A Fun Day in Photos

Happy birthday, Mom and Momma Neal! Though in many ways I wish I could have spent the day with you in the U.S. (today was when we would have left for the Grand Canyon with Mom and Dad), I had an awesome day touring Singapore with the Managing Director of our Singapore office, Ed. See for yourself!

First stop, Orchard Road - the Fifth Avenue of Singapore. Honestly, I've never seen so many shopping malls in my entire life as I have in the last four days. I'll write more later about the malls, but for now, just know that Orchard Road is where the serious shoppers go.

Orchard Road seems like a never-ending stretch of shopping centers and upscale hotels. The two pictured here are just the beginning, but from what I saw, among the nicest.

This is Holland Village, a walkable little enclave with guess what...more shops and restaurants. I've been told a lot of ex-pats frequent the area. We also went to another area called Dempsey Road but I didn't take any pictures there.

Then we went up in the Singapore Flyer, Singapore's answer to the London Eye. According to my travel book, it's the world's highest observation wheel. I've noticed that Singapore is all about design and being the biggest/tallest/first. To me, it looks like a giant Ferris wheel!

Here's Ed as we're going up in the Flyer. He's lived in Singapore about four years and has done just about everything. What a good sport to take me out sightseeing like a tourist today...especially because today was a scorcher!

Here I am at the top of the Flyer, with the CBD on the left. You can't see our office building or my apartment from here, but they're in that general vicinity.

After Ed and I parted ways, I headed back to Clarke Quay to check it out in the daylight.

I know it's cheesy but I want to take one of these boat rides. It bet it's kind of like the Bay Cruise if you've never been to SF.

And even though there was a big food festival on the bridge...

...I chose to have nigiri from a Japanese supermarket that came highly recommended by Jacob for dinner. It was delicious!

And then I successfully took my first MRT (mass rapid transit) ride tonight on the way home from Clarke Quay. It was super easy, even for me. It's also very clean, and the stations are air conditioned (not just the trains). Puts the NYC subway to shame.