20 October 2008.
Singapore (hotel), Singapore.
15:00 local time. We’re back in our hotel room from what feels like a very long day. We are both very tired and Pieter is already snoring. Today we did the city tour, on which we made 5 stops at various places to take a look around and take some pictures. This tour shows some of the highlights of the city and gives you some ideas as where to go when wandering on your own through the city. It was an interesting tour, nice, warm and wet as you can see on the photos.
This morning our alarm went off at 6, which was a little startling, but we were OK with it. We both had a reasonably good sleep, despite the noisy Indian gentlemen on the hallway, which went on till about 3 in the morning. Man, what a noisy bunch . We took our time waking up and sat at our breakfast at 7:15. Very tasty again, cheese on toast, scrambles eggs and bacon, fresh juice and coffee and tea (there was lots more food to choose from).
Promptly at 8:30 we were picked up by a minivan which brought us to the rendezvous at “The Singapore Flyer” , a giant Ferris wheel like the “London Eye” . After waiting a few minutes we boarded the touring car (praise the Lord for air conditioning) with a feisty Chinese lady as our tour guide.
First stop was at the Singapore Lion, the symbol of the city, with a lion head and a fishtail (Singapore comes from Singa and Pura, Lion and Water). The statue is a fountain, spewing water in the harbor in the Merlion Park. It was even more humid and warmer than on the bridge where the touring car had dropped us, sweat is pouring of our faces….
Next stop was in Chinatown, where we visited a temple. Again very beautiful and very warm. After this visit we were brought to Singapore gems and metals where we saw how they made all kinds of beautiful pieces of art with semi-precious stones and jade. We almost bought a magnificent bowl made from jade, but the 23.000S$ was a little bit over our holiday budget . It was very beautiful, but we couldn’t photograph it because of its exclusive nature and of course we didn’t.
Back in the touring car for our next stop, the Orchid Gardens, which are at the botanical gardens. It’s amazing to see so much varieties of orchids, that’s why we took a lot of pictures here, so Simona, lots and lots of pictures of rare orchids! Beautiful!!
In a special pavilion they kept the scented varieties, there was a wonderful aroma in the air from all of those orchids. When we were heading back to the touring car the heavens opened up, a tropical rain came pouring down, but we were smart enough to have taken our umbrella’s with us. I packed them in the suitcase last Friday and if we don’t have to use them in New Zealand it doesn’t matter, they served their purpose today!! We mainly use them to keep our camera’s dry, because the rain only goes to the skin and here the rain is more like a warm shower.
The last stop was in Little India, where Pieter thinks of going this afternoon. It was fun to see, but with the still pouring rain we had enough after half an hour. Also the temperatures took their toll, from freezing in the touring car and hot and humid outside. After we were dropped at our hotel we took refuge at our spot by the pool, underneath a fan, were we ordered lunch. Golden fried prawns with garlic mayonnaise and ribbed fries, topped with ice water and cool drinks. Our favorite waitress Wai Leng did her upmost to please us, it’s such a lovely girl.
And now we are back at our room, writing this story about the things we’ve seen and done. Pieter gets to check the pictures taken and upload a few of them to this journal after which this story is uploaded too. I don’t think we’ll be doing anything after all this, maybe Pieter will go out tonight to take some photos by night, but that’s it.
Anyhow, Singapore is a beautiful and busy city and we’ve enjoyed our stay here, even if it was for just a short time. We’ve got time till 15:00 tomorrow afternoon, but I’m going to sort things out and start packing again, man makes a horrible mess in just a short time , after which Pedro goes out exploring. We can stay in our room till 15:00 and get picked up at 17:00 to go to the airport where out flight is scheduled for 21:15 which will bring us to Auckland.
I don’t know if there will be a journal tomorrow, maybe we can manage an internet connection at Changi Airport. Wednesday in Auckland will be difficult, because we have to pick up our camper van right away, do some shopping for groceries, drive up for our first campsite 85 km away and get settled for the night. I think both of us will be out very soon after all this.
So don’t hold your breath, it could take a while before you hear from us again. I will send an SMS to Dyan when we have landed on Auckland Airport if not from the site of United Campervans. (M)
18:15, no trips being made, after two beers the lights went out. After an hour of recreation on our backsides the photos were transferred to the laptop, where we took a look at them and selected a few to go on this journal. 320 photos made so far, this will go completely overboard once we are traveling through New Zealand. Because this weather makes thirsty we went down to the pool bar again for some refreshments, were we sat, took some pictures and deliberated over what is waiting for us.
I’ve been out again this evening, by night there are some beautiful sceneries in the city and because we are here anyway, we might as well take the opportunity. Just taking a flight to Singapore and back isn’t an option, where I’m thinking of the numb buttock, maybe it isn’t a bad idea to go out for a butt massage .
(P)
PS, all of the photos from the 19th are to be found in our photobook and at the first journal from 19-10.
Exploring the city 20 October.
Travel blog about our trip to New Zealand in October/November 2008
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Exploring the city 20 October.
Don't put your mouth into motion, before your brain is in gear.
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