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Published: June 14th 2017
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Geo: 1.28941, 103.85
Our last day in Singapore started slowly, with everyone sleeping past 7am. Breakfast at the Hub (the restaurant at our hotel) and a swim got us off to a good start. The nice man at reception said we could check out late (2pm) and suggested that, when we returned for our luggage, we could also use the pool and shower facilities before leaving for the airport at 10.15pm
We raced off to Raffles Hotel, using our MRT (underground) passes, as we didn't see the front of the famous hotel when we were there on Monday. This time, we had a better look around, including making time for a Singapore Sling for mummy at the Long Bar. We all ate lots of peanuts and Matt (who didn't like the nuts but loved cracking them) loved throwing the shells on to the flor, as is the tradition at the Long Bar!
Then home to our apartment - couldn't recommend the Fraser Place Robertson Walk highly enough. It seems to be home to lots of expats, and the apartments were so well set up, even down to the washer/dryer and the "room of convenience" - a room not big enough to be a bedroom,
but perfect for storing all those suitcases etc that clutter up an apartment! And the facilities were wonderful - pool and breakfast were great and the access to the internet was fast and constant.
So after leaving all our bags with the concierge, we jumped back on the MRT metro to Chinatown. The kids said that the jump-on, jump-off bus gave us the wrong impression of Chinatown, because the MRT stop dropped us in the middle of a picturesque street, full of Chinese lanterns. We passed our time quickly, buying a few souvenirs and a new camera lens for mummy for Christmas! One of the highlights was the Chinese Heritage Centre, where there were explanations of why the Chinese had come to Singapore - they were very poor and starving, basically, and about the early days of Chinatown, including the opium dens and brothels. They showed the "Golden Days of Chinatown" in the 1950s and also a typical house, with each apartment (about 2m by 2m) which housed an entire family and their trade, and a communal kitchen for many apartments. Gives a new meaning to cosy neighbourhoods!
We went down to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which was very interesting and
very pretty - we read a lot about Buddhism, but I'm not sure I understand it much better! Chinatown was made even more authentic by the amazing monsoonal downpour that bucketed from the sky, steaming as it hit the roads and filling the gutters and making all the merchants scurry to cover their goods! Dinner was at the Heritage Centre and was very good - Chinese food like the kids wanted i.e.. not as "unhygienic" as the hawkers markets, but a little exotic!
We then joined a river cruise on a bumboat - the traditional boats - and were so fortunate in our timing! We arrived in the Marina just as the Light show was occurring, meaning that the buildings were covered with laser displays. Just perfect, and a fabulous way to end our time in this city.
Then back to our hotel, where they had suggested they we could freshen up before our flight - we took that to mean that we could use the pool! A swim for an hour or so was just brilliant, and woke us all up a bit - we were asking the kids to stay awake until our flight at 1.30am for our flight!
A
taxi drove us to the airport, where we all flopped, waiting for the flight. We must have been tired, because the flight ahead of ours at the gate was to Brisbane - and we were a little bit tempted...but onto Milan!!!!!
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