Singapore: Day Two

Ventured by myself to the food court for breakfast. Was flabbergasted at the sheer cheapness of food. 50 cents for roti prata and curry. The unsmiling Indian lady unsmilingly double checked to make sure it was only ONE piece of roti I wanted. I found out later that locals always ask for TWO pieces.

The kind drink lady took pity on me when I completely mispronounced "teh ping". She patted me on the back and asked me where I was from. She also told me how to get to Sentosa Island. I'll definitely be going back for her kaya toast tomorrow.

Sentosa Island. If you ignore the enormous tankers in the distance, plumes of smoke rising from factories and development ALSO in the distance, the constant sound of construction work on the island, and the occasional whiff of gasoline from said construction, Sentosa Island is pretty nice. Kinda a weird place. I was wondering what exactly they wanted the island to BE. I think it looks like they want to make it a "retreat".

They have a Dolphin Lagoon, and when I found out these dolphins are PINK, I obviously had to have a look. The three beasties put on a fun show. I put my hand up to be a volunteer to touch the dolphins but the stupid MC chose three kids. Damn kids. Those dolphins really are PINK. Quite cool.

The Underwater World was OK.. Kelly Tarlton's in Auckland is probably bigger and better. BUT, the coolest thing was that I got to see a dugong up close. I rather like my dugongs. They're so cute! And weird!

Another highlight of Underwater World was a large tank where you could touch rays of various sizes. Some were HUGE. It was quite scary, but I figured that they obviously wouldn't put these in a pool to be touched if they were dangerous. There was one ray that was really friendly. Their skin is really, REALLY soft. Like an expensive suede shoe. One of the much larger rays got annoyed at a man and flicked its tail so that everyone got very splashed. I couldn't help but think: "Steve Irwin! Spine through chest! DANGER!!"

Outside Underwater World, is a Fish Reflexology place I would totally recommend. For S$35, you get 20 minutes to dip your feet into two different pools, followed by a 20 minute foot massage. Each pool contains a certain species of small fish. They eat away your dead skin cells. My feet must be completely dead, because they were SWARMING all over my feet. It was a ticklish and occasionally anxiety-inducing experience. But funny.

The first tank (below) is of some little Turkish fish:

This second tank had much bigger fish from Africa. They kept following me around even BEFORE I put my feet in. Kinda scary.

Of course, the overall super highlight of my day was seeing signs painted on the road of the island that said: "HUMP AHEAD"

In summary, Day Two's food:

• Breakfast: roti prata with fish curry, char siew pau and teh ping
• Lunch: char siew rice
• Snacks: overpriced Movenpick icecream, peanut dumplings in a thick peanut soup
• Dinner: mala roast duck, baby cabbage with century egg and seafood hor fun

See photos.