Singapore......Friends, Food and The Flyer

I am going to try and add this update about our time in Singapore without comparing too much to Hong Kong, as it would be very difficult not to end up with a rather negative view of the latter.

I can without doubt say Singapore is most definitely my favorite of the two, great food, a clean and spacious city and surprisingly more of an international feel (this is probably due to the changes over the last couple of years due to the growing Chinese influence in Hong Kong) and I cannot leave out the fact that although the taxi drivers still don’t always know where they are going, at least they know how to smile and the seats do not have the stuffing poking out!

That’s enough of my comparisons, now let’s focus on lovely, lovely Singapore.

We have had a fabulous week here, with hardly any rain (oh that’s another thing, no rain for 6 days) not sure that’s possible in HK!

Anyway it’s our last day and we leave early tomorrow, but have been far too busy to update our blog. Today has actually started with a storm but looks like that’s moving on now and the sun is back.  It’s been pretty hot but we have managed to walk around and avoid the hottest part of the day most of the time.

We have been typical tourists! 

Starting with purchasing our Explorer Ticket, about SGD 79 each, yes Patrick really parted with that much money at once.  This allowed us unlimited rides on the open top buses, 3 routes from Heritage, City & Red, plus a river cruise and ticket for the Singapore Flyer, similar to the London Eye for those not familiar.

I think Patrick’s favorite was the bus rides as long as he could get the front seat of course, otherwise he caused a scene until those sitting there felt obliged to move, ha! 

 We did have great fun and were able to use this to see much more of the city, stopped to walk around Little India, although more of an Asian feel here, there were a number of historic houses, which were very pretty where they had been cleaned up, all sorts of cheap clothing and an assault on your senses with smells from food, spices and nonalcoholic potions!

The only dodgy part we noticed was the fact one or two hotels situated here had hourly rates?

                                          Little India

                                          

Anyway moving on to China Town, this was very reminiscent of Hong Kong with the potions and smelly Chinese medicines being sold everywhere, as well as very cute children’s clothes made of silk and some very pretty typical Chinese wraps for ladies and gentlemen.

                                                    Chinatown

We also spent a day over on Sentosa, a reclaimed man made island just 15/20 mins away.

Although this is probably aimed at family fun and similar to a theme park in the UK, it was obviously very popular with Indian families, we had good fun here, but probably not somewhere we would rush back to. 

Took the cable car ride across the river and the city, something which I would have enjoyed 20 years ago and probably joined Patrick standing up taking photos and generally making a nuisance of himself wobbling the car about, but now I find myself sitting prone and immobile, like someone has superglued me to the seat. Worried that if I looked down I’m sure the vertigo would have set in and I’m certain if I had moved one inch the bottom would have opened up, like someone had triggered the eject button and I would have been left dangling a mile above land, only held by the superglue as my M&S pants gradually gave way to the force of gravity.

Well at least that’s what kept going through my head, so annoying that age and a general wish to safe guard what good bits I do have left intact.

                                         View from the cable car going through the office blocks.....you could see the                                          workers at their desks!

That said I loved the Luge, a creation taking the principles from the Olympic Games event, but you sit up as opposed to lay down, great fun!  Although I’m not sure the poor Indian man in all his finery would have agreed, as he had obviously lost the knack of how to get it to move and was stuck near the end with an ever growing backlog of tourists trying to get past him, we didn't laugh though, honestly.

Chair lift back to the top, yes superglue episode once again, but worth it for another go of the Luge.

Also enjoyed the Segway’s, it was our second time on these so we were able to scoot off and have some fun, basically I think I’m ok as long as it’s near to the ground.

Then we had a sedate walk through the Butterfly Garden, which surprisingly Patrick actually enjoyed, I think this was due to his interaction with a lovely white Cockatoo which seemed to take to him very quickly and started up quite a conversation, well he said ‘hello’ and one or two other words which we could not make out (the parrot not Patrick!).

In between all of this excitement we have really enjoyed the time with our friends, I met with Sally, which was quite funny as we realized we had not actually met in person before, but only spoke on the camera phone at work, but we managed to find each other and had a great catch up at a Mexican restaurant in the city! 

We also met with Vikas and his lovely wife Preena, who took us to one of their favorite restaurants, a Pakistani Buffet which was very tasty and we really enjoyed their company, interesting to find out more about life in Singapore.

On Friday we met and enjoyed a great lunch with Vandana, a nice Mediterranean restaurant near Capital Tower, again nice to try somewhere more local and of course good to have a laugh with Vandana.

On Saturday we visited the Gardens by the Bay, which was interesting in that it was probably similar to the Eden Project, a Cloud and Flower Dome, as well as more walkways in the sky.

Personally we preferred the Botanical Gardens for the peace and tranquility as well as a more natural environment, but it was a very innovative idea and obviously brings in the tourists.

Finally on Sunday we met another friend Hong who is now based here in Singapore, we had a lovely brunch at Robinson Quay and it was great to catch up.  On Hong’s suggestion we went on to the forest area 15mins outside of the city and had a great walk in the forest including the Tree Top Trail, monkeys and all.

Now back at the hotel to pack for our next adventure in Brisbane, where I think the temperature will drop to a cool 22 degrees, which will probably take some getting used to.    

More to come, but we do want to say thanks to all of the friends we met up with here, as it really made our time in Singapore special.

Also......Patrick found a replacement for the Jag!!!.......and more in line with the budget....