Marek Sentosa
Blind fate led us to Singapore. The control of ticket prices that we conducted on an ongoing basis in Indonesia indicated this destination as the cheapest. On top of that, we found a great promotion on a hotel search site on Sentosa Island. The hotel is equipped with all amenities, SPA, swimming pool and great food in the hotel restaurant. We decided to spend a few days here, which we will spend doing nothing, shopping, sunbathing, resting, gorging ourselves on Chinese food, in a word, everything that is pleasant.
Sentosa Island is the entertainment hub of Singapore. A large part of the island is occupied by a modern business and entertainment center, where you can play roulette, win a few pennies at cards, or pull the arm of a one-armed bandit. Interestingly and worth mentioning, the foundations of this modern complex begin several meters below the surface of the ocean. As you can see, in Asia you can do anything, without complaining or looking for excuses.
Other entertainment on the island is a nice marine aquarium, where you can put your hand in a pool with sharks (and take it out completely), or photograph a huge (over 2 meters) spider crab, caught off the coast of Japan (you immediately don’t want to swim in the sea, at least in Japan).
A mix of cultures
Singapore is a perfect mixture of cultures. A place where tradition coexists in perfect symbiosis with tradition. It is also an ideal climate for orchids, which can be seen perfectly in the photos above. In this city, which has been combining the cultures of the East and the West since the dawn of time, the Chinese, Indians, Malays, and more and more Europeans live side by side. As a transshipment port, one of the largest and most important in Asia, it participates in the exchange of goods between Southeast Asia and Europe.
Buddhism dominates here, as a religion and as a lifestyle. The local version of this philosophy is strongly influenced by China, hence the predilection for characteristic images of Buddha, demons and dragons. The dragons here are characteristic of Asia and are distinctly different from their European cousins. Asian snakes are giant snakes, equipped with characteristic mouths that radiate cruelty and wisdom of the ages. Dragons watch the city from the rooftops of temples, often wrapping themselves around the columns. Their eyes seem to say “one move and I’ll tear your throat to shreds”.
Chinatown
We have just eaten dinner in a place different from the ones we have eaten so far. The four-person tables are quite large, round, equipped with a hole in the middle. There is a gas burner in the cavity. When you sit down at the table, the first thing the staff does to greet you is to light the burner and place a pot divided in half on it, in which there are two different broths. White – mild, and red – spicy. The dishes you order, whether it’s crab or rice dough dumplings (handmade in front of your eyes), you get raw. You cook them yourself in a pot standing in the middle of the table. The owner, and her daughter, who suffers from Down syndrome, will be happy to give you advice. However, you have to cook each dish yourself.