Souvenir Shopping, Night Safari + Marina Barrage
I got caught up with so many things happening in my life right now that I had left out a lot of blog topics to write, I have tons of things to share with you guys but it felt like I don't have the time to write but hopefully, getting this one finished soon would help because by next month, we will be traveling to another country (Hong Kong) again and I might not be able to finish writing these anymore due to the new topic so I do hope this time, I could get this one done.
In my previous Singapore travel series, I shared about our last day's adventure visiting the Tree Tunnel, Chinatown, Pagoda Street. That was just the first half of the day and things went really exciting and unexpected in the afternoon.
Our eyes feasted on this red-colored temple. This kind of structure will surely catch your attention and you need to either use an ultra-wide lens or go farther away from the subject to capture its beauty. But actually, I found that Google Maps has a 3D visual presentation of it when you look it up on the browser. I am always amazed at the architectural effort done for such a structure and so I tried my very best to really take a wide-angle shot of it but our lens struggled to do that, we couldn't afford to go to the other side of the highway and so we settled for this shot.
This is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is not just a temple but also a museum. It houses religious relics and comprehensive exhibits on Buddhist art and history, it has richly designed interiors with ornate rooms & a tranquil rooftop garden showcasing Tang dynasty–style.
On our visit, there were many Buddhists praying and it's just respectful that we do not disturb them so we just walked around, appreciated its beauty, and then we started to go back to the train station en route to Little India.
As we strolled, these were the things we saw around whilst we took a different route this time. There are a lot of corners and alleys in Chinatown that it will be easy to get lost but Google Maps is just one tap away.
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Fruits familiar to our tastebuds were displayed along the way. We didn't bother getting one. But we stopped when we saw the display of peppers! They surely were pretty! How can such a size bear so much fruit?
One last view of Singapore! There's a sculpture of a woman or a man perhaps with two baskets hanging on each end of his or her carrying pole. This is actually the entrance of Chinatown's Street Food, which is basically on Smith Street.
We took the train and went to Little India, we wanted to check out Tan Teng Niah. As I pushed Matti's stroller, I got really thirsty and was craving for something cold. We passed by several Indian restaurants but what caught our attention was this ice cream shop named "three's a crowd".
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They got limited options on the menu which was good because it would mean an easier job of choosing what to have. Well, they got ice cream, waffles, and coffee. But we were there for the cold ones so we asked for a scoop of classic vanilla and another order of caramel ice cream!!
The area was super narrow, it could only fit one table on the sides yet I saw many people come here for snacks perhaps, There's another eatery at the end of the hallway.
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Matti enjoyed the ice cream in fact, he almost finished his cup! My husband and I shared the one scoop! It was a good way to get some rest from the heat of the sun!
Another long walk and pushing and we reached Tan Teng Niah.
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Based on the information I found online, this house is one of the most colorful in Singapore and is the last remaining example of a historic villa. I am really attracted by its colors, there's a blast of hues and they just played around with the combination which looked really nice in photos.
This house by the way is surrounded by Indian restaurants and stores, there were no other tourists and I think this is not very popular anymore with foreigners but I am glad we checked it out. I couldn't take better photo angles because there were several people sitting at the entrance of the house and some were at the sides just talking to each other.
We called it a day and decided we should go check on our parents who were left at the hotel. They did mention that they had lunch at the nearby Chinese restaurant and ordered their noodles. Then we met up with them halfway and we went to a souvenir mall named Mustafa.
Obviously, this is within Little India too. It was our last day so we bought souvenirs. It has almost all of the possible souvenirs you could imagine from keychains, porcelain miniature Merlion, chocolates, teas, coffee, food, perfume, etc. They got them all!
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My parents bought some stuff to give away to friends back home. However, I decided not to get any of those miniatures but instead, got myself some chocolate bars that were on sale!
Souvenir shopping was supposedly our last stop for that day but our neighbor friend called to say that her boss would like to meet us up and when we met right after paying for the souvenirs we chose, the boss named Ken Wong would like to treat us somewhere, he gave two options, Night Safari or the Singapore Flyer. It was already past four in the afternoon and he said te Night Safari is actually unique in Singapore so we choose the Night Safari instead.
Mr. Wong drove us to the Singapore Zoo, it was really faster going there with a private car and he was super friendly, he bought the tickets, even bought us dinner!
However, it was not what we expected it to be. There was a ride that took us around the zoo but we only saw those animals that are active at night like lions, elephants, tigers, etc. In fact, I can't quite remember how they looked as it was hard to see at night especially when the animals were hiding but what struck me the most was when we saw the lion and it was sitting on top of a rock, it looked huge and very strong plus it roared!
There's a voice-over talking about where to look and what was there with some interesting facts about the said animal but because it was dark, it was hard to really appreciate it.
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Aside from the ride tour, there's also an option to trek at certain parts of the Night Safari. They have maps handed to each visitor and we could go near the animals' cages. We spent three hours in the Night Safari and on our way back to the city, we were super thankful to Mr. Wong for the opportunity.
But that wasn't the end of our meetup because he had to bring us somewhere again. Mr. Wong by the way is a pure Singaporean. He is also a Christian and he was sharing with us what God has done and how the pandemic had given a lot of fear to others but he remained healthy despite not getting a vaccine.
Anyway, he brought us to see a part of Singapore that not all tourists and visitors could access - the Marina Barrage.
I was amazed that this reservoir is actually not just a facility alleviating the country with flood issues but also generating power with their Solar Park. On top of that, they had made it a spot for recreation. There are water sports that can be done here such as dragon boat races and kayaking.
At night, this has a great view of the city lights with reflections coming from the colors in the water! They had built viewing pods extending out over the water just like what they had at the Helix Bridge so visitors could see the view better. It was a great way to end our trip indeed and we can't thank Mr. Wong enough for that opportunity.
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Before heading back to our hotel at 11 p.m., we took some group photos. He drove us as well to our hotel which we appreciated so much! Next blog, I'll share our Singapore Museum experience!
J U N E B R I D E
Boholana | Cebu | Philippines | Travel | Photography Enthusiast | Calligraphy | Art
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Wow! You visited a lot of beautiful places and soon you will travel to another great place, sana all hehehe.
Matti also enjoyed the ride or the trip.
Praise God sis kasi sa company ni husband yan,if wala yan di namin afford hehe
Blessings nga Yan sis, travelling while working.
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that is so awesome sis! Im glad you and your family had a n amazing experience.
Oh I would love to see a lion in person.
And those snacks, they look so delicious!
i wish we could take good photos but it was night time so it was pitch dark nonetheless, it was a great experience!
I feel you sis its okay
WOW you visited so many places Brings back memories of when I lived there for 3 years but it sure has changed so much
Love the night shots especially
good luck on your travel to Hong Kong
Thanks for joining the Wednesday Walk :)
wow you're like a local then after 3 years of living there! I bet you had so many memories nad photos while living there!
sadly back then I was not into photography, well I was but all the camera gear went missing in shipment to Singapore and I didnt get back into photography till 20 odd years later, well 30 plus years actually
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Thanks kim!
kanice sa injong nalaagan sis oi