Singapore

After a smooth journey from home to Singapore this continued with the shuttle bus dropping us off at our Hotel at about 0930 where our room was ready! We made the most of this and grabbed a quick shower before 4hrs shut-eye (despite the pile-driving outside where they are working on the MTR upgrades)..... then we became tourists!

Our hotel is right by ‘Little India’ so that was our starting point– a plethora of shops and an array of bright colours which seems to be a theme for Singapore. We had more offers to make a suit (which we can ship home for you Sir....) than we could possibly use but we declined those and found the Star Cafe where we had a late lunch/early dinner for less than £10 for the two of us. The temperature was 33 degrees this afternoon, and quite humid.

We then walked via Albert Street through Bugis Street market with its hundreds of stalls, bright colours, and opportunities to exceed the capacity of our suitcases, through to the Suntac Centre, past the Singapore Flyer (just like the Millennium Wheel) and the harbour. A walk along the river gave us views across to Merlion Park, the science centre which is constructed like a lotus flower, and the skyscrapers that are the centre of Singapore’s business community. After a riverside beer/coffee (you can work out who had which!) we then strolled back to base past Raffles City, back through the market to Sim Lim Square (home to many tricycle rickshaws) and into Albert Court and our hotel.

Tuesday: Slept well but were awoken by the pile-driving outside, however, this was 0845 so can’t complain! Our room is right by the road and the traffic hardly stopped all night (and no double glazing!) so we asked at reception and have been moved to a room a bit further back from the road and without the vast expanse of glass that we had in our first room.
A relatively late start saw us on the MTR and down to China Town on another warm day. This was more ‘organised’ than Little India but far more “hello sir, where are you from..... .....I can make you a very nice suit sir...”. Again it was an array of bright colours with more places to eat than I have seen anywhere. We had lunch here in a Thai restaurant where Heather’s fruit salad was just as spicy as my beef tenderloin curry!

After lunch we wandered past the Mariamman Temple and to the waterfront... where it started to rain. We sheltered under a canopy outside the One Fullerton Hotel where we got invited in to sit in the rather posh lobby while we waited for the rain to stop! The young concierge gave us a brief history of the recent and ongoing development of the hotel and then jus left us to read the coffee table books on ‘boys toys’ (luxury yachts) and expensive jewellery. When the rain stopped we wandered off for a look at the Merlion, take a bumboat tour on the river and then a journey on the MTR back to our hotel.

The evening saw us on an excursion to dinner and a ‘night safari’ at the Singapore Zoo. Dinner, the ‘night safari’, fire-eating display and ‘fishing-cat walk’ were all good with a range of animals being spotted as we went round, even if the fishing cats have got lazy and wait to be fed! The door-to-door service was spot on at the end of a long day and we expected to sleep well...... so much for expectations!

Wednesday: All packed ready to fly on to Auckland tonight. Before that we plan an MTR ride to Clarke’s Quay and perhaps pop in to the Long Bar at Raffles.... then we’ll leave the 30+ temperatures behind as we head into the next phase....