

Then finally, we arrived at the National Orchid Garden. It is the largest tropical orchid garden in the world. This was an entry fee garden. As foreigners we paid more – I was S$15, which is $11.27; Jeff, as a senior, was S$3 or $2.25. This garden, inside a garden, was still big and had several areas of interest in it. One was The Semcorp Cool House. It was air conditioned and a nice respite. There were so many orchids in here. Gorgeous!!  As I have mentioned, we love Orchids. They are so varied. We left here and next walked up to the VIP orchid garden and Burkill Hall, seeing so many more orchids! Singapore is famous for developing varieties of orchids, since the 1930’s according to a placard. Also their national flower is one of these varieties, called Vanda Miss Joaquim. That is way cool! Lastly we went through the Celebrity Orchid Garden, seeing new kinds of orchids that celebs had endorsed somehow. We spent a total of two hours in the whole of the National Orchid Garden! I took a whole bunch of pictures🤯… it will be hard to pick which ones to use on the blog!

We left and meandered to the other end, exiting out of the huge Singapore Botanic Gardens. We did see a couple of Monitor Lizards and some birds that were walking on lily-pads. The whole garden has been here for 140+ years. Amazing and well cared for. By now we were hungry! Where we left the garden complex was close to the Adams Food Hawker Center, so we went there. We started with two big lime drinks from Apit Drink Stall. So great and refreshing – they cost us S$8 ($6.01).  After we cooled down some with a bit of the juice, Jeff went for food, while I stayed to keep our table. He chose the House of Braised Duck Stall, picking two dishes: Roasted Duck Rice, and Duck Meat Kway Chap. These two cost S$11.50 = $8.64. Both were great and the Kway Chap came with a noodle soup and fried tofu, boiled peanuts, and a half of a HB egg. So we had plenty to eat.

We finished and caught a bus back to our place. We had been back maybe 20 minutes and thought we heard thunder. Since our room is windowless we went down to the lobby to check it out. Sure enough… raining pretty good. So rest of afternoon was chilling in our room. I blogged and Jeff worked on setting up his new phone. I forgot to mention that he ordered it at the airport and it was there when we arrived. It was one of the best deliveries we have ever had!

Around 1830 we went out.. no rain. We went to a Hawker Food Center right near us, called Berseh Food Center. We stopped at the Char Grill Stall and had Satay, which is meat on a stick. We had 10 sticks – five pork and five chicken. They came with a great peanut sauce, a bit of zucchini and onion, and two leaf woven squares of sticky rice. The whole meal cost us S$9.60 = $7.21. It was good and great to watch the older “mom and pop” prepare food.😄 They danced around each other and turned over quite a number of char-grilled skewers of meat!!

After we ate we head out on the MRT to the boat building – Marina Bay Sands. At 2000, a free show happens every night in the bay, ‘Spectra- A Light & Water Show’. We had arrived 15 minutes early and found a prime spot. A guy next to us offered to take our picture. We declined, but conversed with him til the show started. He was from New York, but has been here 16 years, married a local, and has raised his children here. The show started and it was set to music as was last night's tree light show. The light displays were okay, but we did not enjoy the music. We have been spoiled by the light/water show in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. But it was just neat to be out at night and see the skyline of Singapore all differently. After the show we went back to our place, thankful for a blessed day!