A visit to the swankier side of Singapore

And by swankier side, I mean about a block and a half from our backpackers in Bugis. As part of our wanderings around town on Saturday, we paid our obligatory visit to the famous (and very swanky) Raffles Hotel. And by visit, I mean a walk around the environs, because only guests are allowed inside the lobby and hotel proper. This photo might give you an idea why!

But what we were able to see included some very nice architectural features...

Interestingly, the Long Bar at Raffles earns roughly $15 million (Singaporean) per year from selling Singapore Slings (a cocktail invented there... though there is some debate). This old-school cocktail shaker seems evidence of a long history of such shenanigans.

Much of the bottom areas around the hotel are occupied by extremely upmarket retailers. Mostly not my thing, but some of the clocks in MB&F Horological Lab did look very interesting (if somewhat Rube-Goldbergian). I don't even want to guess at prices.

All up, it looked like a lovely place to stay. However, after pricing up a stay equivalent to our time booked at the backpackers at $4888 (three nights), I can't see us justifying that any time soon!