Singapore March 2007

We have started our World trip in Singapore for 4 days. Flying from Brisbane on Qantas we had a good flight despite the fact that I got the time wrong for departure (somehow) so we had an extra 2 hours at Brisbane airport.

We stayed at the Le Merridien in Singapore, it had a very nice lobby and the rooms were very nice. It was on Orchard Road which is a great shopping area in Singapore. Unfortunately, due to my knee still not being right, we only did a small section of Orchard Road. Singapore was great, it is a very clean city, lots of green, the road are very good, the taxies very cheap, the food is very different and spicy as well as cheap; and the people very friendly. It is not the cheapest place around for clothes/handbags/shoes etc (except for the cabs) but it is very orderly and pretty.

Little India and Chilli Crab

We booked a city tour on Saturday. It was good to start with, we went to Little India where we got 15 minutes to look around. The tour guide spent most of that 15 minutes in front of a gift shop …. We still managed to have a bit of a look at the shops and Emily purchased a nice cushion cover adorned with an Elephant. The market stalls were fantastic and bright, the colourful flowers that adorn the stalls are very eye catching.

Little India shop fronts – they look fantastic.








Merlion Park

After little India we went to Merlion Park. The Merlion is a cross between a fish and a lion. This Merlion has a water spout from out of its nose so it looks OK.

Cable Car to Sentosa and Mount Faber

From the Merlion Park we went up to Mount Farber where the Cable Car across to Sentosa goes from. The view was great up there. We ended up riding on the Cable Car on the Monday prior to leaving. It was a great ride as we got the glass bottom carriage as well.

The tour then went to Chinatown but they did not let us out, it would have been great to have a look at the Hindu Temple and the nigh markets but it was not the case. This is where the trip got really bad and made us feel like Japanese tourists on the Gold Coast. They took us from down the mountain, all the time trying to sell us tacky little Merlion figures that had inbuilt temperature readouts, played music and, once you got the head off, was a tooth pick dispenser. No where near as funny though as the tour guide singing along with the mechanical tunes it played in order to get more sales !!! It then got even better, after being given 15 minutes to look around Little India they then debussed us at ‘Jewellery City’ where we had 30 minutes to buy imported jewellery.

Boat Quay

We do not have any photos of that stop as we left the tour and went to a fabulous area called Boat Quay. This is a restaurant area in Singapore. We had some very nice seafood there including chilli crab as can be seen in the image below.

The Bum Boats

After the meal at Boat Key we went on a ‘Bum Boat’ ride. These are the old boats that used to bring cargo ashore. They have old diesel engines that for allof their roar and fury propel the craft well close to 3 knots ! The vibrations through the seat are almost therapeutic J

Seriously the ride was great, we alighted at another waterfront area called Clarke Quay, we did not get any pictures there but is even nicer than the Boat Quay area with many retail shops and malls instead of restaurants and bars.

The image above displays a great statue of kids jumping in the water, it is really only fully appreciated from the water. This is just near the very nice Fullerton Hotel.

The ferris wheel looking things is actually a ferris wheel inspired by the London Eye, this one is to be called the Singapore Flyer. The stage area near the Flyer is to be an outdoor theatre due for completion in a few months. This area is the same as where Merlion Park is. In the same are on the water will be the latest tourism attraction for Singapore (or perhaps more so the locals) – the Casino !


Night Zoo

On Saturday night we went to the Night Zoo where you can do a tram ride through different types of bush and vegetation with all sorts of animals feeding at night. We saw tigers, giraffe, elephant, all sorts of native cows, dogs such as hyena and similar as well as deer and numerous offer specis. We took lots of photos but due to the lack of flashes on the cameras they did not really work out.

On Sunday night we had a nice meal with Dave Trad, a friend of ours who lives in Singapore. It was on a beach with his business associate John and very pleasant – more chilli crab, crispy baby octopus and other delicacies. We finished off with a drink at an outdoor Balinese place that was very nice with little clusters of tables in a natural setting.

On our last day we did the Cable Car ride, went to Funan IT Mall (a 5 storey computer and IT market) where we did some window shopping and then back to Little India where we had a nice lunch. We stopped at several places before deciding where to eat as some places scared us with respect to food safety – while it was probably OK it did not feel like it. We had a good little stroll around Little India at the same time and made up for what we missed on the tour.

After this we checked out, picked up some great clothes we had made and then went raffles for a drink and a meal. The Long Bar at Raffles is quite nice, it really oozes character. The whole of the Raffles hotel is very nice.

Anyway off to Paris now – 13 hour flight – goodie ....

Cheers,

Stephen and Emily