One reason I came to Singapore was to get my visa for Myanmar/Burma. I had an appointment with the Myanmar Embassy at 8 AM, and I had all my documents ready. Once I got there, the line wasn’t too long (only about 15 people in front of me). I had everything I needed (just had to make one extra copy), and I was to pick up my visa that evening same day! How easy!

I purchased tickets for the touristy hop-on-hop off bus, and I rode around through some popular areas, getting off to explore along the way. I visited Orchard Road, an upscale and way too pricey shopping street, the downtown Colonial District, and some other areas. My mom had mentioned to me some orchid gardens that she read about, so I visited the free Singapore Botanical Gardens. Inside for $5 Singapore Dollars, there was a giant collection of orchids.  Reading about it later, I found out that they have 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids, with about 600 species and hybrids on display. I took over 300 pictures of orchids, so I’ll spare my readers. I couldn’t resist to post some of my favorites though. The rest of the Botanical Gardens were beautiful as well with giant trees, lakes, and beautiful paths and arches. I was walking under one giant tree by myself, and a squirrel (aren’t they supposed to be coordinated?), fell and smacked his body on the ground in front of me. He hit so hard that he just laid there for probably 1 1/2 minutes. His little legs were sprawled out on all sides of him, and he clearly had the wind knocked out of him because he was panting. I just froze staring at him because it fascinated me. A worker came up and thought I was scared of him, so he started poking him with a stick to get him to move. Eventually the squirrel got up and made his way into the bushes.

At the gardens, I had a nice lunch of purple potato gnocchi and a ginger dessert (from the ginger gardens nearby).

After the gardens, I got back on the bus tour and made my way to the Golden Mile Food Centre per Michael’s request. He saw on Anthony Bourdain’s show that he’d been here, and he absolutely loved the soup (sup) tulang. So Michael sent me on this journey, and I had no idea what I was getting into. It is a dish of bone soup made of mutton or beef bones stewed in a spicy and sweet red dye sauce/soup of mutton stock, tomatoes, chillies, spices, and ginger. The bone marrow inside the bones is the real reward. I walked around the Golden Mile Food Centre (another hawker centre) in search of this soup. I found it on the basement floor, and I placed my order. While they were preparing it, I went to a few stations down and asked the lady for a lime juice drink that was delicious. When I got back to my soup tulang, I was served three large bones in red soup, a pile of bread, a straw, and a fork. It looked like a big bloody pile of bones, but it smelled delicious. Hmmm… I had no idea how to go about eating. I first dipped some bread in the sauce, and it was very tasty. I then picked up my plastic fork and tried to scrap some of the non-existent meat off the outside of the bones. My fork was no help, so I decided to pick up the bone and try to eat it like fried chicken. It was all over after that. I looked like I’d been to war because of the red dye soup sauce that was nearly up to my elbows. To get any of the meat, I had to dig at it with my fingers, staining up under my fingernails, etc. The more I tried to stay clean, the worse it got. I looked around slightly embarrassed, and the locals looked like I was being normal. A few of the tourist were eying me.

I glanced over at some tables that also had the soup tulang. One looked as bad as me, and other table had a clean Chinese family with barely their finger tips stained red. I have no idea how they did it. Then it hit me… it’s a beautiful thing to travel alone because I’ll never see these people again! So I continued on in my journey to finish this meal. I felt like an animal after a kill that you’d see out on a safari, and I’m sure I looked that way too. The reason people eat this dish is for the bone marrow inside of the bones. It had a tremendously wonderful flavor, and you’re meant to suck it out of the bone. I did this, and I also spread some on my bread with the red sauce. Yum! At one point I asked the man at the station for napkins, and he told me no and pointed to the wash station clear across the complex. You mean I have to walk across the place with this all over my face, down my arms while carrying my backpack? I wanted to get a picture of myself after the meal, but my hands, arm, and face were so dyed in red sauce that there was no way I was digging through my backpack for my camera.