In this cool city with good friends.

We had —-an amazing morning communing with nature; a yummy, fun lunch at the oldest hawker food court in the city; a delightful glass of wine at a friendly shop; an informative visit to a Muslim Indian information center; a nice walk home to the hotel; a short rest and recharge; and to top it all off, dinner at a famous seafood restaurant. Sounds cool, eh?

The Jurong Bird Park is a great example of what a zoo could and should be. The animals were well fed and feisty, the park was clean, and with enough signage to explain the exhibits. You could market this place on the landscaping and gardens alone. Wonderful. We got there just as the birds were being fed and oh man, what great timing! What fantastic noises! I have to say the waterfall enclosure was my favorite. Full of free-flying non territorial birds, it’s amazingly calming to listen and relax in the shade. There’s also penguins, a fantastic selection of parrot species, toucans, other flightless birds, and so much more. A great place.

The food scene here might be better than the one in Hong Kong, and that’s saying something. The food courts here (we had lunch at Lau Pa Sat) are amazingly affordable *and* provide a ridiculous selection of cuisines from all over asia. For lunch,  you can get a gourmet meal from Armenia, Turkey, Korea,  China, Japan,  of course India, etc.  Well, maybe not gourmet….but still really good!  The tables are clean and the atmosphere 100 percent legit.

Just walking slowly through neighborhoods here gives you a feel for how things used to be. For sure, a lot of skyscrapers, but little glimpses here and there of the old Singapore peek out. Between a fro-yo shop and a 7-11, a 100 year old Hokkien temple is now a museum. One block away from a French wine shop, a community center detailing the lives of Indian Muslims welcomes you in to learn about some original inhabitants of Singapore…in a building from 1828.

This is the good stuff, my friends.

A speciality of Singapore is Black Pepper Crab and Chilli Crab…so you know what had to happen. We went for dinner at Jumbo’s, one of several outfits that claims to have invented the dish Black Pepper Crab lol. I don’t know and I don’t care who gets the credit. I do thank them kindly for helping me to finally enjoy a crab dinner. After countless tries…..those guys are delicious!!

So that was cool. I’m trying to shorten the list of foods I won’t eat. It’s down to, like, brains…and mushrooms haha. And cream cheese. Still struggle with those for some dumb reason.

Well, all told another great day in Singapore. The weather is mostly cloudy so that’s been super too.

Couldn’t ask for more.

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