Sunday in Singapore - river cruise

We looked at masses of tourist guides - there's so much that can be done in Singapore, and we'd been recommended the Night Safari tour. But Dan wasn't particularly keen, and we were all tired, so we decided not to do that. Another recommended tourist trip is to take a ' bumboat' along the river, so we thought we'd try that. So on Sunday morning we walked probably a couple of miles - via various malls and exhibitions that distracted us temporarily


- to the Singapore river, and boarded a bumboat.




The trip was supposed to be half an hour, pointing out sights of interest, but what we didn't know was that it was the day of the annual Singapore regatta, so there were several teams of rowing boats preparing for races. Several times we had to wait, while a race started, and we got a premium viewpoint of the rowing boats! Our pilot wasn't terribly impressed, since our trip ended up lasting about an hour, meaning loss of other customers.



We found some fast food (Taco Bell - an American chain that we haven't seen anywhere outside the US before now) for lunch, after much wandering around the banking district. Then we went to the Wheelock Plaza and Borders bookshop, so Dan could wander around and see books other than those on the Doulos! He bought a couple of books, and we then took him to the secondhand bookshop we had previously found in the Far East Plaza, and he found three more that he liked. Then we returned to the hotel, relaxed for a while, and then out to eat at another recommended Indian veggie restaurant. Not quite as good as the previous night, but still not bad, and pretty inexpensive.

The district of Little India was crowded - Sunday is a day off for some people, but shops are open until late every night, and I don't think I've ever seen so many people walking up and down the streets, even during a festival in Cyprus. Richard assures me it's nothing like as crowded or noisy as Cairo, though!