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Published: October 9th 2008
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Mosque
The first stop on our city tour. Hello from Singapore! Well i am a couple of Singapore Gin Slings down so excuse any typos!!!
So i reluctantly left Cape Town yesterday having had a wonderful time with the boys and took the very long flight over to Singapore. i have to admit i was dreading the long haul flight and went fully prepared with a bottle powerful sleeping tablets! I did not however have to worry at all. if any of you have ever flown with Singapore airlines you will know what i am talking about. It was fabulous! now i know what you are thinking, did i manage to get an upgrade? i did not. HOWEVER, the flight was half empty and the space was surprisingly HUGE! luckily i had the whole 3 seats to myself, along with 6 pillows 3 blankets (fleecie ones not the nylon ones that electricute you every time you move!) and they fed you around every hour on the hour! so i settles down, watched 3 movies and a couple of docos and lapped it up! i thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope that in future i can fly EVERYWHERE with them!
The kid in a sweetshop attitude however meant i did not
sleep as intended. We landed at 5am local time however my body thougth it was midnight so i figured a few hours sleep was in order when i got to the hotel. I had a transfer booked to take me to the hotel but they didnt show so i hopped in a taxi and headed to the Park Royal on Beach street.
Its a nice place but nothing to shout about, i was more than happy with a bed, bath and hairdryer!
Unfortunately my aircon had broken and was stuck on BALTIC so i slept with 3 jumpers my jimmies and 2 pairs of socks!
I manovered myself onto an afternoon city tour last minute (always the best way to see the big things in a few hours i have found) and had 3 and a half hours touring the city. i was the youngest on the tour by about 40 years and spent the day giggling to myself as the poor guide tried every trick in the book to make them smile!! every time the guy cracked a joke they just stared at him. at first i thought they were all German or something but later found out they
just had sense of humor bypass. Even if his jokes weren't that funny, some of his pronounciations were legendary and that alone had my eyes watering! i am easily amused it seems!
The tour took us through the city giving a brief history of its birth and then went on to various fab little places oozing with character. We visited the oldest Chinese Temple in the city which was beautiful, but the thing that really stood out for me was the acceptance of religion in general. In China town alone there are 5 places of worship for 5 different religions, all standing proud and in harmony with their surroudings and surrouding enhabitants. If only this was the case back home.
i chatted to a few of the local shop owners and they were all very willing to teach you something new about the history of their country. My face new piece of info is the chopstick shape! i had no idea that Japanese Chopsticks were round, whilst Chinese were Square and Thai were Metal! i am sure the rest of the world already knows this but it is something i have never thought about and therefore bought a couple of
Oldest Chinese Temple
These next pics were taken at the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore. beautiful hand crafted sets to take home!
we then headed onto the Singapore river and traveled down learning about the history of the aea, this really interested me and i wish it could have gone on for longer.
The thing that strikes me about this city is its cleanliness. it has a popluation of 4.48 Million and is only 40 somthing km across and 20 somthing down so there is potential for a lot of mess and chaos. Yet the old buildings sit well with the new tall shiney banks and financial disctrict skyscrapers to form a well balanced and well looked after city.
well worth another visit i say!
After my tour i headed back to the hotel to find my igloo of a room was now inhabitable however whilst it warmed up a little more i headed to the roof top pool for a jacuzzi. it really is a hard life you know! i had a good long swim in the pool as i am starting to feel the pounds piling on and its bikini time tomorrow, so i need to watch myself!
i headed out to Raffles to experience one of their famous Singapore Slingers and
Bats
These Bats spend their days hanging from the roof of the Temple! luckily this means good luck for the Chinese! ended up sitting at the bar next to an aussie gay guy who is also travling the world alone. He however is going in the opposite direction to me and his nect stop is Cape town, but this is the first time he has ever left Autralia whichmade me feel less like the lonely wanderer and more like Phillius Fogg!
So a couple of Gin Slins later (god those thing go down well) and we get the bill.......i nearly fell of my already wobbly bar stool! S$103 for 4! (two each guys two each!) thats 25 pounds for two! its rice and peas for the next few days i tell you!
So back to the hopefully defrosted igloo tonight and off to Phuket tomorroe lunch time. i have no accomodation plans for the next 7 days so i am gonna take it as it comes. i am at an internet cafe right now soi cannot load pics on here but i wll do so when i get to Thailand.
Its 11pm here now and kicking out time here so good night to you all and i will write to you from Thailand!
keep the messages coming!
With Love
Lucy x
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James
non-member comment
Sounds amazing
Sup sis, Somehow I have totally missed this whole blog thing and finally got a chance to catch up with your travels today. I have read every bit from start to finish and can honestly say that is the most I have read in about a year!!! It sounds like you are having an amazing time!! You say you are feeling like a lonely wanderer sometimes... well don't. Everyone here is thinking of you all the time and we are so happy that you are doing this! Embrace the freedom, the challenges and the opportunities!! Genuinely makes me so happy to see that you are finally doing so many of the things you have wanted to do for so long. Despite the global financial meltdown, it's good to know you are keeping the gin companies in business ;-) Keep the messages coming, Lots of love James x x x