Standing on the edge of a quay*

Magnet #272 - Singapore River, Quayside Dining

My friend brought back this magnet from his Asia trip. I looked it up - apparently, there's some excellent dining alongside the quay.

I just picked this one for today, cuz I thought it was pretty...I've never visited Singapore, so I've been wracking my brain (and Google) to see what I could say about it. Here are a few tidbits:

1) Did you know that Road to Singapore was the first of all the Road films that Bing and Bob did together? And that George Burns and Fred MacMurray were slated to play the leads originally?

2) For years, it was completely illegal to chew gum in Singapore. They've relaxed the reg recently. Now you can chew it...for medicinal purposes.

3) You can take an iPod guided tour of some really cool works of art by Stella, Warhol, Chihuly and Hockney...at the Ritz-Carlton hotel lobby.

4) They have a London Eye-esque observation wheel - the largest in the world at 540 feet tall, almost 50 stories. Takes 30 minutes, and you pay about $20 to ride it. It's called the Singapore Flyer, and has the best tagline ever: A moving experience at every turn.

5) The Singapore Sling was invented at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore in the early 1900s. I'm totally having one at the next possible occasion: Gin, brandy, pineapple and lime juice, Cointreau, bitters, and Dom Benedictine (whatever that is).

6) You know how NYC has yellow cabs, London has their red phone boxes and Rio has that giant statue of Jesus as their symbols of the city? Singapore has a Merlion, this creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish, to welcome all visitors to town.

I must confess, I'm slightly freaked out about the thought of a mermaid and a lion procreating, but c'mon! The Merlion alone might be worth the airfare around the world!

*Lyrics to Duran Duran's Night Boat. When I was in 6th or 7th grade, I had to look up what the hell a quay was because of this song.