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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks EDB.

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Speaker 2: Mike Hardley is our travel will correspondent her Good morning.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Jack. Congratulations on supersizing your weekend workload. Will

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Speaker 3: you have like Mondays and Tuesdays as your weekend? How

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Speaker 3: does it all work?

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Speaker 2: Basically, I so Saturday mornings, I'm on News Talks Heads,

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Speaker 2: I'll go home, have lunch with the Farno, then come

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Speaker 2: down and read the news on Saturday evenings, and then

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Speaker 2: on Sunday mornings, I will present Q and A. I

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Speaker 2: will finish up work. After Q and A, I'll go

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Speaker 2: home for the rest of my Sunday, and then I'll

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Speaker 2: have Monday and Tuesday off. My wife will also have

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Speaker 2: Mondays off, so we'll have so we'll have Sunday afternoon

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Speaker 2: with the Sundays sort of from late morning and afternoon together,

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Speaker 2: and then Monday together, and then on Tuesdays, I'll look

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Speaker 2: after the baby while my wife goes to work, and

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Speaker 2: then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday days and the Yeah. So that's theory.

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Speaker 2: That's the yeah and theory. But we'll see what happens

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Speaker 2: in practice, you know. But I mean truth be told.

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Speaker 2: It was I could, like sincerely, making making it works

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Speaker 2: so that I could host the show, host Q and

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Speaker 2: A and most importantly actually have a bit more time

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Speaker 2: with the family at home was the the priority. So

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Speaker 2: you will see how it all goes. Yeah, oh thank you. Yeah, no,

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Speaker 2: I'm really excited. It's very real, real cinder and you know,

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Speaker 2: and if i'm if I'm burned out after a fortnight,

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Speaker 2: then you'll be the first to Anyway, how you are

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Speaker 2: focusing this morning on a fresh swing with Singapore, which

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Speaker 2: is a wonderful spot even if only for a couple

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Speaker 2: of nights sometimes, and there's always sort of new bits

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Speaker 2: and pieces picking your attraction there. But what what's new

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Speaker 2: at Gardens by.

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Speaker 3: The Yeah, quite the Kujak Jurassic World. The experience has

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Speaker 3: arrived at Gardens by the Bay. So if you've been

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Speaker 3: there before, you'll think of those giant domed conservatories like

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Speaker 3: Cloud Forest. What they've done, and it started a few

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Speaker 3: months ago, is you've got the film franchise bringing its

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Speaker 3: life sized animatronic dinosaurs into the Cloud Forest Conservatory. So

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Speaker 3: as you wander around, casting your eyes over the seventy

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Speaker 3: thousand plants in that conservatory, suddenly you come face to

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Speaker 3: face with the t rex or a brachiosaurus or a

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Speaker 3: compsognithice rearing up and thrusting their might when you least

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Speaker 3: expect it. It is quite absorbing. And if you're wondering

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Speaker 3: what the hell a dinosaurs doing there? There are about

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Speaker 3: fifty species of plants within cloud Forest with lineages that

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Speaker 3: reach back to the drest age, you know, sort of

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Speaker 3: like ferns and conifers. So that's the tenuous link. But

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Speaker 3: it really is quite spectacular how they've done it.

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Speaker 2: Are the super trees still the kind of stars of

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Speaker 2: the show.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. It's interesting because Gardens by the

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Speaker 3: Bay has cemented itself as the number one visitor attraction

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Speaker 3: in Singapore for over a decade now. People just can't

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Speaker 3: get enough of it. The mega conservatories, the aerial walkways,

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Speaker 3: and yes then those super sized steel trees. But around

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Speaker 3: the clock the super trees grove, I just think it

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Speaker 3: inspires a sense of awe. And then come nightfall, the

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Speaker 3: grove busts out a very trippy choreograph to light and

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Speaker 3: sound show. So that's a great free spectacle that Gardens

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Speaker 3: by the Bay dishes up as well.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Nice, And Singapore's got really distinctive neighborhood to day,

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Speaker 2: So where's good.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I've always enjoyed Chinatown because it's got super cheap shopping,

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Speaker 3: cheapeats and fantastic architecture with all of those old chophouses

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Speaker 3: which have been restored and they sort of set the

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Speaker 3: stage for the whole scene. But another really cool hit

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Speaker 3: to check out if you haven't before, is Kempong Glam,

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Speaker 3: which sort of takes all of Chinatown's energies up a gear.

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Speaker 3: So it's a very pocket sized precinct and it was

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Speaker 3: once the seat of Singapore's first sultan, so it's anchored

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Speaker 3: by that unbelievably gorgeous golden domed mosque right in the

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Speaker 3: heart of Kempong Glam, and then all around the mosque

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Speaker 3: these little little lanes and roads with a lot of

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Speaker 3: heritage heavy street architecture, a lot of old chophouses which

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Speaker 3: were all lovely painted, and a lot of them are

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Speaker 3: still home to really old businesses, you know, decades old

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Speaker 3: perfumeries and fabric merchants, and lot of traditional cafes. So

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Speaker 3: it's just a really aromatic place to go.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Great, and that's home too, Hajji Lane, Oh.

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Speaker 3: Oh my, goodness. This is such a rock star street.

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Speaker 3: Harji Lane. There's actually more of a lane than a street.

