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Published: November 13th 2007
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Day 211 (22.10.07)
We had to rely on our natural alarm clocks to get us up as we had lost our alarm clock over the previous day. Luckily enough we woke early enough to have packed, showered and had breakfast before 8:30 am when we were to leave for the airport (leaving plenty of time for our still aching legs to tackle the stairs down to street level!). After a bit of a palaver getting a bus, where everyone we asked seemed to point us in a different direction, we managed to get one to the terminal, checked our bags in and went through to the shops. We had to buy Mark his 4th bag lock of the trip (yes he had managed to lose another).
A painless flight later we had landed in Singapore. Catching the train into town we found our lodgings for the evening and settled in.
With the evening to go and explore we hopped on the metro and went down a couple of stops to check out the Clark Quay and Boat Quay areas. On our way we stopped off at the amazing looking Esplanade theatres, one of the unmistakable buildings of Singapore,
to see if there was anything on whilst we were in town - unfortunately there wasn't.
Walking further towards the business district we went to see the 'Merlion' - half fish half lion - very bizarre but another iconic image of Singapore. We then continued to the Lau Pa Sat Festival Market for a bite to eat. This is a brilliant place to eat. Nestled in between the CBD skyscrapers it is housed in a Victorian style building and offers just about every sort of food you could ever want 24 hours a day at very reasonable prices.
Once we'd finished dinner it was dark and we went up to wander Boat Quay and Clark Quay. It was stunning with all of the lights from the skyscrapers, colonial buildings and riverfront restaurants reflecting in the Singapore river. Stunning.
After a great walk and a stop for a refreshing ice cream we went back to the hostel on the MTR and gladly welcomed our beds.
Day 212 (23.10.07)
Rising after a night with an over efficient air conditioning unit in the room, bbbbrrrrrrrr, we got back on the MTR for a trip to Sentosa Island. Sentosa
is a smallish island just south of the main Singapore island which has been (and continues to be) developed for pure entertainment indulgence. There really is everything there from beaches and beach volleyball to an aquarium to an old military fort turned museum. We had the morning there and looked into a couple of activities eventually deciding on going to Fort Siloso which we had been told was really good.
The fort was built in it's strategic location to protect the harbour which was the life blood of the region. Taking you through day to day life of the fort and its inhabitants as well as taking you through its significance and changes through history, the fort tour included motion sensitive mock-ups showing what it would have been like throughout its checkered past. We loved it, spending most of the morning wandering the chambers and tunnels that made up the complex.
Having not only learned about the fort but now having a much better understanding of the history of Singapore as a whole we made our way back across the island, stopping off to admire yet another (huge) 'Merlion' before going back across on the sky rail. If
you are planning a trip to Sentosa and you have a bit more time, there was a combination ticket for S$30 which gives you entrance to a number of the attractions and all of the transport to and from the island, alternatively you can do as we did and pay the S$3 for the train and all other transport on the island - pretty cheap really!
On leaving the island we then had the challenge of finding an internet cafe to print off a couple of vouchers we had been emailed for excursions generously paid for on our wedding list back in the UK. In Singapore, a cutting edge technologically advanced and developed city, you would think this was easy. Taking the train to Bugis we went in search of a cafe to no avail with the only one we got pointed to having shut down. Taking a different tack we headed for a local Intercontinental Hotel (not really suitably dressed) and asked the concierge if we could use the business lounge - luckily enough after we crossed their palm with silver we had all of our vouchers printed.
After grabbing a picnic (by now we were starving)
we phoned our tour operator and organised a pickup point for the evening's Singapore Night Safari.
Having found our pick up point we were greeted by a rather stern tour guide who bundled us into a bus. Our guide, who was quickly nicknamed 'hitler', continued to be rather aloof and took up the helm and gave us a rather confusing explanation of the evening activities. We both tried to listen but as it turned out - although a bit of a grumpy miserable git, our tour guide had a really comical sounding voice, not only that but the word 'animals' or 'aaaaaannnnnnnimals' really exaggerated this amusing accent and going to a night safari - this popped up quite regularly, oh how we laughed! How mature of us!
The Night Safari is connected to (but not the same as) Singapore Zoo. Known as an Open Zoo the Night Safari uses natural barriers (ditches rivers etc) rather than bars and contains numerous naturally nocturnal 'aaaaaaannnnnnnnimals' who are active when the sun goes down.
Arriving we were ordered off the bus and into the park and boarded a tram to take us around the park to see some amazing and
some very strange animals. It was superb to see animals like hippos, rhinos, bears, deer, cats well you name it really without visible barriers and in seemingly excellent enclosures. A lot of fun!
'Hitler' had told us that the next thing on the itinerary was an animal show, but rather than seeing the show we decided to do some of the walking routes within the park instead.
As it is coming up to Halloween, the first thing we stumbled upon was 'the swing bridge of death' which had been dressed up with severed heads and general gore. Ahhhhhhh! Very scary.
We were then able to have a walk around some of the same but loads of different animals from small to large and cuddly to bity. We had a great time. The highlight of the evening were two different enclosures you were able to walk through with the animals, the first with massive flying foxes and fruit bats and the second with flying squirrels. Amazing, particularly as we'd seen some flying squirrels from a distance whilst we were at the Orangutan Sanctuary.
Having had a fantastic time we were back on the bus with minutes to
spare, phew. Two others from our group were 3 mins late - 'Hitler' was not impressed!
After the 25km trip back to town we made our way back to the hostel and bed. Thank you so much to Mum and Dad Smith who gave us this trip as a wedding present - we had so much fun!
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Mum & Dad
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Night Safari
So glad you enjoyed the Night Safari - it sounds as if even having Hitler on the trip didn't spoil the fun. Do you remember the hostel owner in Wales that time Chrissie ? Was Hitler as bad ? I can't think what name we gave him can you - if not I'll bet Graeme can or Claire xxx