The American Water Skiing Hall of Fame

 Today our goal was to search for the most interesting trinkets we could find. But first, we stopped at the hotel breakfast at Hilton. As always, it did not disappoint! This was Jane’s first time visiting the one here at the Hilton. 

We were on the lookout for craft markets and flea markets. We found a nifty list of craft fairs and such, and mapped our way across the city to find them. We discovered that one was in the building directly adjacent to our hotel, a mixed use space called *SCAPE. Hot dog!

But when we got there it turned out we were too early. The space had an ominous empty post apocalyptic feel, like some shady popup enterprise had cleared out in a hurry and left no trace. We loved it.

Our next destination required the subway, so we made our way to the station. On the way we stopped at a stand selling Kaya toast, a local favorite, which is butter and coconut jam on toast. Deceptively simple, but surprisingly awesome. 

On our way we marveled at a plush banh mi basket (with the main character being a chicken who was presumably about to be turned into a sandwich), and a restaurant called Josh’s Grill, which as best we could tell was an Australian take on American western themed food.

We visited a couple of popup flea markets, which were mostly clothing (which we weren’t shopping for). So further searching directed us back to Chinatown, where Google told us there was a Sunday antique market. We were looking for the Warrenton experience rather than Round Top, and were very hopeful.

On the way we strolled past a peaceful park in the middle of the city. I took a picture to capture the moment. More on that later.

A few buildings away was the shopping center we were looking for. Sure enough, inside were several tables of random wares and items for sale, all variety of items and distinctly of Asian origin. We spent a good deal of time browsing.

Jane found some carved animals that got her interest. The vendor offered her a really good deal on three, so she code one more; then the vendor threw in one more as a bonus for her. Awesome!

Upstairs was another store, Treasure Sunday. It was filled to capacity will all sorts of items, from statues to beads to old car emblems and teapots. We found a number of unique items we figured wouldn’t be available in the US, which was great.

For lunch we stopped at Pho Saigon. The banh mi plushie had put in a mindset for banh mi, and this turned out to be the right place. We both thought they, and the mango smoothies, were fantastic.

Thai particular shopping center did not have many tenants, but we figured that translated into lower rents and more interesting offerings. We visited a store at the top floor selling all manner of weird and interesting things. I ended up with a wind-up Luigi riding a cloud, and Jane found a number of pins, including one for the American Water Skiing Hall of Fame. We wondered what path it must have taken to find its way to Singapore, before eventually returning to the US with us.

One of the other tenants was this costume shop:

Singapore has worked hard to interstate nature and greenery into the cityscape. A striking example was this hotel we walked past nearby:

That evening we stopped at Josh’s Grill for dinner. It was decent enough, though our steaks were pretty thin and weren’t cooked to the temperature we specified. Still, it was hard to complain. We’ve been finding that in the evening for some reason, the AC in most places is especially cold, hence the sweatshirt Jane is wearing.

On the way back we passed a sign for a Dental Lounge, which seemed the opposite of a relaxing place to visit.

More to come tomorrow!