第二天的行程比較大路像普通遊客，包括去看魚尾獅像，唐人街，吃傳統的Kaya，走過一眾景點等。
一起同行的當地朋友越來越多，大家一起打機交流，更夜闖印度人區域，看看人妖夜生活！
2005新加坡友誼之旅 (2)
第二天的焦點：
1. 市中心看財富噴泉及魚尾獅像
2. 在唐人街遊逛吃Kaya
3. 在商業區Orchard行街
4. 於Raffles Place見證新加坡歷史
5. 夜闖印度人區域，吃印度菜及穿越紅燈區小巷
6. 在Marina’s Bay看跑車及交流對戰
For the second day, I woke up at about 11:30am. Roxy picked me up at the lobby of the guesthouse. She took me to visit of the towncenter of Singapore.
The first destination was the Suntech Center, and took pictures of the famous Wealth Fountain nearby. After going through a number of shopping arcades, we went to the landmark of Singapore, the Esplanade. Going through it we arrived at the riverside, and saw Merlion, the representative fish tail lion statue of Singapore.
We took photos for the Merlion across the river, and then Roxy took me to cross the bridge. She told me many things about sightseeing in Singapore, and I saw the grandest and the best hotel of Singapore, the Fullerton, just beside the bridge. Then we arrived at the Merlion Park. We asked visitors there to take photo for us, then we continued for the downtown.
Our next stop was Lau Pa Sat, a super large and famous food hall in Singapore. Roxy tried to let me taste Malaysia food there, but she found that the shop closed. So we went for a Malaysian foodstore nearby, and she ordered Malaysian food for me. The taste was good, and then we continued our journey.
The next stop was the Chinatown. On the way to it Roxy let me taste the famous Kaya toast. It was toast with special Kaya sauce which was made with coconut and egg. The taste was special and good. Then we visited the Chinatown. The shops there were really like Hong Kong, just with many outdoor foodcourts everywhere.
After that, we took the MRT from Chinatown. MRT was just like MTR of Hong Kong. Even they used ezlink, which was exactly the same as the Octopus in Hong Kong. Our destination was Orchard, the most hit and crowded area in Singapore.
First of all, we went to a shopping center with an arcade called ZoneX. That was the base of Roxy’s team. The most interesting part of this arcade was that used stored valued card for every game. Just put the card on the detector like ezlink or Octopus, and the credit was bought. I thought this was very advanced for arcades. Many discount and events could be done through this. Hope it will appear in Hong Kong soon.
Next to the arcade was a gaming center for X-Box. Just paid the hourly rate, and customers could get any X-Box game from the counter and played in a comfortable area. Surely it supported network play, and there was even a VIP room. It would be nice for Hong Kong to have such place.
Then we went to another shopping center with an arcade called the Star Factory. It was under the same company owing Bugis Virtualand. It was smaller but was still very large compared with other arcades. Then we visited a comics store there, and after that we went on the street and went straight into the heart of Orchard.
On the way we passed the House of the Prime Minister, and then on the main road of Orchard. The area was like Causeway Bay of Hong Kong, with lots of department store and trendy shops there. We bought drinks and went into the Visitor’s Center to have a look. And then we arrived at Heeren Shopping Center. It was one of the largest and trendy shopping center at Orchard.
We went to the top floor first. After visiting a few shops, we went to take card photo together at the printing club. Roxy told me that it was very hit a few years before, just like the case in Hong Kong. We got 2 photo cards and shared them. After walking for a while, we left and heading for Takashimaya, the largest department store there.
Actually, department store everywhere in the world is about the same. The price of the products was near the level of Hong Kong. So I didn’t have great interest to buy anything there. But something interesting was the library there. That library inside a shopping center was just like a bookstore on my first impression. We walked in and looked for a while, then we sat down in a coffee house to take a rest. Roxy dialled to JKIZ, but JKIZ was still sleeping at that time…
After half an hour of rest, we started leaving Orchard. Before we took the MRT, Roxy bought some Malaysian/Indonesian dessert for me to taste. It was special and I never ate this in Hong Kong. Then we took the MRT and headed for Raffles Place.
Raffles Place was an area for the history of Singapore. Raffle was the first one who first landed on Singapore and started transforming it from a fishing village to a metropolitan city, and was regarded as the founder of Singapore. We went across the river and took photos at the statue of Raffle. Then we walked by the river, and passed the Parliament House. After that, we headed for Funan, a major computer shopping arcade.
Funan was a high class shopping arcade, with many large computer stores there. The price of the the computer parts and accessories was about the same as Hong Kong. I tried to find a converter that couldn’t be found in Hong Kong, but seemed also not available there. Roxy helped me to ask her friends, and she suggested to go to another computer center called SimLim to check on the next day.
By this time it’s already near sunset. We walked back to Bugis, and it was really near. Just 10 minutes later we arrived. I went back to the guesthouse to wash my face, and then I joined Roxy back in the Virtualand of Bugis.
We started playing Wangan, and suddenly a boy came close to me and asked if he could play my car for a few times. After watching I found his skill in Hakone quite good. After conversation I found that he was only 12.5 years old. I took photo with him, and then I continued playing Wangan.
After playing for a while, Roxy took me to visit the whole Bugis Junction. It was a large shopping mall, something like New Town Plaza of Shatin. Shops there were going for young and trendy style. There was also a large department store Seiyu there. We walked for about half an hour, then we went back to Virtualand.
10 minutes later, Eugene, JKIZ, Torn came, along with their friend William and his girlfriend. We played some versus game, and took group photos at the center. At about 11:00pm we decided to leave for dinner. We planned to go to Little India for Indian food, but restaurant Eugene’s chose was already closing. Finally we dined in another one nearby. We tasted Indian food, and that was quite good compared with the Indian food in Hong Kong. William talked a lot with Torn and Eugene about their army life. At about midnight we finished the dinner, and the visit for another dark side of Singapore began.
Eugene brought us to the dark alleys inside Little India. There were houses with red light at the door. Eugene told me that those are the sign for sexual services. Some of them were Indian girls, and some of them were even males dressing like girls! Since it was quite dangerous there, we just passed by and had a look. Soon we left the area, and went for a 24 hour shopping arcade nearby.
That shopping arcade was opened by Indians. It was just a large department store with the most variety of products I ever seen. Starting from food, drinks, clothes, electronic devices, to jade and jewellery could be found in the center. As the fellow smokers smoked outside, Roxy took me in to walk around. It was so large that even Roxy sometimes couldn’t find the way back. Finally we left the place, and it needed some transformation for Eugene’s Honda Fit to accomodate 7 people inside.
The next stop was a used car shop at Marina’s Bay. Eugene told me that my favourite car FD3S was there. When we arrived I even saw a fully modified pink FC3S was at the entrance. Inside there were 2 FD3S, one RX-8, as well as fully modified Integra-R and Accord. I took pictures for all of them, and we took group picture at the yellow FD3S.
Just next to the used car shop was an arcade called Super Funworld. It was the only 24 hour arcade in Singapore. The special thing was that the Metropolitan run of Wangan there was the cheapest in Singapore, only SG$4. So the Midnight Stars often played Metropolitan run there after other arcades closed. There were quite a lot of people there, and we played for about 2 hours there.
Then we started the way home. We crossed the bridge over Singapore river, and the night view of Merlion and places around was beautiful. The first stop was my guesthouse. We said goodbye, and after shower I felt asleep at about 4:00am.
