Singapore — Chinatown

Morning stroll through the streets and pathways of Chinatown and stopping to see Sri Mariamman Temple covered with vividly painted Hindu dieties. BTW we lost the 15th crossing the international date line.

While walking we noticed that we weren’t the only ones looking around.

Continuing our tour, we headed to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (supposably contains one of Buddhas sacred teeth – shown only twice a year — not today – BTW it is stored in a chest made of 930 pounds of gold).

Street Scenes …

For a change of pace, we took the subway to the civic district – the colonial hub of the city. We tried visiting St. Andrews Church, but it was closed and cordoned off for reconstruction. Our stroll continued past The Old Parliament building, National Gallery, Victoria Theater and Concert Hall, Asian Civilizations Museum, The Raffles Landing site (where Stamford Raffles founded the city) and past some of the rivers famous bridges.

Heading away from the river we passed the central fire house, the Ministry of Communications and Information with its multi-colored window, several churches and then to the highlight of the day lunch at the lengendary Raffles Hotel and drinks (Singapore Sling) at the famous Long Bar.