After quickly showering and unpacking we headed back out into town taking the MRT to City Hall station. From there we walked to the iconic Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles who founded Singapore and established the East India Company in 1819.
Whilst there, we looked in the famous Long Bar where Singapore Sling cocktails set you back $29 each. I loved the colonial style of Raffles with its tall palms and large rattan cooling fans.
Next it was time to eat, so we studied our map and walked along to the Esplanade where we found Makansutra/ Gluttons Bay Hawker Stall.
This is an outdoor food court seating 550 people with 12 food stalls offering a large range of street food from chilli crabs to noodles. In one corner there is a kiosk selling drinks to accompany the food. As it was a Saturday evening it was really crowded but eventually we managed to find two seats. Tables are large, shared ones but everyone we met was very friendly and it was fun sharing experiences with locals and fellow travellers. In fact, we struck up a conversation with two off duty BA flight attendants who told us that they always tried to eat at Gluttons Bay on their stopovers. I went to order some food, we kept it simple on our first night with dishes of Chicken Fried Rice and Nasi Goreng, two Roti Canai (delicious flatbread) and a bottle of Tiger beer each.
The food was very cheap, $14 and the beers $5.90 each. It’s a really atmospheric place and it felt lovely being able to sit out, late at night without even a jumper, so unlike home.
We walked along the waterfront to view the iconic Merlion statue half mermaid half lion which is the emblem of Singapore and admired the waterfront cityscape of Marina Bay. Soon afterwards tiredness caught up with us and we returned to Clarke Quay by MRT. Shortly afterwards we were tucked up in bed asleep after an amazing first look at Singapore.
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