New Zealand trip 2008
Singapore
We set off on our intrepid adventure, catching a flight from Manchester Airport at 1.30pm (on Saturday 8th March) that would somehow land us in Singapore at pretty much the same time the next day (Sunday). Mind-blowing. We travelled with Emirates, which lived up to any expectations we had (lovely curry, 250 films and about 1,000 channels in total - just generally a pleasant flight), landing for a pit stop (and change of planes) in the spectacularly-lit Dubai (like a big fairground in the middle of nowhere).
Bleary-eyed, we landed at Singapore Airport in the afternoon, and got a taxi to the Novotel in Clarke Quay. This was the view from the 19th (count 'em!) floor. The pool below was on the 7th floor. Crikey.
A quick doze (not enough to mess us up) and we were heading around Clarke Quay. Here we are in fact, a little later that day, having recovered some of our energy levels.
Here is a shot of Singapore River. Whilst being fairly small (for the most part less than a kilometre wide, and certainly narrower here), it is important historically as this is the waterway that Sir Stamford Raffles (brill name) sailed when he first came to Singapore. More on this chap later.
And, of course, no holiday truly starts until you've had a local beer, in this case Tiger. Look how happy it makes me. Answer: very.
The map of Clarke Quay was quaintly shown on an elephant's head, er, of sorts.
One of the bars we went to had a hospital theme. Cocktails were served in saline drips.
Accordingly, cocktails were served in a medical style.
The dizzying combination of jetlag and alcohol brought out the aggressive of side of Miss Schofield, doing her best Scrappy Doo impression.
The Metropole empire has expanded further than we thought.
The next day (Monday 10th March), our only full day in Singapore, we wandered a bit further afield, taking in a park on the way to main streets. The weather was a little humid, but not overly hot, and the trees needed a bit of haircut.
The boldness of the Singaporeans knew no bounds. We didn't venture in.
Knowing Dave, this could be an interesting shop...
In one of the shopping centres, a small Taiwanese restaurant was tucked away (well, actually, it was a open plan, but it was on the first or second floor). It was advertised (by itself amittedly) as being one of the top ten restaurants in the world, as per the New York Times, or something like that. Worth trying then, even if the tag line was a little unbelievable (it was hidden away in a shopping centre for a start). The ordering style was not what we were used to, involving ticking boxes for what you wanted, like taking a multiple choice test; but we soon tucked in (including an ambitious assault on some noodle soup)...
There soon followed a trip to Raffles Hotel, one of the main tourist attractions in the city of Singapore. As mentioned briefly before, Sir Thomas Stamford Bingford Raffles (1781-1826) of the British East India Company is known as the founder of modern Singapore when he claimed Singapore as a regional base in 1819. It became a British colony after some political manoeuvrings and, realising the economic potential of Singapore's deep harbour and the convergence of trade routes at this seaport, Raffles declared it a free port and consequently Singapore flourished. Anyway, this is Raffles Hotel.
We paid an obligatory trip to the Long Bar, where we crunched on empty monkey nut shells underfoot (a strange and untidy custom)...
...and Lynne tucked into a Singapore sling, clearly relishing it.
Paul then spied a snooker table on which to play (annoyingly referred to as billiards), while Lynne slept. Obviously here the blue does not pass the yellow - it is purely for show.
Our long day continued back down to the Singapore River, with a trip past (but not in) the strikingly-designed Esplanade - Theatres On The Bay...
...with a nearby view of the business centre of Singapore...
...but by this time, Lynne's back was playing up and she wanted to go back to the hotel (so we didn't get to visit Harry's Bar). Not looking happy, is she...
We discovered that skateboarding is forbidden in the underpasses (not to mention sleeping)...
...but also that the kids pay scant regard to such notices.
Later that night (frenetic, huh?), we squeezed in a visit to the Night Safari (after Paul had had a 7th floor outdoor swim - very strange but good views). Given the lack of flash photography allowed, photos are limited. In fact, here is the only photo (I didn't take many) where you can actually see anything, and this is before you go into the animal enclosures.
In actual fact, the soft lighting aimed at imitating moonlight did provide plenty of scope for seeing the animals, of which there was a wide range, from hippos, rhinos and giraffes, to lions and pumas, to birds and bats (the latter could be seen up close and personal in a netted enclosure. I say "lions", but there was only one (that we could see), and the noise it was making was terrifying. Separated from our slow-moving tram by just a water-filled moat, the deafening sound of the lion's roar (which could be heard from many points around the tour) had Lynne heading towards the other side of the tram. We had never heard a noise like it. Disconcertingly, one of the pumas (or perhaps jaguars) sought to wander around repeatedly in a circle. First sign of madness.
Not satisfied with ending the night yet, we headed to Clarke Quay for a couple of swift beers at Mama's Caribbean Bar.
Ah, Guinness at a Caribbean bar in Singapore - there ain't nowt like it.
Tuesday and, with a bit of time to kill, we head over to Sentosa, a small island off the south coast of Singapore, which aims to be very much in the Disneyworld theme park-style. First things first, we have to get there, and the easiest way seems to be the cable car, and a spectacular ride it is too. Not the weather, though (it was the end of one of the monsoon seasons).
We make it to the middle station, bizarrely in the top of a tall building, in between two tall buildings.
And finally on towards Sentosa Island itself.
Once on the island, Paul popped on this, the Carlsberg Sky Tower. It went up quite high...
...but gave good views...
...including a local posh resort.
Other attractions we tried out were the Images of Singapore, a pictorial and animated history of Singapore, including the multi-screen special effects show Four Winds of Singapore, a tribute to the national contributions of Singapore's Chinese, Eurasian, Malay and Indian populations...
...and a underwater sea creature tour, including this giant crab (not alive, thankfully).
And with that, we headed back to the mainland and to the next leg of our journey... onwards to Wellington.