So as I was saying, three weeks ago my mom came to Asia to visit me! It was her first time in Asia + she stayed for two weeks, one of which was my end-of-quarter break. So we went to Singapore for four days to visit our good family friends, Louise + Colman, who have lived there for the past 7 years.

I didn’t know much about what to expect from Singapore aside from excellent food, an ethnically diverse population + otherworldly cleanliness. (After all, Singapore is a “Fine” city!)

Let me tell you, I saw more obvious ethnic diversity in the first 15 minutes at Singapore’s Changi Airport than in the entire 3.5 months that I’ve been in Taiwan. Coming from the melting pot that is theNYC, I’m not gonna lie, it was very refreshing. The Indian food was out of this world, + the level of clean around town was like the Twilight Zone. Almost too good to be true.

Louise played tour guide (smashingly well!) + on our first day we started with a tour of their neighborhood, then tackled the Arab Quarter + the Colonial district.

Our first stop after their hood was an old cemetery near the Arab Quarter that Louise had found during various photography excursions. She did not have much information to tell us other than part of it was the burial place of a Sultan from the olden days.

Then we checked out the Sultan Mosque at the Arab Quarter. A beautiful, beautiful building + area on a beautiful, beautiful (if not HOT!) day.

Then we walked to Parkview Square building to have some coffee in the cray Art Deco style lobby area. Despite its appearance, this building was constructed just 10 years ago to be an office building. +, go figure, according to the all-knowing wiki, “It was built as the last major project enterprised by the late Mr. C. S. Hwang, a Taiwanese tycoon chairman of Chyau Fwu Group.”

I guess it’s anyone’s guess why Sun-Yat Sen, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Plato, etc., stand outside the building…

Then it was on through the Colonial district to meet Colman at the Esplanade before going to dinner. Here’s some of what we saw along the way.

Dinner was was at a fabulous Indian restaurant along the water near the New Singapore National Stadium (still under construction). Forgive me for being too busy eating to take any pics of the awesome waterfront view. Full + exhausted we went back to Louise + Colman’s, soaked in their pool (I know, poor us) + went to bed early to prep for another long day of sightseeing. This time in the jungle (sort of). To be continued….

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While the weather was actually amazing by Singapore standards while we were there (ya know, just in the 90s + no rain) the days got preeeeeetttttyyyyyy uncomfortable. Cue an old fave song of mine sung by my fave jazz goddess, Miss Ella.