Singapore ~ Day 5: School of Hard Knocks

This day, we made our way to an area called Clarke Quay (pronounced "key") and ate lunch aboard the Lotus Grill Restaurant.

Downtown Singapore in the background....

We ate at the Lotus Grill even tho, just down the quay wall was Hooters!!

After lunch, we roamed around window shopping and stumbled across Royal Salengor Pewter Centre. We looked around the showroom of beautiful pewter pieces and then took the "tour" that shows how pewter pieces are made. Rodney and I were able to test our skills at Pewtersmithing during the demonstration.....

We were to place "dimples" on the pewter tube. The trick is to get each dimple the same size/depth and make them in perfect lines around the tube...NOT an easy task!!!

 This demonstration was followed by a Pewtersmithing workshop:

"School of Hard Knocks"

We were given a pewter disc and a mallot. Our first job was to use the stamps to personalize the disc.

The wooden block has concave impressions on each side, each one getting deeper. We placed the disc on the most shallow "bowl" and pounded it......

Once it was at that depth, we turned the block to the next deeper well and pounded some more....

Once the bowl was knocked into shape, we smoothed out the edge....

.... and gave it a good rinse.

After inspection and approval by our "master teacher," we were given apprentice cerficates!!

(And, yes, we got to keep the aprons!!)

Our little pewter bowls make great little "catch'ems"!!

We also purchased a pewter Shih-Tzu that looks just like Truman!!!

Singapore ~ Day 4: Sentosa Island

We began this VERY FULL day on Sentosa Island with a cable car ride!! This was a BIG feat for Rodney who can have an issue with heights....I was SO PROUD of him!! We had a fun ride over---we ended up sharing a car with two girls from Thailand who were SO impressed when Rodney could greet and even somewhat speak to them in Thai!! They were thrilled to be able to take our picture for us :)

Our ride started from the top floor of the building and, yes, went over the water! (Hence, Rodney's extra unease!)

We had a great view of the Singapore skyline....

And a great view of the Merlion and China Ocean...

Once back on solid ground, we began our discoveries along the mosaic Merlion Walk.....

And found more gorgeous orchids!!

The Merlion, half-lion/half-fish, is the symbol of Singapore....

Inside the base of the Merlion we were waiting to see an animated video presentation of how Singapore and the Merlion came to be.... It was complete with "legondary sea dragons and mythical mermaids"!!! Rodney made friends with one of those sea dragons...

Then we made the 10-story climb (via elevator!) to the top of the Merlion's head!

Quite the views!!!!

 

On the way down, we made a stop in the lion's mouth....

Once again, back on terra firma, Rodney looked back at where he'd been...

We caught a ride on a topless double-decker bus to our next adventure on another part of the island, Underwater World......

This was the souvenir picture they took...We stood in front of the screen and the computer did the rest. We thought it turned out so good, we couldn't resist!!

At Underwater World, they had some touch pools complete with stingrays, starfish, and baby sharks! They also had an underwater tunnel....

Our last big adventure of the day was visiting Dolphin Lagoon where we watched a dolphin show and got to pet a pink, yes, PINK dolphin! Say "HI" to Jumbo!

As our wonderful day turned to dusk and we prepared for our cable car ride off the island, the Merlion with his glowing eyes watched out to sea for sailors (or sea dragons or mermaids) in distress.....

Singapore ~ Day 3: Jurong Bird Park

While waiting to make a bus transfer on our lengthy journey to the park, we kept hearing these loud noises. Then we saw this truck...."CROW CULLING, KEEP CLEAR"....... Evidently the crows really liked that area!! Maybe they've never heard of scarecrows.....

Rodney took me there mainly so I could see some more penguins!
(Have you figured out that I'm kind of fond of those fascinating creatures?!?)

Our favorite part of the park was the HUGE African Waterfall Aviary. It's a rain forest setting with thousands of birds flying free and houses the world's tallest man-made waterfall.....

And we just couldn't pass up taking pics of the bathrooms!!!

And, yes, those are real plants in the windowless/wall-less spaces complete with the ever encouraging cascade of water!!!

Just a cool picture of Rodney "acting" like a native......

Singapore ~ Day 2 con't: Chinatown

This is the Chinese "Year of the ___" guy. So Rodney and I found our Chinese years.

Rodney was born in the Year of the Rat....

It says his luck is good, yet that difficulties remain many...???? And how do you stay "fiddle to your partner"?? So interesting!!

I was born the in Year of the Goat....

And what truth is spoken---Trust is needed in my relationship to stand strong against all adversities!! :)

As darkness moved in, our pictures didn't turn out so well, but here are a few that should give you a glimpse into what it looked like.......

Tomorrow--- Jurong Bird Park!!

Singapore ~ Day 2: Little India

Our second day of adventure took us to Little India, then Chinatown.

In Little India I made a couple of purchases......

a SARONG.....

and HENNA TATTOOS!!

It was CRAZY how fast she was able to do that!! All that intricate detail and she just whipped it out... She had my hand and ankle done in a matter of less than 5 minutes!!!

It felt like I had icing on me, which is pretty much what it was, actually. Then once it dried and fell off, the stain remained. It lasted for a good couple of weeks or so. Especially the one on my ankle. Guess I wash my hands more than I wash my ankle!!

If you've not heard much about Singapore, the running "joke" is that it is a FINE city--- they have a fine for this and a fine for that..... including urinating on the sidewalk!!!

This is an example of some of the buildings in Little India. I believe the first building was a temple.

Before we left Little India, we had lunch at The Banana Leaf. It was an Indian restaurant where the food is served on a nice green (clean!) banana leaf! And yes, we ate with our hands! It was some mighty yummy food. We had a couple of different kinds of curry and the na'an (Indian bread) was delicious!!

Then we made our way to Chinatown......