Doing the Touristy Thing

Why? Because I'm Stupid.
Somehow I got it into my head that it would be cool to go to the Raffles hotel to drink a Singapore Sling - after all, that's where it was invented. Puffin and I jumped in a cab and made our way downtown to the "happening area." It's an old, ornate, hotel but unfortunately that doesn't show in the photo.

As we stepped into the bar, named the "Long Bar", it dawned on me that this could be a really cheesy thing to do. There was a band upstairs doing covers of 1970's music and there were very few Singaporeans, if any - the place was filled with foreigners. We sat near the corner of the bar. I noted automated palm fans gently rowing overhead.

There was a grit under our feet - I looked down to see it was peanut shells - each table had a box of peanuts in shells. Peanuts in shells? Shell remains on the floor? The tourist cheesy meter was already off the charts, even before the arrival of our Indian waiter wearing a traditional Malay skirt. I didn't even see any Malays wearing these in Malaysia.

However, we had gone this far already. We ordered - one Singapore Sling for me, one virgin version for her. Pingle looked around - the same exact drink on each table - everyone was there to order the Sling. When mine arrived I took a sip. Ok, not too bad. I took a sip of Pingle's - slightly different taste - mine had alcohol afterall - I think.

However, the best was saved for last. The bill. I looked at it for some time - I simply couldn't believe it. Forty-four Singapore dollars for essentially two fruit juices (I drank mine quickly and didn't get even the slightest buzz.) Forty-four dollars! That's like 50 coffees at the local coffee shop near Pingle's house. Or, I could take around 30 subway rides for forty-four dollars! I think I could feed Pingle and all her relatives for lunch for this amount of money!