DUCK Tour and Sultan Mosque

For our last full day in Singapore, Reed and I decided to go on a land/water tour of the Marina area. After riding the bus and train, then walking down to the marina, we found DUCK Tours.

On our way to the marina, we saw the Singapore Flyer and the War Memorial. The Flyer takes 37 minutes to complete one circle, we decided the pictures of the flyer would be sufficient. The War Memorial represents the civilians who died during World War II. The four towers symbolize the four nationalities of Singapore, Chinese, Malay, Indian and minorities.

The DUCK tour was fun. The vehicle was used during WWII as a land/water assault vehicle. We went into the river first and saw the Esplanade Theatres which boast over 7000 spikes on the roofline. It is Singapore's equivalent of Sydney's famous Opera House, except that the two-lobed spiky Singaporean version deliberately bears a striking resemblance to durian. The Merlion reminds the Singaporeans of their history as a small fishing village (fish) and then the modernization (lion) of Singapore by Sir Raffles. As Singapore's official symbol, it is 28.2 feet tall and weighing 70 tons, spouts water daily on the south bank of the mouth of the Singapore river.
(info source)

Ms. A loved the water part of the tour. The breeze felt so wonderful and she loves the water.

We visited the Sultan Mosque after a scenic walk from the Suntec City Mall (one of MANY malls in Singapore). It was very impressive. I loved the massive gold onion-like dome.

Chinatown and Little India

This is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. We were impressed by the size of the building. It was huge. The doors inside were closed, so we couldn't enter. The interior opens every day at 4:30AM, 10:30AM and 7:30PM for the monks to pray. We enjoyed looking at the exterior.


Sri Mariamman Temple is a Hindu temple built in 1827. It is the oldest Indian Temple in Singapore. the statuary on the exterior is typical of Hindu temples, but still very impressive.











" The Masjid Abdul Gafoor contains a sundial above its entrance. It is the only mosque with a sundial throughout the Islamic world. The sunburst has 25 rays decorated with Arabic calligraphy which denotes the names of 25 chosen Prophets. It was completed in 1907 and has a unique blend of Moorish-Islamic and South Indian architectural styles. I loved the green, yellow and white color combination. All the stars and crescents adorned the mosque beautifully.

Peanuts and Ponies

We found this nice Chinese restaurant in Chinatown's Food Street where they served steamed peanuts as an appetizer. Reed opened up his chopsticks and Ms. A was instantly mesmerized. She had to try the chopsticks too. She did a pretty good job for a first timer, but decided that toothpicks were better. She grabbed the peanut, pushed it onto the toothpick, and then placed it on her spoon for her to eat. It was a delight to watch her methodically eat the peanuts.


We are staying at the Rider's Lodge, which used to be the Singapore Turf Club. It is a new hotel surrounded by trees and bushes. Yesterday Ms. A and I found Jimmy the pony in an enclosure. We were very excited that he was there for pony rides, but we didn't know where or how much it cost to ride him. As we were heading to our room, we met the hotel owner or manager. We asked him about the pony rides and he gave us 2 complimentary tickets! After our site-seeing, we discovered that Jimmy was there. Ms. A was tickled about riding Jimmy. She beamed the whole way around. We decided to let her use both tickets and she was even more excited. During her second ride, an employee told us to ask the front desk for more tickets if we want to tomorrow. I'm sure Ms. A will be more than willing to go again. As we were leaving, she said goodbye to Jimmy and thanked him for the ride.

First Impression - Singapore

I love Singapore! We heard it was a beautiful place and that the public transportation was top-notch, but seeing is definitely believing. When were leaving the airport, we went to the taxi stand and there was a taxi waiting for us, no need to ask for assistance or barter the price. :) He used a meter and was very friendly. As we drove to our hotel I was struck by the greenery. Even the overpasses, bridges, and ramps had flowering bushes on either side of them. The median between traffic was beautifully landscaped. It was a delightful sight after all the busy cities we've visited.

Reed and I also talked about the friendliness of everyone, even the street vendors are polite, they didn't follow or hound us to check out their items. They simply invited us and if we said no, they accepted it. :)

Today as we were driving to our hotel, I noticed the taxi driver's screen. I watched as a notice was displayed regarding a lost item at the airport. We were told if something gets lost within the transportation arena, you give notice to the authorities and the item, if it was in any vehicle, bus, or train, will be returned within an hour. Hopefully, we won't need this service, but it's great to know about it.