Transit/ Singapore

---

Yesterday was pretty much a transit day, didn’t get a great deal of sleep on the plane. We arrived in Singapore around 0800, with the outside temp of 27 degrees, trust us, it hits you when there’s no air con!! We got the transfer to the hotel with another couple who were from Norfolk (England) on there honeymoon (got married on Saturday), and her parents had paid for them to stay at the Shangri-La hotel. Not sure for how long, but talk about generous!! Then they come to Oz with Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland and Dunk Island on their agenda. Not bad for a 4-week honeymoon!!

When we got to the hotel, the room wasn’t ready, not fussed as it was only 0930, so we headed along Orchard Road, the main shopping street.; Naturally, there’s Cartier, Prada, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, of which we spent… bugger all in!!

Headed back to the hotel around 11ish, and finally our room was ready!! We were pleasantly surprised when we saw it, massive room and bathroom, and then we saw the massage chair… Yep, it’s fantastic, really kneads your back which was perfect for us coming from overseas.

We managed to shower before being picked up for our Singapore City Tour, who took us around various parts of Singapore (not your typical city tour showing major attractions) such as Little China, Little India, the Merlion, and a temple. The tour finished with a tour in a gem factory, which was pretty impressive with some of the detail that goes into the pieces (they weren’t just jewellery, but little trinkets and art works), but the staff basically stalked you, no surprises there!!

We had about 45 minutes before our next tour pickup, Singapore by Night with Singapore Sling, so we had a quick bite and waited in the lobby. Before long, the bus arrived and we were on our way. The lady conducting the tour spoke very well and had a good sense of humor. Our first stop was at the banks of the Singapore River where we had our tea. Talk about different, the meat came our on stones that were so hot, you actually cooked the meat on them. Nic and I both chose steak (which was lovely), but the other choice was Salmon, and that smelled absolutely lovely too. We started talking to other people on the tour and before we knew it, we were being asked to get back on the bus and we hadn’t finished desert. We also ordered plain water as a drink with tea, and found at the end that it cost $12 just for that. We were happy the meal was included in the tour! Once in the bus, we toured around the city looking at the lights on the buildings and getting a good explanation about the building, the politics, mix of races and how the government was able to successfully blend all the different types of people together harmoniously.

This was all on the way to Raffles, where we were to have our “Singapore Sling”. It is a Gin based drink that was created in about 1915 and has been famous at Raffles since. What a surprise when we got off the bus at Raffles. We had to go through a metal detector while our belongings had to go through an x-ray machine. Talk about security. It was more than the Singapore airport! Anyway, we made our way up to the bar on the third floor and was given our “Sling”. On hearing what made the drink, I could only imagine something so strong, thet it would nearly kill you. In reality, it was like lolly water. Nothing bad about it at all. Not long after finishing the drink, we both went outside as the people were smoking inside and my eyes were stinging like hell. Once everyone else came out, we boarded the bus and were delivered back to the hotel, and straight to bed as we haven’t slept properly since France Monday night (ie had two days and one night up with 6hrs taken away with time zone differences).

---