Traveling with Michelle: Day 11: Separate, then together

Joshua and I wanted to see things today that Randy said that he saw yesterday, so we split up again with plans to meet for dinner. First, Joshua and I had to walk through Little Turkey to go to the subway. We also had to walk through a less prosperous neighborhood and counted 4 pieces of litter on the ground.

Little Turkey neighborhood

Mosque in the background

In Hong Kong we saw signs everywhere about trying to control
mosquitos. This is the first one we've seen in Singapore.

We took the subway to the Old Hill Street Police Station. It is an historical landmark near Fort Canning Park. It was originally a police station for the British in 1934, then Japanese army barracks during the occupation. Then the government took it over and government offices are there now. Currently it houses the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth.

The courtyard which had a glass roof added so that it could be air conditioned.

Then we attempted to use Google Maps to walk to the Merlion Park. Well, it had us walking through the middle of a cricket stadium, then crossing the water on a dotted line. So, we made our own way near there and stopped at a Starbucks for a cool-down and refresher. The heat index was at 107 degrees Fahrenheit today. We had shaken lemonade iced tea, hibiscus flavor (in the US they're called refreshers, hibiscus flavor). The store was the 100th Starbucks in Singapore. The Marina Bay area is like Manhattan, a Starbucks around every corner! This one was huge, with couches and a huge glass window overlooking the bay with a counter to sit at the window.

The original fire station next to the old police station

More promotion of moral behavior

Interesting building

This is the courtyard of the National Gallery (where we stopped to cool off)

The National Gallery uses the original City Hall and Supreme Court buildings. They
enclosed the space between as an atrium and added air conditioning.

The original cricket clubhouse. This area had many Victorian British buildings.

The front of the National Gallery. In the foreground is the old Supreme Court building.

Skyline of the financial district

Victoria Theater and memorial

If you're looking for the green man, here's how to find him!

After our drink, we looked at Google maps (with the park across the street). It showed us going across the river on the bridge, then coming back on a dashed line, so we wondered if we were supposed to swim or stick out our arms and fly. It turns out that the dashed line was a pedestrian bridge but there was no reason to cross the road bridge and return on the pedestrian bridge since we could cross the street on the road underpass and be at the park. Weird Google maps! The Merlion is like a mermaid lion (remember Singa Pura means Lion City in Sanskrit). So Joshua and I took pictures, then Randy texted that he wasn't feeling well, could we meet earlier, say at 5:30. Well, it was 4:30, so Joshua and I hung around the Marina Bay area for an hour, walking a bit and taking pictures until Randy got there.

Here is the pedestrian walkway that was a dashed line of Google Maps.

Small merlion fountain.

Big Merlion

Sands Marine Bay Hotel

Helix bridge in the background

Merlion

Then we used Google Maps to find a food court (they call them hawker centres) with Asian food. There was a sign that said that 91% of the people of Singapore see hawker centers as central to the culture of the country. They value people coming together over food. Then we walked back to the Marina Bay Area, then around the bay to see the Helix Pedestrian Bridge (which is right next to the Sands Marina Bay Hotel) lit up.