Singapore stopover

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Well here we are at Hotel 81 Heritage in Kampong Glam, in the Malaysian /Arab quarter of Singapore, a small hotel in a former "shop house" and close to Bugis. Good overnight flight across from NZ, arrived before 7am so spent the morning pottering around the area till check in. Interesting district with lots of history and nice architecture. Had a nap in the afternoon then a wonderful time catching up with Joyce and her family over a traditional Singaporean meal, followed by a visit to see their new apartment in the suburbs.

On Tuesday we visited the Sultan Mosque and the Malay Heritage Centre just near our accommodation, then spent the afternoon at the Gardens by the Bay, a relatively new attraction and quite remarkable. It is huge, with lots of themed gardens, the stars of the show are the 2 huge domes - the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome, fully air conditioned! - plus the huge Superdomes in the gardens itself. Stayed for the evening sound and light show then a late meal at the food court under the Flyer. Walked our feet off and got back to 81 very tired but happy!

Wednesday we walked the Southern Ridges trail which was a great walk through the green belt from Kent Ridge to Harbourfront, think it was about 8 km. The walk takes you through a series of parks and past the Bukit Chandra museum on the capture of Singapore in WW2 which was enlightening. Our walk ended down by the harbour, where we found a great local food "hall" and tried "carrot cake" which is not a cake at all, but a white turnip spicy stir fry - quite delicious, then we wandered across to the new SEA aquarium on Sentosa Island. You can now walk across to the island on a boardwalk complete with moving walkways, good old Singapore! Wound up another busy day watching the laser light show from the Marina Sands promenade, and a curry at Muthu's. Walked our feet off again today!

Thoughts on Singapore, great place, so many different cultures, amazing food choices, think we tried Malay, Singaporean, Chinese, Indian and Japanese cuisine - it is cheap to try different dishes at the food courts, which range from local hole in the walls, to upmarket western style malls. We love the way people are friendly and helpful and will stop and ask you if they can help when they see you poring over a map, and everything is so well organised. A mix of very modern and traditional cultures which vary across districts of the same city.

Now resting in London after a long 13 hour flight over, next stop Russia tomorrow!

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Photos

Dinner with Joyce, Pancy and Anna
At Curry Times

At the new apartment
With our Singaporean family!

The Malay Heritage Centre
A group of children hard at work during the school holidays!

Blu tries out a traditional Malay game
At the heritage centre they had some traditional games to try, including spinning tops and a form of knuckle bones using small soft triangular bags

Blu dons a skirt to enter the mosque
Designed by a British architect, notice the cathedral style

Lots of imaginative sculptures in the dome
This one depicts a family leaving Singapore

Gardens by the Bay - The Cloud Forest
Was amazing!