Sunday 29th August 2004, 15:20

Afternoon

Food

I'm going to hate myself for this philistinism, but I was tempted to go to McDonalds for lunch. I sat outsite under a parasol, but it was still a McDonalds. A Big Mac meal and Coke (going large) tasted the same as it does in the UK.

Raffles

Having consumed the evil Western cuisine, I got back on the Tour Bus service and went back to the historic Raffles Hotel.

Click on the pictures to view larger images:
	The colonial splendour of the Raffles Hotel. Now that we British have relinquished control of Singapore, this is still a very upmarket hotel...
	Street name sign on the side of the Raffles Hotel.
	Side of the Raffles Hotel. A trishaw rider attempted to garner my custom here.

Pedestrian crossings

One of the first unusual aspects of Singapore that I noticed were the pedestrian crossings. On my first day here, I was somewhat startled by the local practices when turning corners at crossroads. Basically, if I'm crossing at a crossroads and the little green man says "go", traffic can still turn into the road that I'm crossing. However, I have right of way: they must stop! This is obvious if the crossing has lines pained on it, but my first one didn't. So - I started crossing the road in good faith on the green man, only to find a car turning the corner and about to hit me! The car stopped, of course, and the driver waved me across, but it was a little disconcerting to say the least!

	Pedestrian crossing controller. Press the big silver button at the bottom and wait to be allowed to cross.
	I loved this. Many pedestrian crossings have countdowns on them. Once the green man starts to flash, a large number shows how many seconds you have before getting mown down by a trishaw...