Sunshine and Rain help the Flowers Grow

We left the hotel in Abu Dhabi late at night to fly overnight. We boarded around 11:30 and flew to New Delhi in 3 hours where it was 6 in the morning. Our layover was supposed to be 3 hours but due to a slow security line and many locals sharing the line with us we only sat at the gate for about twenty minutes before it was time to board.

We arrived in Singapore a few hours later around dinner time. It was so warm and humid walking out of the airport and was slightly rainy. There were plants everywhere that were bright and tropical. We loaded the coach and rode to our hotel where we were given the night off. A group of us decided to try to go to a suit store with Rod that he has gone to the last few times on the trips of the past. We walked about 10 blocks or so into Chinatown that was covered in snake decorations for the Chinese New Year which was the day before. We searched for ten minutes but the store had moved so we decided to get dinner in Chinatown before going back to the hotel.

We went to bed and woke up early to leave with our guide for our day. She first took us to the Gardens by the Bay. It was the prettiest gardens I've ever seen. There were so many colors and shapes and sizes of flowers. The sky garden was also a neat garden with even more tropical plants. After leaving the gardens we decided to sketch the exterior spaces by the gardens and then headed to a plaza in the downtown.

Of course it started to rain when we got off of the bus so most took shelter under a nearby bridge before we went to our next stop to see the temples. The temples were Hindu and Buddhist. They were covered in statues and altars for prayer and dedication. We left the temples hungry and ready for a good lunch in little India.

Kathleen, Hillary, Jen, and I found an all vegetarian restaurant down the street that we sat down to eat. We shared three dishes that were all very good and extremely filling. After lunch we were all taken back to the hotel to do what we wanted until the night safari at the zoo.

Some of us decided to head to a nearby market that we had seen on our way in. Before the market, we got distracted by a mall that had all sorts of clothes we had been missing in our extremely limited wardrobes recently. After a long stop we headed to the market where we found the most amazing deals on earrings and clothes. I got to spend all of the extra Singapore money I had withdrawn before heading out to the night safari.

The guide warned us that the night safari was a popular attraction and there would be a lot of people but I wasn't prepared for all of the shoving. People were relentless! There was no stopping them! After getting pushed all the way into the lines to board the cars we finally loaded our car ready to head out into the zoo.

We got to see Rhinos, Lions, Wildebeest, and elephants which was neat but I was definitely hoping to see a tiger but no such luck. The people there were the most wild we saw in our safari. After returning from the wild Rod took a group of us out to try Singapore's traditional drink a Singapore Sling at the restaurant that invented them. There were very expensive but were very delicious as well. We returned late to the hotel and packed for our departure to Malaysia the next day, reluctant to leave the gorgeous country of Singapore.