We arrived in Singapore early yesterday morning after an uneventful flight (they are the best kind) and headed straight to our hotel. The Elizabeth Hotel is a mid-range, totally adequate place to stay when in transit. It is a five minute walk from Orchard Road or as some refer to it "the Shoppers' Dream Mile." Anything you want, you can get. For example, I bought some trousers at Marks and Spencer when we were in London. Guess what? within a few minutes walk of our hotel, in the Paragon Shopping Centre there was a Marks and Spencer - so I bought another pair!
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| The Paragon Shopping Complex |
The Paragon is just one of the dozens of massive shopping complexes found in Singapore. Clean and shiny, they are huge temples to the Gods of shopping. All of the major European stores are found here along with a multitude of restaurants. If Singapore worships shopping, it adores eating. Whatever the cuisine you can find it here.
In the evening we went to Clark Quay where we had dinner. We shared a large plate of crab and prawn fried rice. That and a cold Tiger beer is one of the delights of this area which has become a Mecca of food and drink establishments.
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| Outdoor Dining Establishments at Clarke Quay |
Today, Monday, we made our usual pilgrimage to Raffles hotel where we like the buffet in the Billiard Room. Unfortunately it is closed on Monday so we made do with a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar.
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| The Long Bar |
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| Singapore Sling |
It used to be that the Singapore Sling was shaken by hand in quite an elaborate feat of showmanship. Unfortunately progress has finally overtaken this feature and we noticed that they are" shaken" in an electric mixer. On the other hand, there are big boxes of peanuts at every table and the shells are still deposited on the floor.
Peanuts Before Peanuts After
followed by lunch in the Empire Café. Then it was back to the hotel for a quiet afternoon and preparation for tomorrows departure.
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