Bye Bye Singapore

Singapore continued ...

After I finished yesterdays blog I walked down over to the mouth of the Singapore River to get a photo of the Merlion. It's quite funny - the original Merlion is about the size of the concrete lions some people have in their gardens in Australia. Apparently the people in Singapore didn't think it was impressive enough either, so they built a bigger one about thirty feet from the original.

After that I went wandering around the Quay area, looking for somewhere to have dinner. I didn't see anything that appealed so I turned to my guide book and discovered a reastaurant called Si Chuan Dou Hua. The guide reccommends it because the range of fixed menus is supposedly quite good, but what they failed to mention is that they are only available for a minimum of two people - not much help when you are travelling alone. Despite that I decided to bite the bullet and order from the a la carte menu - the location was just too good to pass up. You see Si Chuan Dou Hua is located immediately beside the Singapore River on the 60th floor of the United Overseas Bank building.

It offers a view of Singapore that can't be matched.

The food turned out to be terrific too. They offer a wide selection of chinese dishes in Sichuan, Cantonese and Huang styles, and the dishes I had were exceptional. You also get a complimentary chinese tea that is not the usual green tea but made with several herbs and dried flowers - Marigold I think. The water is poured using a pot with a half-meter spout, and the show the waiter puts on really adds to the occasion.

I got to the airport just in time to board, and then it was a 12 hour flight to Amsterdam. I watched one movie at the start of the flight (The Shooter), dozed and occasionally slept during the middle, and then watched another at the end of the flight (The Holiday).