Day 2 – Singapore – Saturday 27th March 2010

 

Busy day in the Orient. Got up at the crack of dawn. Well, 7:30am. Early enough when you are on holiday. Reason being we had to be in reception for 8:30am to go on the City Tour. All worked well. First stop was a flying visit to the Singapore Flyer – the big wheel. But that was just because it was a coach meeting point. The first proper stop was at Merlion Park. That is Mer Lion. See picture on left! A mythical beast that spouts many a gallon of water and stands on the bank of the Singapore River where it guards the entrance to the Marina. Behind it is the Fullerton Hotel. This is a holy hotel. You go into the Foyer and exclaim “Oh My God” if you stay there, then when you get your bill you shout out “Jesus Christ” and fall down in a dead faint. It is one of the few six star hotels in the world. We didn’t stay there.

Across the bridge are the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. These are a pair of new buildings built in a most curious architectural style. They are said to resemble a spiky Singapore fruit called a durian. See picture on right (theatre is the rounded structure across the water, to the left of Val). This is Singapore’s answer to the Sydney Opera House. Just along the Marina Promenade from the theatres there is the world’s largest float. Oddly enough it is called “The Float at Marina Bay”. On the land behind it is a grandstand. This will be used to seat the crowd at the opening and closing of the first Youth Olympics which will be held here in Singapore, opening on the 14^th August, I believe. There is also the Singapore Grand Prix that races here and goes right past the stand.

We then visited the Thian Hock Keng Temple. I think that is the first Buddhist Temple built in Singapore. Lot of incense in the air. We then went to the Singapore Gems Building on Kung Chong Road, just off Hoy Fatt Road if you know it. Some nice items on display but fortunately I had no cash about my person. We then zoomed off to the Mandai Orchid Garden to look at a few of the 60,000 orchid plants. Very nice. Didn’t know there were quite so many orchids on the planet. What made the visit great for me was recognising a face walking towards us. It was Jools Holland. No kidding. I said “it has to be” to him and he gave me a cheeky wink. How great is that?

After that we returned to the city centre region, in particular Little India. Very colourful but they kept wanting us to buy things so we returned to the coach and thence back to the Singapore Flyer where we boarded our capsule and set off skywards. The wheel is bigger than the London Eye and is located at the confluence of the Singapore River and the Kallang river. It looks down to the river barrage. A bit like the Thames Barrier. I must say we did enjoy the trip. As expected, the views are spectacular. Couldn’t help but take another shedload of photos. The Grand Prix track is all around the wheel and the Bay. Could see it all from the top of the wheel.

We then decided to walk to the Raffles Hotel. It didn’t look far from the top of the wheel! But the heat and humidity in Singapore is life-threatening. We managed to reach the Marina Square mall and sanctuary. Isn’t air-conditioning great!? We stopped off for a refreshing iced coffee and lemon cake. Thus restored to full health we set off again, keeping to the air-conditioned malls as much as possible. We eventually made it to Raffles but the place is now a big shopping arcade as well as a hotel. Very exclusive, as one would expect. After mooching about the place we finally made it to the Long Bar. This most famous and iconic and ridiculously expensive bar. Anyhow, sat at the bar shelling monkey nuts and dropping the shells on the floor, just as they did in the 1920’s. Didn’t have a Singapore Sling. Had a Tiger Beer instead.

We then trudged to the MRT and returned to the hotel where we crashed out for a couple of hours. That was one hour per G&T. Then got ready again and went down to the bar and on to the restaurant. Went all ethnic and had a right old selection of curried this, that and the other. Had Tempura Prawns which were delicious and finished with assorted melon pieces and finally mixed ice-creams. Slightly full after that little lot.

Just one final thing. Apparently today was Earth Day or something. The Hotel joined in the fun by turning off most of the lights from 8:30 to 9:30pm. Very romantic. I feel I have contributed to saving the Earth and promoting a greater awareness of the problems caused by climate change. I have done my bit for mankind. No applause is necessary.