Tourist day

Today we decided to head downtown to see some tourist spots. The ominous grey clouds lingering above warned us to bring our umbrellas and as we were walking down the street to the subway a huge storm came upon us.  Hiding undercover we waited for it to blow over.   Singapore is know to have a shower typically each day.  Today unfortunately turned out to be rain all day, but we were out and about so we just made some adjustments.

First stop during a quick rain break was to Raffles Hotel. This is a historic hotel like the Hotel Del Coronado or The Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.  Also, home to the famous Singapore sling drink. Walking around the grounds, eating, drinking, and shopping on the property are fine, but only guests in the hotel lobby please.

Through rain showers we decided to go to the Marina Sands, this is a building with three separate high rises and then a surf board looking structure on top connecting all three buildings.  It looks amazing.  Attached to this is apparently another mall.   Everywhere you go are malls and food courts.  It really is true when they say Singaporean pastimes are eating and shopping. Most subway stops seem to be attached to a shopping mall with restaurants and a food court.  What I can't decide is if there seems to be more here than the U.S. or is it just they are concentrated at metro stops and not just tons of shopping centers you would just drive to.  And how each mall or basically each subway stop then has food at it seems strange, but there doesn't seem like there are stand alone restaurants you would drive and park at.  Is this the same amount of shopping and eating that I am used to but just concentrated differently for mass transit?  It's different and I not what I'd ever envisioned coming from a suburban car oriented society.

The best part of today was attached to this mall (which was absolutely beautiful) including gondola ride inside was there is also a huge casino.   Now I love to play slot machines and could probably go broke if I wasn't so cheap.   The 2 and 5 cent machines are my ticket, but for those of you who play you know you are really playing 2 cents to $2 on each spin on a 2 cent machine.   There are multiple lines to win on and multiple bet rates so you could really win or lose big even on a 2 cent slot.   I try to set a limit what to lose but it is addicting.   I told Fred I could just come down here and play while the girls are in school, but then I'd need a job to support my habit.