So many adventures!

04.01.2015

Singapore is really small, so it's easy to have a lot of adventures in one day. I started off at Alkoff Mansion, but it's not very interesting, so I left quickly. I headed on down to the ritzy Keppel Bay Marina, where the boardwalk was virtually deserted. That's the good thing about weekends during the week! I dunno if it was me, but it seemed like everyone there was pretty snooty, besides the ever-present gardeners and security guards, they were very self-centred people. I would try to smile and say hi, they always looked the other way. I even got bumped off of a sidewalk once because this man would not move over and/or walk behind his girlfriend to make room for me! He just bashed me on the shoulder instead.

After that I ended up in Labrador Park, which was awesome with an amazing mangrove you could walk through on a long boardwalk and a memorial to the soldiers that died while their guns were pointed the wrong way in a Japanese attack on Singapore in WWII.

Then I went for some Indian businessman lunch on a silver divided tray. Had no idea what to order, so I just said vegetarian. Also, had no idea how to eat it.

From there, I went up into the treetop canopy at Kent Ridge Park, also really peaceful and it was completely deserted on a Monday afternoon.

The highlight of the day hands down was Haw Par Villa. It's an amazing sculpture garden telling the stories of Chinese deities. I had heard about a lot of them already from when I lived in China, but this place made it really clear. It was originally built in 1937 by the son of the guy who invented Tiger Balm, so the vintagey, kitschy feel was incredible. The 10 courts of hell were amazing, with lots of gory brutal sculptures in a creepy cave. I even saw super monkey! Many of his escapades were on display in tableau format. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Asians sure do love tableaus.

After that, I needed a break so I was going to hang out at a bar in the trendy Holland Village area. However, it was so trendy that beer was at least $10/pint. No thank you, I'll have a slurpee instead thanks, and then I just went home, had an argument with my landlord and moved out the next day.

Keppel Bay Marina