Despite yesterday being a complete day of rest, we were still tired. We dragged ourselves out of bed and headed to the Indian High Commission (basically the Indian consulate) to apply for our Indian visas. We should have done it sooner, but we had a hard time locating the High Commission since we were looking under “consulates”. We knew that with such a huge Indian population here, there had to be one. Omar had actually found it for us on the internet and we feel dumb we couldn’t find it for ourselves.

We hopped in a taxi, which took us to a neighborhood we have not been to yet called Orchard Street. Orchard Street is an endless row of shopping malls. In between and near the malls are most of the consulates, as well as buildings that look like they are private mansions with big yards. The buildings tend to be shorter in this neighborhood, and just like everywhere else in Singapore, the landscape is beautiful.

The Indian High Commission is an attractive colonial style building from the turn of the century. It has many, many coats of paint on it. The place was full of people. We took a number. While we waited to be called, we looked for the visa application forms. There were none out. It turned out the number system was for a particular matter and didn’t apply to us. We asked where we were supposed to go. They pointed to the other side of the room and didn’t say anything. We went to the other side of the room and asked a lady behind a counter. She said to fill out the form. We told her there were no forms out and she ignored us. We waited in a line and got the form. We filled it out. It was now after 1130 and the consulate was officially closed. We were worried we’d be kicked out and told to come back tomorrow. Fortunately, they let us stay. We were briefly interviewed about why we wanted to go to India, then told to come back in a week to collect our visas. Much to our surprise, they didn’t take our passports.

That chore done, we headed to the nearest mall, called Takashimaya, for lunch. It is only a block away. The food court is in the basement. Most of the foods were Asian dishes that we were unfamiliar with. Maybe there were foods we had tried yesterday, but to be honest, we had already forgotten the names of most of the dishes. We were surprised to see they had an Orange Julius down there. We thought Orange Julius was out of business We each had one to re-live our teen years. We found a bakery and bought assorted savory foods, like curry puffs and pizza breads, as well as desserts. We also bought some barbeque pork from another stall called Bee Cheng Hiang that was phenomenally good.

Lunch was pretty quick. We hopped in a cab and went to the American Embassy, just a couple of miles away. The embassy didn’t re-open from lunch until 1400 (2:00 pm). The guard suggested we go to the mall on the corner, called Tanglin Mall, to wait. We wandered around the mall aimlessly until we found a dentist. We went in and inquired about an appointment. Yes, they could take us now. So we both got our teeth cleaned. It was only a little more than we pay at home and the dentist used really high tech equipment that did a great job. It was the easiest and most painless visit to the dentist Christi has had yet.

We made it back to the embassy before it closed for the day at 15:30 (3:30 pm). The security guard searched our bags and confiscated our flashlight, camera, and cell phone. We needed to get additional pages put into our passports, which only took a few minutes. Now we are ready to take on more countries. Our stuff was returned to us upon leaving.

Feeling good about ourselves for getting three biggies checked off the “to do” list, we called it a day and went back to Kosmos to watch movies and relax. And of course, promptly at 2000 (8:00 pm), we were at the deli for dessert. Half price means it is OK to eat twice as much, right?

On a side note, shortly after arriving in Singapore, we had a couple guys wash Kosmos. The big boat that we had mentioned in Bali ran its generator 24/7, and all the generator debris blew onto our boat. Then we went out in those rough head seas, and every inch of the boat was completely caked in salt. Between the salt and soot, it needed a bigger scrub down than we wanted to do. After the washing, Kosmos looked great for a couple of minutes. Then all the dirt and dust from the construction across the channel started to settle on her. It has only been a few days, and she is already filthy again, but washing her again is a futile effort. We’ll do it at the next port.