Singapore, Short but Sweet

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Because of the little matter of the unrest in Bangkok, Singapore Air were kind enough to change our tickets for us so we were able to spend a few more days in their fine city rather than risk getting shot at. As we mentioned in our earlier blog Singapore isn’t cheap so we were back to hostels. This time we tried Sleepy Sams, in the Arab Quarter, as little India disappointed a bit last time, and what a good choice it was. Nice rooms, great little cafe, nice staff, a really chilled place. We caught the MRT (Underground) from the airport and the hostel was a 5 minute walk from the station but, as would become the norm for the next few days, it was chucking it down. One thing we have noticed in Asia, especially on wetter days, is that they seem to have an aversion to cement or concrete pavements preferring instead nice slippery, smooth tiles everywhere. Lisa wasn’t sure if it was her flipflops (purchased for their brightness obviously) or her waggle but staying upright in the rain was a challenge in Asia. She couldn’t even blame slipping over on too much alcohol. The hostel is right in the heart of Bussorah Street, a tree lined little lane with Middle Eastern shops, restaurants and the large Sultan Mosque at one end. We wandered around the area through little alleys and past the numerous bars and lots of little cafes offering strong coffee and even stronger smokes in the numerous Hookahs on offer. Given how long it took to give up thankfully Chris resisted the urge to indulge.

The following day it was raining again so we decided to visit Sentosa, Singapore’s holiday island, and we ended up at Universal Studios, Singapore. Yep, we know it’s childish but it’s great to be big kids. It’s pretty much the same as Florida, just a lot smaller. From Shrek 3D to the Mummy’s Revenge Roller Coaster, and yes Lisa did brave both, we simply had fun for the day. Just a mention for the Monster Show, we both felt it was possibly the worst singing we had ever seen on stage and we think it was pre-recorded!!!! Still even the rain couldn’t dampen anyone’s spirits and let’s face it anything that teaches Asians how to queue properly has to be praised.

One more day and we only had a couple of things left to see, unfortunately the water ride soaking ensured Lisa was again bed ridden, this time with a cold (or according to her - an exotic virus) but I’m still not sure that the cure for this is Dairy Milk. So, Chris finished off the sightseeing program, a quick trip via the very, very exclusive Fullerton Hotel (with no less than a Lambo, a Zonda and at least 4 SLK’s parked outside) round the corner to the Merlion Park, which is the new home of the Merlion, one of the symbols of Singapore. You also get an outstanding view of the beautiful Marina Bay Sands Hotel - a triple tower complex & hotel with a ship for a roof, amazing.

Singapore is a stunning city to walk around if you have the slightest interest in architecture, engineering or even just beautiful buildings. Each new one attempts something different and together they are surprisingly pleasing on the eye. Just behind the old alleys and carpet shops of the Arab district lies the magnificent Parkview Square building. Like something out of the darkest Batman movies it tops off our Art Deco tour of the world beautifully. Built in 2002 the whole building is clad in Bronze, brown granite, laquer and glass. It’s like something you imagine seeing rising from Manhattan’s streets. Not content with 500ft of stunning gothic-like majesty, the building is "guarded" by eight gigantic fiberglass statues of men holding a light ball in their hands, four of them standing on each broad side of the building's crown as well as a host of gargoyles decorating the building’s exterior. As you wander up to the building, bronze effigies of some of the most famous figures in world history, greet you with a wave; Lincoln, Salvador Dalí, Churchill and Albert Einstein are just a few. The thing about Singapore is that the old and the new sit well together. We don’t know if there is a grand plan but, whatever, it works. There are some great little eateries in the Arab Quarter, although not being spice fans it’s always a gamble. Finally, walking back to the hotel through the back alleys a small bar with that beautiful harp in a black sign beckoned Chris in and provided him with the best pint of Guinness he’d had since Dublin. Wonders will never cease.

A few hours to kill on our last day was spent showing Lisa what she missed the other day then it was off to the airport for the trip to our final destination. Well, when we said off, we thought we had a ticket but Singapore Airlines thought differently. Despite being on their own system apparently we couldn’t be issued with tickets because the ‘number’ was wrong. Finally we were directed to Singapore Airlines ticketing desk who explained that, as someone had amended the tickets (remember the ‘avoiding getting shot’ change) but not amended the ticket number, they couldn’t issue us tickets without the right ‘number’. Hang on a minute we thought it was Singapore who made the changes, Singapore whose desk we were now standing at, Singapore who owned the plane we were trying to get on and Singapore whose computer system was causing the problem. Therefore, who was responsible for providing the necessary solution .......... us obviously! Because (we were informed in a slightly exasperated tone by the Singapore clerk) Virgin issued the original tickets, Virgin have to issue the ‘number’ - obvious really. Now, given that the Singapore clerk was sat there surrounded by 3 or 4 phones we assumed she could just ring Virgin and get the number - how naive are we - it turned out that we had to run off and get a WiFi login from somewhere else in the airport, start up the netbook and Skype Virgin ticketing (luckily we had the number). All the time the clock was ticking. After explaining to the, thankfully English, agent at the other end we handed over our laptop and headphones and let the two agents fight it out amongst themselves and find that oh so elusive ‘number’. Once obtained and input into Singapore’s system all was plain sailing. Now, why the hell couldn’t they do that, why did we have to do all the running around? Why does it always come down to the customer having to sort things out when it is the airlines that have caused all of the hassles- aaaaarrrrrghhhh. It seems that nowadays we pay so much more for a reduced service. Although we managed a quick jog back to the check-in it still meant we were now some way back down the rather long queue - so our arriving early was wasted. We felt an upgrade for our trouble would have been a nice gesture, but - you guessed it - absolutely no chance. Oh yes and who is Virgin’s biggest shareholder, nope not the bearded wonder, it’s Singapore Airlines!!!!!!

Despite the national carrier we really like Singapore, it’s more western than most western cities in many ways, and, yep, it’s expensive but you get what you pay for, people don’t try to rip you off. It’s clean, safe, easy to move around, has plenty to keep you amused for a few days. Working here for a while would be quite an appealing prospect (if only it didn’t rain quite so much and every sidewalk step wasn’t life threatening).

So onwards to Delhi and what delights were in store for us there.

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