Alright, I have to admit that when we go as a family we try to get off the beaten path and largely stay away from the tourist centered focus places, but in Singapore it’s been about every place that I’ve been – super fun but also a little overwhelming. Ashley and I have been to little India, Chinatown, boat tour, skyscraper, casino/hotel resort (built on man made island), etc. etc. etc. It’s all very interesting and unique – the casino/resort feels like Las Vegas. A guess Singapore is really a tourist destination now – I can see why – it’s easy to get around, most folks speak English and it’s clean. It’s also super expensive. Example, basically it’s $1000 per sq ft. to buy a place here – so a 1,000 sq. ft condo is $1M. If you’re a citizen they have subsidized housing with 1% interest rates, etc. Want to drive a car? There’s a $100k fee for a ten year period of time…

Today we went to the botanical gardens and had a work meeting that was very productive. Ashley rolled her ankle a bit so ice pack and ibuprofen for her – but she rallied after a brief period of rest. The botanical gardens are very nice, they seem to focus on orchids and had an amazing selection. The past two days it rained and was overcast – so cooler – today however the sun cracked wide open and the oven returned – so walking around outside was more complex. Since Ashley is from NOLA it’s not that bad for her.

Last night we did a bunch of touristy stuff – really taking a cool boat / bus tour that ended up at the laser + light show on the water in front of the casino/hotel. We then went to one of the various markets for food – most of these are semi-outdoors and you just walk up and order what you want – super cheap too. We were in line for “Satay” – grilled meat – but then the guy says “40 minute wait” and well we changed our mind pretty quick as it was after 9 pm.

Other cool stuff – let’s see the trees in the photo are actually gas emissions tubes from garbage recycling – it’s been scrubbed before being released back into the world, but a good use of mixing a functional need and entertainment for tourists. The mall is basically like Las Vegas. It’s always interesting to take the picture of all the people holding their phones up – funny really as I believe that if you’re looking through your phone you’re more interested in the phone than what’s happening where you’re at.

And of course – final picture – they seem to love their cats, Nuggie would be proud.