Singapore continues

We ventured into the city by bus after fathoming out the intricacies of the ticketing process.They have a system where there is integrated pricing between the buses and underground, known here as the MRT Using an individual refillable electronic tap card  you just jump on and off remembering to tap the card both on entrance and exiting. Nevertheless we bought the single ticket variety which involves paying a refundable $1 deposit on the ticket.This cuts down on paper usage and so long as travelling out of peak time didn't cause too much hassle at the ticket machine...in fact we became proficient at obtaining tickets and refunds as a team activity.

We spent our afternoon walking around Clarke Quay, lying near the mouth of the Singapore River it was the heart of 19th century commercial activity in Singapore as it became more and more important in East West trade.Today it is a sanitised version of the shophouses that we saw in Penang with an array of Chinese and international eateries.

Now I had better say something about my diet which now has had by necessity to include a fair amount of rice in it.Rice had previously been confined to the lower parts of a menu and usually served with cream and perhaps a dollop of strawberry jam but I am changing...see trying to take in the culture and all that.    ps my waistline has trimmed too but I still look as if I'm pregnant with man boobs!!

We walked past St Andrews cathedral onto the playing fields associated with the Singapore Recreation Club on the Pedang established in 1883 by 30 members from the Eurasian community.where amongst other things they hold regular Tombola nights.     Mmm must check out whether they are CIU affiliated..then again probably not.

Right from the very start Singapore has been a controlled society, its modern founder Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles instructed the first Resident, William Farquhar to reserve an open space for public use only to find on his return some 3 years later amongst other things the encroachment of the mercantile community.He immediately revoked his permissions ,blocked new building and set up a committee to oversee his planned development of the city. Just think if he hadn't done this Singapore might just be a watered down version of the rest of Malysia or Thailand.