Tuesday May 6th, 2014
After a lovely sleep in we donned our walking shoes and headed off to explore.
We walked down North bridge street heading for China Town and to attempt to complete one of our challenges!
I have set 3 challenges for our trip.
1. To visit China town in every city and sample and rate their dumplings.
2. To fly a kite in a park in the major cities (not Singapore as there’s no wind)
3. To see how many people we meet along the way will have a photo with George!
So far I have made a good start with George. As we boarded the plane in Adelaide an air steward asked me about him and was really taken by him so I got a lovely pic with them together and posted on Facebook. Then at Raffles one waitress wanted to take him home and the tall traditionally dressed Indian concierge was delighted to have a photo although he suggested I stand and hold George, I think it might have felt quite unmanly for him to hold George!
Anyway it was wonderful walking down into this area and as we moved further into china town we realized we could just as easily been anywhere in china. We followed the locals as it was lunch time and everyone was heading in the direction of cooking food. We found a large multi story concrete building with hundreds of food stalls. We were very noticeable as tourists as there were no other white Caucasians anywhere to be seen. Then we started walking looking for dumplings and the variety of food and smells was amazing. On the second floor we found a stall selling Nonya rice dumplings. These dumplings are a savory meat filling wrapped in rice and steamed inside pandanus leaves. We bought 4 each but could only eat 3! They cost $2.50 each. I thought it was like eating a chinese version of a pasty as you can eat them in your fingers they were really yummy and real comfort food. My score is 7/10 for presentation, 8/10 for taste, 4/10 for possible content as I couldn’t tell what meat was in the Nonya dumpling! There was definitely chicken in the chicken dumpling though. Tony scored 10/10 for presentation, 8/10 for taste and 6/10 for dubious content.
We then slowly walked back towards the river where we joined a river cruise on a “bum boat” traditionally used for carrying cargo around the city. This was a pleasant and cooling experience with the cool breeze off the water, I was drenched in sweat as it is so humid here.
We then continued to head back toward the hotel. We went into a Harvey Norman store (to cool off) their goods are way more expensive than we can buy in Australia!!
The real highlight of the day was our night of nights dining in the Tiffin Room at Raffles. This is the oldest dining room in Singapore. It was quite surreal as we were transported in time back to the colonial days of Singapore. There was a large private function with everyone dressed in 1920’s dress which added to the atmosphere. There was security at the door only letting in house guests, We couldn’t see the restaurant entrance so asked security and then ushered inside along with all the other flash guests!! Inside was an old Grandfather clock standing on the floor, keeping time and chiming the westminster chime at the hour, quarter and half hour. It was made in the 1880’s and every night when it strikes 8pm the pianist plays a Noel Coward song. This tradition has occurred every night since Raffles opened.
The meal was buffet style with a selection of Indian salads as a starter, Mulligatawny Soup, 6 vegetarian currys, a chicken, lamb and fish curry followed by a large selection of Indian desserts and candies. As we were enjoying the meal a waiter would come around and offer a selection of delicacies that had been freshly cooked by the chef!
One curry was eggplant and it was sooo delicious. The whole meal scores 15 out of ten, yes it was GOOD. The Gulab Juman was superb. After our meal we wandered around and enjoyed the complex. Then we walked next door to our room for the evening!
#holiday memories #grandtour,
#singapore
penjourney 