In my research, one of the area which is famous for taking night pictures is Clarke Quay. It’s a place by the river with small hang out places filled with lights. So it’s *suppose to be* gorgeous at night. So after office hour, change clothes, definitely change shoes! I stop at Clarke Quay MRT, confused which exit to take – as usual. Now every time I’m confused which way to go, just follow the crowd and the noise ha ha…
They have a lot of 3-D art displayed; mostly strange chairs, some are statues or giant golf club (see pictures!). If you’re an adrenaline junkie, you might be interested to try the G-Max. It’s like a giant caterpillar/bungie where you’re stepped into a giant pil and they throw you up (35 SGD). Some people was trying it – so I got the change to take pics. But honestly, more people are only watching instead of queuing :D
But of course, Clarke Quay is most famous for the hang out places. It’s really pleasing international palate here. They got Indian, Japanese, Italian, Vietnamese, Turkish, Indonesian, practically whatever you can imagine. However, the most famous cuisine is the Singaporean Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood restaurant. They have 2 outlets (near Riverside and Riverwalk/Boat Quay) that only like 100 m apart – because of they’re THAT famous. However if you want to hangout a bit long and don’t want to queue, go to the Riverwalk outlet. It cost about 40 SGD depending on the crab size and goes very well with the friend mantau (Chinese bread). I’m discussing this further in my other blog entry under journal “Culinary Adventures”.
Another interesting point is that although it’s very international food place, the buildings are old style. Same like in Chinatown, they intentionally paint it with very bright colors. Even at night it’s obvious and even more interesting combined with lights. And of course when the lights reflected in the river, it made a perfect setting to take pictures! Make sure you take tripod though.
Further inside the Clarke Quay, I can see that the government is preparing for rainy season as well in this tropical country. They installed this giant spider ceilings that can change color every couple of minutes (blue, yellow, red). Not only decorative, but make this place still comfy to visit in any weather. Now under this spider ceiling, they have more variant – not only food and drinks. They also have jewelry store (just in case you want to propose to that special someone unplanned), electronic store, etc. But what grab my attention the most is this German style wooden craft store. The store itself is very small, like 3x4 m square. And you practically can see the whole store without entering it. They sold wooden doll which obviously created with high artistry. Very detail. And very expensive ha ha… For a small (looks like simple) turtle wooden doll (like the size of my palm), it cost 74 SGD!!! So I don’t even dare to ask the price of this cute set that had small teacher in classroom with like 10 students (complete with benches, writing board, picket fences). I overheard the store owner explaining to other tourist that he made all of the dolls himself. Wow. What a dedication. O yeah, the rule is no touching and no pictures actually ha ha… But I manage to snap couple of pic from outside when the owner is busy with other people ha ha…
Other things? Hmm, there’s also small booth of fortune tellers. I have my eyes on Turkish ice cream but didn’t take it for some reason. If you’re interested to take a boat and cruise along the Singapore river, I’ll just be honest with you – it doesn’t seem like it worth it. It cost like 8 SGD or more, and the government is not yet decorated the river although it’s generally clean. So at night it’s pitch black dark. At day, I think it’s so so.
Seeing how colorful the place was, I imagine that the place is also will look nice in the picture at daytime. Couple of days later, I went back and the place was very quiet at day. Hardly anyone is there. But I was correct that it look nice in daytime as well! Although not as good as night time he he… If you ask me is the weather hot at day – well, typical tropical area. But surprisingly even at night it was quite hot as well. So for me it made no difference. And o yeah, when I got back to Clarke Quay – I finally try the Turkish ice cream. It was surprisingly tasty! But honestly, IT MELT TOO QUICKLY. Even before I finished eating it, it was dripping wet all over the place. Maybe because it’s from goat milk or something.
If you’re a shopping freak, there’s a mall just across the river. I pass by it and it’s quite typical mall you’ll find in Orchard Road (the shopping center of Singapore). Overall, worth the visit!
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