Singapore, the real day one. Let's hit the reset button on this trip. Singapore is a city and a country all wrapped in one. About 45 kilometers (~28 miles) end to end I heard, but disclaimer: I didn't Google it to verify. It blends the old and the new in such a way that you never really know what you're going to find when you turn the corner. And corners we turned. We walked about 6 hours on this first day, and visited Little India and the downtown marina, where most of our pictures are from.

Streets are noticeably clean, although if you knew anything about Singapore, that's probably something you'd know. The people are incredibly friendly. It's easy to get around, certainly by taxi. We spend the morning running through the streets in Little India. Scents of herbs and spices galore, you really think you're in India (although I've never been, but we have TV).

The afternoon started at the Merlion park. Several pictures of that gracious mascot posted today. Merlion is a mythical creature that is a fish with a lion's upper body. It is the distinct (and government-protected) sign of Singapore erected in 5 statues across the city, most prominently in the harbor. It was designed as a combination of the old Singapore history of a fishing village (Mer means "sea") and also the city's original name Singapura, which means "lion city".

Another memorably sight is the large boat held up by three towers. We haven't been up there, but it is a sight pictures do no justice. It's a great backdrop to any picture, and recently made world famous by the movie Crazy Rich Asians.

As much as we enjoyed walking the city by day, the anticipation builds throughout the day about the nighttime. This is a city that slowly awakes, and really bursts to live at night. Streets are filled with people, local ethnic sounds from all across Asia fill your ears and smells of foods from around the globe are always there. We chose to get away from the large tourist crowds and go to the somewhat more remote Geylang, where we had dinner at a place called "No Signboard Seafood" - strange name, but great food. We settled for a wonderful fried fish that we almost finished, but looking around the tables, it is clear this restaurant is cherished by locals for it's whole chili crab. At about $150/kilo, and a small crab coming in at 1.7KG, Liz and I chose to go with a fish instead. It. Was. Amazing! So appreciative we had this much more local experience. A good first day in Asia, with many more to come.