katie louise: singapore sling

no reason for the title of this post- except that on our singapore airlines flights they served us singapore slings, and they were delicious, and the perfect refreshment to accompany my viewing of the in-flight entertainment.

we were lucky on our return flight to have a long enough layover to get out of the singapore airport and see the city. both on the way into the city and the way back to the airport, we had the friendliest cabbies who gave us a short run-down on the culture and what to do and see during our 4-hour tour. singapore is a fast growing metropolis with an economy that seems to be doing just fine, judging by the number of high-end stores, casinos being built, and luxury vehicles roaming the streets. construction seemed to be everywhere. the population is 4.99 million, and about 75% chinese, with large populations of malay and indians. the city is gorgeous- clean and well-manicured.

enroute from the airport to downtown, the entire way was framed in lush vegetation. the trees lining all of the streets were incredible.

when we reached orchard road, the shopping mecca of singapore, it was still decked out in holiday cheer.

'lucky plaza' is just one of many shopping malls, packed with high-end stores, that make up orchard road.

a mcdonald's ice cream stand... random, but felt picture-worthy.

it was incredibly hot & humid... and this is their winter season! once we'd had enough of window shopping with gucci armani and luis, we found a lively little outdoor pub where we sat and watched this entertaining duo:

i was mildly hot, sweaty and exhausted, slightly unaware of the date or the time or the place, but able to enjoy the music and my fresh lycheetini none the less.

a beautiful old, refurbished hotel in downtown singapore. next time, i want to stay there.

these flowers were pointed out to me by aydan in australia. a type of lily, i think. they are very rare and bloom briefly once a year. beautiful, no?

we made our way after a long walk to the newton hawker center, an open-air eatery.

the story of the hawker centers:

we found stall after stall of exotic cuisine. the idea is that you order one or two items from several stalls, then take your seat at a picnic table and wait for the vendors to bring your food. it's a great way to try lots of different asian dishes in one sitting. they were all, seemingly, incredibly fresh, too. and the poor vendors, like the consumers, were incredibly hot in the humid air, as well.