Singapore, Day 1

(This first photo should be at the end of my post. If I try to move it, I'll probably delete it, so I'm leaving it where it is.)
Yesterday was our first full day in Singapore, and we saw so much, thanks to Tan and Pam.

They picked us up at our hotel at 9:00 to begin our tour of the city. We visited China Town, Little India, the waterfront, and then we went to the Botanic Gardens. These gardens are considered to be the best in the world, and I don't doubt that is true.

My absolute favorite area of the Gardens was the National Orchid Garden. I could spend a week there, I swear. I've never seen so many varieties of orchids, all in beautiful, full bloom. I took about 100 photos there alone!

In the early afternoon Pam left us to drive back to their condo, so Tan then took us on a walking tour of Orchard Street, a street lined with shopping malls and food stalls.

The great thing about having a native Singaporean as a tour guide is that he knows what we need to see and what we should eat.

Tan took us to the basement of one mall, where he headed for a fresh fruit stall. We enjoyed papaya, pineapple, and two other fruits which Ken and I had never had before. From there we went to a meat stall, where Tan insisted we must try the smoked ham. It was delicious. As we continued walking, Tan suddenly remembered something else we must try, "flosss." (Yes, three s's.) This was a very light, delicate bread with what looked to be spun sugar on top. Yummy.

We returned to our hotel in mid-afternoon and took a very brief nap. We could have slept for hours, but the best way to get over jetlag is to put yourself into the new time zone as fully as possible.

Tan came back to get us at 5:00 and drove us along the beautiful east shore. We took a long walk through a park, then went to Tan and Pam's condo to meet the rest of the family, especially Tan and Pam's first grandchild, who is six months old.

After a brief visit there, we loaded into three cars and drove to the East Coast Seafood Centre, where dinner reservations awaited us at one of the restaurants. We enjoyed this evening so much, not only for the food, but for the chance to get to know Tan and Pam's daughter and her husband, older son and his wife (They were married just last weekend.) and younger son. Everyone was eager to have us experience the seafood of South Asia: squid, giant shrimp, even "gianter" crab, fish, and more.

This morning another of Ken's friends from his days working in Chengdu, China, is picking us up to show us more of Singapore. Then at 1:00 we're meeting Pam and Tan for lunch at a luxurious restaurant on the 70th floor of a skyscraper. I can tell we're not in Maine anymore!