Botanical Gardens, Singapore

Singapore Botanical Garden and Chinatown

Botanical Garden, Singapore
Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden

Today, we slept a little longer than usual and waited until the downpours were over. After breakfast we left for the Botanical Garden. The domain was huge, the heat incredible. The souvenir shop became a welcome source of cooling. We visited the orchid garden where most of the orchids in the world could be found. Very nice ! Wildlife is also close by: turtles, chickens, squirrels, lizards, dragonflies and we saw a very beautiful kingfisher.

Botanical Garden, Singapore
Botanical Garden
Botanical Garden, Singapore
Botanical Garden

Orchard Road

After two hours of exploring, we took the metro, another place for cooling down, towards Orchard Road. We immediately understood that the phrase ‘shop till you drop’ was probably coming from Singapore.

Ion Shopping Mall, Orchard Road
Ion Shopping Mall, Orchard Road
Ion Shopping Mall, Orchard Road
Ion Shopping Mall, Orchard Road

We entered the Ion shopping mall. The higher in the building, the more luxurious it felt. Koen looked at a maserati, but unfortunately our suitcases were not big enough. Downstairs there was another food court, overcrowded again, we figured that food was the national sport (so the place to be for us :-)). 

We got another fresh juice and noticed that we were actually more thirsty than hungry… except for ice cream. We tried the ice cream with rainbow bread. What a weird combination, but strangely enough it was tasty! Around  4pm we return to the hotel and after a little swim we were going out for dinner.

Ice Cream with Rainbow Bread, Orchard Road
Ice Cream with Rainbow Bread, Orchard Road

Chinatown

In the evening, we went to Chinatown for a hawker center tour (foodstalls). First, we visited Foodstreet where we ate black pepper crab, then we walked to the Maxwell hawker center where they sold (so it seemed) the best chicken rice. According to the internet, Tian Tian was the favourite, but the stall was already closed. So we opted for the second best… We had to queue for 45 minutes. Patience is a virtue  :-).

Chinatown, Singapore
Chinatown, Singapore
Black Pepper Crab, Chinatown
Black Pepper Crab, Chinatown
Heng Heng Chicken Rice, Chinatown
Heng Heng, Chicken Rice

Was the food good? Yes, but the crab from earlier that evening could not be compared. 

Last stop of the evening, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. There was a ceremony ongoing, so we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Back in Raffles city mall (metro stop), we went looking for something tasty and we found a cake stand. There was just a sale, since everything had to go. So we had no other choice than to buy a full box of pastries. We walked back to our hotel via the Raffles… 

Pastries
Pastries

Another fabulous day !