Day 7: Singapore (Peranakan Architecture galore!)

We woke up early the next day, and set off for the nearby iconic Old Hillstreet Police Station building. I knew it was close to our hotel, but I had no idea HOW close. I think it was only a 2-3 min walk... It was pretty impressive and I just loved the colorfully-painted window frames.

The focus of the day after that, was to check out the Peranakan architecture in the older, historic part of town (Joo Chiat Rd). So we hopped a bus and headed over the check out the shops/restaurants in the area (there were not actually a lot to see). We spent about an hour just walking around and admiring the colorful pastel Peranakan architecture, and the al fresco art on the buildings. 

Theme of the day: white stuff. Rich thought it was hilarious.

See what I mean? More white stuff. Made the white guy happy. Haha.

We ended up needing to escape the heat, and hopped a bus to the cool (temp) CityLink mall. It was advertised as cool, and underground. While there, we found a fresh orange juice machine for my dad!

The architecture was mostly very modern and 'Jetson-like' there. Here's the view from a walkway at the mall.

While we were there, there were military guards on every packed street corner directing traffic. We found out it was one of a few 'practice days' for an upcoming large National Day parade, where they literally run through the entire parade, and folks come out to see it anyway, in full force. It was a like sea of red on the metro that day. I couldn't believe the country would have multiple 'parade rehearsals' each year, but apparently they do, and many treated it like it was the big day (dressed in red/flag waving). The cost of having so many road closures, military equipment lined up, practicing firework, etc. must be staggering, yet no one seemed to mind the crowds/inconvenience of this rehearsal in the least. In the US, Karen would be having a meltdown...

This was the walk back to our hotel in Clarke's Quay, where there were a million restaurants on the waterfront. A very cool place to stay!

We ventured back out that night for a walk along the water, and got to see everything all lit up. We also stumbled upon the practice parade route again, and got to enjoy a 10-min fireworks show (also practice).