July 27th, 2010
After calling into a few meetings and catching up on email, I headed out for a late afternoon walk to help keep me awake. I didn’t want to fall asleep only to wake up at 1:00 AM with nowhere to go.
Singapore is close to the equator, there isn’t a lot of temperature variation. July is supposed to be one of the driest months but when I looked at the forecast, it was supposed to rain everyday. At least it wasn’t supposed to rain the entire day and by the time I made it out for a walk, the sun shone bright.
My first impression of Singapore was “What a skyline!” Each building seems to have character. Everything looks pretty new and construction seems to be going on everywhere. I wonder what Singapore will look like in 20 years?
The most amazing building is the Skypark (top left) which opened up a couple of months ago. Three 55 story buildings with a park (that looks like a boat) that spans over them. Next to it is the new convention center and adjacent to it they are building a museum. I hope to go get to the top next week when I have some time.
The Esplanade (center top) is a theatre complex that is in the shape of a durian fruit. Durian fruit can be found throughout southeast asia and is known as the stinky fruit. In Singapore, it is banned from public transportation and in many of the hotels. I might have to try this.
For lunch, I grabbed some food at a Hawker Center. Hawker Centers are government-owned food courts that contain hundreds of booths selling all sorts of dishes – Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Malaysian and Singaporean. When I first arrived, around 11:30, it was rather quiet. That changed as the lunch hour hit. Every table was filled and it was common for people to share tables. I started with Kaya Toast – a local favorite that I had tried in the states – Toast with Coconut Jam. I then had a Japanese stir fried beef dish with an order of dumplings.
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