Upon arrival at Singapore Airport, we made our first (beeline) stop at Starbucks:
The rest of us embarked on a mini-tour in the pouring rain to see some of the sights of Singapore.
So many different forms of architecture here, it's really unbelievable!
After that, we headed to the hotel for a quick check-in and turnaround before going out on another bus tour of the city.
Our first stop was in Little India, the site of the December 2013 riots. We had to write about the riots in our pre-departure research paper; the consequences of the riot included less bus access to the area, curfews, heightened police and surveillance, and decreased alcohol sales. I expected it to be a much more desolate place, but Little India was so vibrant!
There were fruit stands all over the place:
And the buildings were so colorful!!!
Street after street of fruit, flowers, clothes, and trinkets:
We got back on the bus and continued to drive around Singapore, a country of only 716 square kilometers.
One of my favorite things about this city is the juxtaposition of the huge buildings of the downtown business and financial district, the small colorful buildings, crazy weird architecture, and all the trees!
Our next stop was for a little over an hour in China Town. Like Little India, it was full off color, street vendors, and great smelling food!
We decided to eat dinner here, there was a row of wonderful vendors that had some very interesting names. This was my favorite:
After dinner, the group split and some stayed behind to do some shopping and exploring. The rest of us got back on the bus to head back to the hotel to finish the research papers! One last glimpse of China Town:
Singapore gave us a great first day. Though we were exhausted and jet lagged, we all got to experience the color and vibrancy of the city.
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