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Published: March 14th 2024
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We arrived in Singapore on Monday after 2 days at sea. We had planned to go to Sentosa Island as I had not been there. We went to disembark at 10am but the queue to get off was very long so we returned to the cabin and tried again at 11am. This time the queue was even longer. We had a drink in the bar until the worst was over and joined the line at about 11-45. From there it took us 2 hours to make it through Immigration. What a waste of time. The captain said later he had written a letter of protest about it.
When we finally emerged at nearly 2pm we bought tickets for the cable car. Fortunately it was only a short walk to the cable car station. We had a lovely ride to the island going right above our ship. It was a very warm day and the signage on the island is dreadful so we walked around in a circle looking for the next station. We finally found the shuttle bus that took us across the island to Silosi beach where there was somewhere to grab a drink and decent lunch.
It was now
3pm!! We found a great spot ,Coastes, right on the beach where we ordered some lunch and a bottle of wine. It was very pleasant there and we enjoyed the meal and just sitting and observing. After lunch, refreshed, we got back on the shuttle and rode to Fort Silosi. This was a garrison built by the British to protect the harbour. They had a very interesting museum . We walked the Sky Walk to the Surrender hut. This has a display about the surrender of Singapore during WW2. Wax models are used to demonstrate first the British surrender in Feb 1942 and the next room has the reverse, the Japanese surrender in 1945. We wnjoyed our time there. We then walked back through the gardens to the cable car station and returned to the main island. It was now about 5pm and we were pretty tired with all the standing and walking so it was back to the ship for a cold drink.
Another sea day followed . I must have overdone it the day before as I slept in late and then had another nap in the afternoon.
Then on Wednesday we reached Penang. We had booked a
morning tour, UNESCO Georgetown on foot. This turned out to be 3 hours of walking and standing. Our guide was interesting but it was high 30s and high humidity so rather exhausting. We saw the Clock Tower of Queen Victoria, Fort Cornwallis, the Town Hall, City Hall and then the street of harmony as there are 4 different religious buildings in close proximity. We first passed the Anglican church, then were taken into a Chinese Taoist temple and shown how they pray. Then in Little India we stopped outside the Hindu temple before finally seeing the mosque. We begged for a stop and a cold drink and had an icy Tiger beer in a cafe. Next was the Chinese Mafia house. The gangs here used to run the opium trade. We walked to Armenian Street and then turned for the port. Most of the group went off to explore further but we had had enough. It was a slow walk back to the Cruise terminal, with much sitting down along the way.
We rested in the afternoon and then went to a welcome cocktail party for those who had embarked in Freo and Singapore. We met Captain Hugh and he
formally introduced the rest of the main crew members. Very pleasant. That night was Formal night and we changed tables and sat with Deb, Garry and Jeff. Garry is an interesting man, he was wearing his MBE which he was awarded for his involvement in emergency nursing. A very pleasant night.
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