Day #4- Singapore

It amazes me how quickly I forget what day it is when I am on summer. I think it's Thursday! We slept in a bit and lounged around the hotel room. I keep telling Bill this is a marathon of a trip, if I start of sprinting I won't make it to the end. 

We finally left the hotel at 10am and headed towards Marina Bay. The goal: to your the area and get around by boat today. 

We took the metro- three different ones to the Marina Bay Area. We stepped out of the metro into a shopping mall. A real shopping mall. For those of you reading in America, you are thinking what's the big deal. I have not been to a mall in over a year. I walked through a Sephora! Love that store. Sitting in a giant shopping mall makes it feel like I am not in Asia. Oh to have the shopping variety available in Okinawa. 

We made our way to the food court of the mall. We thought we could get a quick bite to eat. They have cuisine from all over Asia: Filipino, Vietnam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Indian, Chinese, they had a whole tofu bar. We opted for a pizza. I guess we were not feeling too adventurous. 

We stopped at a drug store looking for masks. The haze has reached an all time high of 370 on the pollution raining scale. Everywhere, even in buildings, it smells of smoke. Strangers are stopping me to tell me to wear a mask. The problem being they are all sold out island wide. We wonder what the health concern really is- how bad is this for my health? We are both breathing fine, it does not make us cough. But the Singapore health commission has issued great warning. We will keep our eyes open for a mask. In the mean time we will  hope to leave tomorrow morning without any lasting health side effects. 

So after lunch we made our way out of the large building to see what we could see. Here are a few really hard to see pictures:

The helix bridge- it is supposed to look like DNA. 

This is the Arts and Science Museum. Can you see the tiny black dots on the top right. Those are building washers. I would say window washers, but there are no windows. That is a job I would NOT want to do. 

This is the Marina Bay Sands. It is a resort with great restaurants and shopping. 

These are the beautiful Lilly's outside the Arts and Science Museum. 

Here is Bill crossing the Helix Bridge. Notice how crowded it is! There is hardly anyone out in this weather. 

Here is my get up. I bright along a scarf to cover my head and shoulders for temples. Today it serves as a mask. 

This is the Merlion that spits into the bay. 

After walking around the bay, we stopped in a Starbucks. We are non coffee drinks so we had some blended juice and sparkling water. 

After a short rest we walked through the Fullerton Hotel. On our way out we asked about masks and the concierge gave us two masks for free. 

We now fit in with the locals. 

There was a quaint river walk, we circled around and took in the cute area. 

As we were walking under all those awnings on the other side, I got peed on by a bird. All of a sudden there was a warm clear liquid that landed on my arm. So gross- Bill said it was lucky!!

We made our way back around the Marina Bay and headed to the Gardens By the Bay. As we exited the metro, we noticed the air quality had improved. 

Yeah! It was definatly easier to breath. Here is a picture of the Marina Sands Resort later in the day. 

We bought our tickets and entered the Gardens By the Bay. I took a picture on a crocodile- a wooden carved croc- that's as close as I will ever get! 

We are inside the flower dome. 

I am not sure if this a rose bush, but it reminds me of the bushes Alice painted in Alice and wonderland. 

The gardens by the bay were rather crowded. People were willing to pay for clean oxygen. 

These last few pictures were in the cloud dome. It was dedicated to educate people on water conservation and plants that grow at different altitudes. It was neat to stop at the top and walk down. 

I am going to close this blog for now. We are headed to eat and if it is anything like last nights meal, it needs its own blog post. 

Day #4- Hotel #2- City #2