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4/5
Day 98
After visiting the post office to send some books home we got ready to leave David and Eleanor's, as today we flew to Singapore from Sydney airport. The shuttle picked us up at 11.15am and took us to the international airport for us to wait for our flight that left at 3.50pm. It was a Quantas flight on a 747 jumbo jet and took about 8 hours and was a comfortable flight.
We arrived into Changi airport at 11pm and when we got off the plane we suddenly felt really tired and walked round the airport like zombies! We decided that in this state and as it was late to get a taxi to our accommodation. As we stepped out of the airport doors the humidity hit us and we instantly felt more tired than before!
As we neared the city of Singapore we saw the skyline lit up with the many skyscrapers. These are the biggest tower blocks we have ever seen and they look bigger than the ones in LA or San Francisco.
Our hostel was 1BandB, a bed and breakfast located on the other side of the city in an apartment
block. We were greeted by friendly faces who took us to an apartment block where we took the lift to the penthouse on the 25th floor. The apartment was homely and we had a large en suite room that had a great view overlooking the commercial docks and the city skyscrapers in the distance. After dropping our bags on the floor we collapsed into bed for a much needed nights sleep.
5/5
Day 99
After enjoying a home cooked breakfast we ventured out towards the MRT station, Singapore's underground. We bought pre paid electronic cards that should hopefully make our travelling around the city a bit easier. It is a very modern, cool and airy underground and was very quiet at this time of day. Our first stop was City Hall where we came out of the station into a massive shopping mall. From here we walked out into the heat and humidity of the streets and walked to Raffles hotel.
Raffles is a famous colonial hotel that was built in 1887, it soon became a luxory hotel and is the home to the Singapore Sling (a cocktail). We walked from shopping mall to shopping
mall trying to stay in the cool towards the esplanade. Braving the heat and the midday sun we walked across the bridge to the Merlion fountain for a photo opportunity.
Passing the Fullerton Hotel we went over the Anderson Bridge towards the very English looking buildings of St Andrews Cathedral (shockingly white) and City Hall (A small version of St Paul's Cathedral). You notice very quickly that it is only the tourists that walk in the sunshine to see the sights of this city all the sensible locals stay in the air-conditioned buidlings.
Orchard Road is the main shopping street and here we found many more shopping centres. For lunch we headed for a local cafe in one of the shopping malls and had chicken and rice for £1 each.
In the afternoon we got the MRT back to our apartment and had a rest. It is amazing the size of the underground it seems to stretch right under the city and you can almost walk from one vast cavernous station to another. All the stations are eerily quiet for the size of the city and its population of over 4 million people.
Singapore feels like
a meeting place for the world as it comfortably manages many nationalities of people and the port is a thriving hub of goods to be sent round the world. It is a city full of shops and seems ready for massive amounts future visitors.
In the evening we walked the 20 minutes journey to Chinatown where we absorbed the busy and thriving area. We enjoyed chicken satay skewers from one of the hawker food stalls with a beer while sat in Smith Street. There were many market stalls and shops to buy souvenirs which all seemed good value for money, we resisted as we have enough to carry already.
6/5
Day 100
Today we set off to visit Little India a neighbourhood introduced here by Sir Stamford Raffles when he divided the city into ethnic areas. As we walked out from the MRT station we were immediately aware of the changing surroundings as it looks nothing like modern Singapore. It is full of small older buildings housing shops selling produce and services.
We found the Sri Veeramakaliamman temple which was busy in prayer so we decided to just view it from the street. The Tekka Markets
were interesting, full of fresh produce and people.
Oliver needed some trousers repairing so we found a stall where they were making clothes and the young man quickly found the correct cotton and whizzed them through his machine. We had no idea how much this little job would cost and we were surprised when he asked for $1 (50 pence)!
The rest of the day was like de ja vue, we returned to Orchard Road looking for shorts but with all these shops the trip was still fruitless. We returned to Raffles so we could enjoy a Singapore sling cocktail in the courtyard. It was a nice cocktail and luckily we enjoyed it as it cost 3 days of our food budget!!
In the late afternoon we ventured to the Harbour front. Unfortunately by this point we were extremely tired and our feet were ready to drop off. We were hoping to see an impressive harbour but we were disappointed to find just another shopping mall and a cruise liner in the dock. We did not have enough time to ride the cable car so just wandered aimlessly round more shops before we jumped back on the
train.
We returned back to our apartment to refresh before heading to the Night Safari at Singapore Zoo. We are unsure of where the time has gone over the last few days and today has taught us a lesson as we should plan our visits better. For some reason we left the apartment at 8.30pm (the zoo opens from 7.30pm) and expected to have plenty of time to get to the zoo and back before it got too late as the zoo closed at midnight.
After getting something to eat in the city we got the underground to the nearest station with a transfer bus to the zoo. It was only when we got near the exit gates we glanced at the watch and to our shock realised it was 10pm. The information desk informed us that it would take a further 40 minutes journey on the bus so we would not make it.
We were so disappointed and angry at ourselves as this was one of the main things we wanted to do while in Singapore. We had even booked an extra nights accommodation to make sure we had time to visit the Night Safari. It
took us an hour to get back to our accommodation and we realised we have underestimated the size of this city and how long it takes to get from one place to another using public transport.
Before going to bed we stay up planning our route as we do not want to let ourselves down again just by bad planning. It has been a wearing day and we decide that the heat and tiredness does not help when trying to visit a city. Today has reminded us of how easy we have had it travelling round New Zealand and Australia fr the last 2 months. Tomorrow Kuala Lumpur, hope we can get a bit more organised so we can enjoy our sightseeing once more.
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tony and Rose
non-member comment
Transport
The rickshaws and taxi's are really cheap - public transport is really for the poor locals off to work!