First Days in Singapore

Ahhh... I do love Singapore! This is my fourth time to this country and I am constantly amazed at how well run it is. Although the country is small, it is endlessly interesting. On of the best things to do is just go to Orchard Road (the main shopping area), find a good bench, and just sit there and watch people.
Singapore is extremely diverse. The majority of the people here are Chinese, but there are also major populations of ethnic Malays and Indians.
Of course, one of the best things about coming to Singpore is testing out the endless array of food at the Hawker Centers. Hawker Centers are groups of permanent food stalls. The food there is always delicious, very cheap (about S$2.50-$4.00), and can be found everywhere. No matter where you are in Singapore, a hawker center is not far away.
The fun thing about traveling with someone else is that always get to try two things at each meal: your own dish and their dish! Double the fun! Eric and I have mostly been eating at hawker centers. Today we went to West Coast Food Center for breakfast. To start out with we got Singaporean coffee (SO GOOD!!!!! I'D MOVE TO THIS COUNTRY SIMPLY TO DRINK THIS EVERYDAY!!!!) After that Eric got something called Mee Rebus, which was noodles in an interesting sweet and spicy curry sauce. This dish was from a Muslim food stall.
For lunch I went to a Thai stall and got a noodle dish and Eric got fish ball noodles. Fish balls are interesting. They are not bad, but they have a strange consistency. Sort of a mix between rubber and hard boiled eggs. Anyway, after that we went and got some fresh fruit (mangos, bananas, and young Thai coconut) for smoothies later on.
Aunt Sandy and Uncle Vic left for Canada yesterday morning. On the night before they left we went out to a fabulous Burmese restaurant called INLE. Wow! This was my first experience with Burmese food and it was fantastic! I have heard one description of Burmese food from someone else: "a mix between Thai and Indian." But, I don't think you can call Burmese food a mix of anything. For anyone who visits, I highly recommend the yellow bean appetizer. Mind blowingly good. For dinner, I ordered some sort of noodle dish that had chilis, chicken, sesame seeds, some vegetables, and some other spices that I could not identify. INLE is inside Peninsula Plaza near the downtown area. As it turns out, Peninsula Plaza is sort of like a "Little Burma." Inside the mall are all sorts of Burmese provisions shops. After dinner we all wandered around the shops looking at all the Burmese ingredients. Out of all the shops, I think I could identify maybe two things. No wonder the Burmese food tasted so unique: because I had no idea what any of the ingredients were!

Eric and I share a similar travel style: we like to just walk around aimlessly for hours. So far we have covered quite alot of ground in Singapore. We went to Chinatown, Little India, the financial district, Clark Quay, Boat Quay, Orchard Road, Bugis Market, and much more. Walking for hours is great because you see the way people live everyday.
I think my favorite area in Singapore is Little India. I was talking to Aunt Sandy about this and she said many people think Little India is the antedote to Singapore's almost sterile cleanliness. It definitely has alot of character, but in my opinion, so does the whole country. I was disappointed to find out that my favorite area of Little India, Tekka Market, was closed for construction. Oh well. We wandered around Little India and found a Hindu temple. It must have been an Indian holiday because the place was packed full of people eating special food watching yogis walk around doing blessings.