Tuesday 21 October, 8:30 local time.

Travel blog about our trip to New Zealand in October/November 2008
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Pieter
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Tuesday 21 October, 8:30 local time.

Bericht door Pieter »

21 October 2008.

Singapore (hotel), Singapore.


Good morning everybody! Here we are again :knip1: . We woke up bright and early (6:30) and had an early breakfast which again was fantastically delicious. By the way, the hotel looks wonderful on the pictures and sounds fantastic, which it is, but don’t be mistaken. It’s just an average 3 star hotel, no hot shot businessman or millionaires to be found here (except for us :cool: ), just hard working people and a good price.

We’ve bought 2 internet tickets yesterday and only used one of them, that’s why we are back, we don’t want the ticket to stay unused. Because we can use the room till 15:00 hour we’ve got plenty of time, so maybe there’s still something to tell before we leave for the airport.
At least Pieter had an interesting encounter last night in the hotel bar while I was dreaming about beautiful things ( you just can’t let them out of your sight :sad1: ), but he will tell you all about it himself. I didn’t had my nap yesterday and after a wonderful meal at Mooi Chin ( sautéed beef with ginger and spring onions, served with French fries ) and some drinks the lights went out pretty soon.
The waiter from the restaurant was all smiling because we came back after the chewy sirloin the day before, but it was a good choice. Pieter had a local specialty, Mee Goreng Istimewa, stir-fried spicy noodles with seafood, recommended by our friendly waiter. What it was like? Pieter will let you know.
Anyway, at 22:30 with me the lights went out, the Indian guys on the hallway kept it a little quieter this time, I only woke up twice, not enough to call security. All in all we had another good night’s rest, which might come in handy keeping the next flight in mind. Since the flight leaves at 21:15 and they’ll be serving a meal, we might get a chance to do a nap. The flight will take about 11 hours and the expected time of arrival is at 11:45, which means we’ll be flying mostly in daylight.

Pieter is back out again with his camera, walking around the hotel. I told him to take a taxi to take a look at the Marina Bay area, but he can’t miss me this long :lach1: . I’ll be clearing the mess here in our room and start packing again.
The New Zealand customs are very strict, especially on dirty shoes (soil on shoes can contain diseases) and illegal drugs ( I only have legal drugs) so these things have to go on top in our suitcases. When hubby comes back from his tour in sauna city he’ll need a shower, so the toiletry has to go on top as well.

This morning Pieter took a picture of our playground, our bed, it measures at least 2 by 2.2 meters and is in one piece. I wonder how they ever got it in this room. Oh, this is funny to, we’ve got our watches set on Singapore time and the laptop is still on Dutch time. As I’m looking the time is 9:09 local time and in the Netherlands it’s 3:09. All of a sudden I see a whole snoring continent before me ( yes, I’m very imaginative ), very funny. Sometimes…….. :-) . man, there is no stopping me once I get started!! Enough said, back to work woman!!
By the way, we know we write long stories, but this is mainly for ourselves. We see so many new things which we want to remember for the rest of our lives. Writing it down and making lots of pictures is the best way of keeping memories alive and this time everyone can join in on our trip. If it gets too much, just remove yourself from the mailing list, easy as that! (M)

The food last night was fantastic, wonderful spicy and rich on prawns, fish and vegetables. Whenever you get to Singapore, Mee Goreng Istimewa is very much recommended.

As said, I had an adventure in the hotel bar last night, although it killed an illusion I might have had. The visit to the hotel bar was meant to get one last drink before going to bed and after I’ve nestled myself in a comfortable chair a beautiful young lade came up to me and asked me if she could join me. Of course in had no objections.
After an introduction ( Lin was her name ) and some small talk, the bartender came up and asked me if I wanted to offer the young lady a drink. Here is where the illusion went down the drain. Her joining me had nothing to do with my stunning good looks, but was merely to earn a couple of dollars. After I declined she left in a hurry and when I finished my drink I went up to our room to disappear under the sheets of our playground.

This morning I went out again and took some pictures from the Parkview Square, the beautiful Art Deco building. The front has an enormous lawn and gave a good view on the building itself. I also went in, but wasn’t allowed to take pictures. Believe me, it was stunning inside, keeping in style with the outside with beautiful painted ceilings and Art Deco fittings and furniture.

It’s getting warm again, sweat is pouring down my face, but there is more to see. To the side of the hotel there is a market and I wanted to see and smell what was on hand there. The air is laden with the smells of herbs and spices, dried mushrooms and a whole variety of dried fish, squid and prawns. If you know how to work these ingredients you’ll be able to cook the most wonderful dishes with it.

The sun is climbing in the sky and it’s getting time to find some shade again. It will take a while before the rain will come, it starts mostly around noon, although some rain would be most welcome now. Unbelievable they manage to house 4.88 million people on this small island and yet it doesn’t feel crowded. The city is a good example of having a well-organized community with the aid of strict rules and regulations.
Riding a bicycle through a tunnel for pedestrians will cost you a 1000,- S$ fine, so no reason to complain when you get a 150,- euro fine in the Netherlands holding a telephone while driving in your car. (P)

Just a few noticeable facts, this morning for the first time I heard a siren near the hotel and this was because of an road accident. Amazing, for a city of this size. If you get to London you’ll hear a siren almost everywhere!
Number 2 is the water, which is plentiful here, so you don’t have to use it sparsely. It is even good to drink from whatever tap ( just not from the toilet, haha ). We have drank from it and didn’t experience any problems. Lastly this, petrol is costing 1,25 S$, which is about 65 euro cents … yeah, baby!! (M)

Just one more thing for Manon from our travel agency, the leaflet we got from Changi was nice, but not up to date. The new terminal 3 isn’t on there and on all our flights we are going to use the new terminal. We’ll try to get some leaflets to take home with us so you can have them :knip1: (M)
Don't put your mouth into motion, before your brain is in gear.
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