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Speaker 3: It's like a narrow seam that you should add to

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Speaker 3: your stroll while checking out campon Glam. But yeah, originally

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Speaker 3: I was fascinated by this. Originally this lane, Harji Lane,

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Speaker 3: as the name would suggest, actually provided accommodation for Asian

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Speaker 3: pilgrims heading to the hajj In Mecca, hence the name

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Speaker 3: Hajji Lane. It's now a hipster's hotspot with amazing boutiques,

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Speaker 3: indie boutiques, and then lots of really cheerful wal art

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Speaker 3: which has been constantly refreshed. So this is definitely where

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Speaker 3: Singapore is trying to young things go to shop and

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Speaker 3: to hang out. You want to go there early in

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Speaker 3: the morning because it is a narrow lane and as

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Speaker 3: the day progresses it just gets increasingly packed.

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Speaker 2: Yeah nice. What about some suggested food stops.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Kempong Glam Man Alive. You could just eat

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Speaker 3: yourself ridiculously in Kempong Glam, particularly if you like spicy

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Speaker 3: food in Middle Eastern influences. Just packed with great eats.

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Speaker 3: Some of my pecks on bassel Row Street, Beirut grill.

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, the Lamb Shanks check. I love Lamb Shanks,

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Speaker 3: but there's just something very very special about favorite grise Lambshanks.

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Speaker 3: They cook them over charcoal if you like marinated chicken.

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Speaker 3: The ashiesh Talc is really good. And then just around

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Speaker 3: the corner on Beach Road the Coconut Club. I mean,

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Speaker 3: the name is such a great name, isn't it for

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Speaker 3: a restaurant, The Coconut Club. And yeah, a lot of

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Speaker 3: locals will go there for Lassi Nasi Lamark the coke,

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Speaker 3: not perfumed rice is just delivered with perfection and very

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Speaker 3: close to that in Candahar Street. Chikiti is a very

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Speaker 3: unexpected Italian joint in Kempong Gleam. But the reason I

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Speaker 3: mentioned this is because you've got to go there for

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Speaker 3: a slice of Neapolitan pie. It's this triple decked creamy

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Speaker 3: custard construction lad and chocolate strawberry and vanilla pannacotta. Oh

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Speaker 3: my goodness, that's good.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, don't need to be told twice on that one.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, Mike. This sounds great. What about road is

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Speaker 2: that still a bit of a tourist trap?

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Speaker 3: It is interesting, Yes, it is stacked with glamorous shopping centers,

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Speaker 3: which would be the envy of you know, any city

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Speaker 3: in the world, but Singaporeans give it the white birth.

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Speaker 3: They never shop an Orchard Road, so it's totally good

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Speaker 3: at tourists. The only exception for the locals would probably

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Speaker 3: be the glitzy Ion sent which from remembering, is on

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Speaker 3: the corner of Orchard Road in Scott's Road. The reason

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Speaker 3: the locals love Ion is because it's got a really

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Speaker 3: good hawker food court, so that's worth checking out. The

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Speaker 3: other interesting thing about Orchard Road, though, Jack, is it's

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Speaker 3: home to Singapore's ice cream sandwich. So there's a couple

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Speaker 3: of old street carts which have operated on Orchard Road

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Speaker 3: for more than thirty years, and it's very very much

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Speaker 3: local flavors like Durian red bean yam sweet corn ice

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Speaker 3: cream which is served between slices of very pillowy pend

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Speaker 3: and bread made from pandanas. So yeah, give that a go.

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Speaker 2: Duriy and ice cream would be all right. I ice

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Speaker 2: cream not necessarily not convinced.

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Speaker 3: It that way. Yeah, I'd go with you on that. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I just yeah, I find I find it a very

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Speaker 3: powerful flavor, So yeah, a little bit of dirry and

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Speaker 3: amongst a coupleists, glaces of bread would be okay, but

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Speaker 3: that's about it for me.

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Speaker 2: If you're traveling with kids, Singapore's zoo is just an

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Speaker 2: absolute knockout, a real family favorite.

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Speaker 3: Definitely. Yeah, it's long been regarded as one of the

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Speaker 3: world's best. The interesting thing is adjoining the zoo, they've

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Speaker 3: got another attraction as such, called River Wonders, and it

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Speaker 3: beautifully showcases various ecosystems like the Mississippi River habitat. And

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Speaker 3: they've got an Amazon flooded forest complete with manatees, which

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Speaker 3: one of my favorite mammals, but beast of all Jack

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Speaker 3: the giant panda forest. Oh my goodness. It's home to

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Speaker 3: Kai Kai and Gigia, who effortlessly worked the crowd day

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Speaker 3: in day out, unsurprisingly for a lot of kids, particularly

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Speaker 3: Kiwi kids going to Singapore for a holiday, drawling over

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Speaker 3: pandas the runaway holiday highlight. And then if you enter

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Speaker 3: that your dinosaurs and an ice cream sandwich, what more

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Speaker 3: would you want? Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, maybe for it not to be a Durian ice

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Speaker 2: cream sand which would be earlier creation there. Love it,

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Mike. Those are fantastic little tips.

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Speaker 2: For more of Mike's advice on enjoying a swing through Singapore,

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Speaker 2: you can see his article on the News Talks He'd

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Speaker 2: Be website, and all of his tips will go up

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Speaker 2: there as well.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live

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Speaker 1: to News Talks He'd Be from nine am Saturday, or

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