May 28 Singapore's Stunning Contrast to Mumbai

It is glorious being here in Singapore. The Fairmont is right across from Raffles Hotel and is our view from our balcony. We couldn’t be in a better location as everything is walking distance from here. Unfortunately, Joe is still down for the count. The boys and I went to the pharmacy first thing and got him some Imodium and rehydration salts. We brought some rice, bananas, and bread back in case he started to have an appetite. Wishful thinking – he was down for the count and slept for the whole day. I feel badly – Joe really didn’t want to go to India but I felt that it was a must. You just have to experience India if you’re travelling in Asia!

The boys and I headed out to visit Arab Street – a unique Muslim market filled with all sorts of treasures. We stopped in at the Sultan Mosque and then spent an hour at the Malay Cultural Village Museum where we learned about the history of Malaysians in Singapore. We also learned a lot about the history of Singapore in general – a fascinating story given that most of it didn’t even exist when Sir Stanford Raffles arrived in 1819.

Ryan is not 100% either so we came back to the hotel. Joe was well enough to come down to the pool with us. It was stunning lit up at night with great views over Singapore. We spent an hour swimming and tossing the football around.

As Joe and Ryan weren’t up for dinner, Brendan was my date for the evening… and what a great date he was! We walked to an outdoor food market where every kind of food imaginable was on offer. Brendan had noodles and chicken and I had a fiery chicken curry and two types of vegetable with rice. Our total bill came to 8 Singapore dollars (about $7.00 Canadian) and we had so much food we couldn’t eat it all. My meal was $2.50! In fact, Singapore is a foodies Mecca and it can all be had if you eat at the markets for a song.
We can’t express how marked the contrast is between Mumbai and Singapore. After I arrived I spent an hour reading and listening to a band in the lounge (the boys were all in bed) and found myself in tears. Experiencing the abject poverty in India and then coming to Singapore is soul-stirring and one can’t help but think about how unfair life can be… we are so very, very fortunate to have the quality of life that we do and travelling makes us appreciate it so much more!