First stop Singapore

We first flew to Singapore. We spent 2 nights there and only had one day to see the sights. We did a tour around the city and a Night Safari tour at the zoological park. It was a long day and the next day we had to be early to the airport for a 13 hour flight.

Singapore Stopover (04.07.06 to 06.07.06)

We decided on a two night stay in Singapore to break up the 20 odd hour flight to London.

Our first night in Singapore was low key, we just went for a walk at night through around the streets near the hotel. Singapore is very safe to just walk around so we ended up having a beer at a Café near the Hotel, but I ‘accidentally’ ordered a jug instead of a pint, so we stayed there for a little longer.


Singapore was humid generally all the time, but really easy to get around. Shorts, T-shirt and thongs are all that is required for any day of the year it seems.

After a good nights sleep in what was to be the biggest bed we would sleep in for a long time (UK only seems to have little double beds, no kings or queen sizes anywhere!), we had a bite of breakfast at a bali style eatery. The rest of the morning was spent browsing through some local shopping malls, having all these shopowners trying to get us to buy everything from tailored suits to head massages. Shopping Touts is what they are called, and all hotel stayers are warned about them, as they essentially just bug you to buy their stuff!

After lunch we went on a city tour organised through the hotel, and we saw a local mosque and gardens.

We visited a small market where you could buy clothes, jewellery, even ancient weapons!

Market with mosque in background

The tour also stopped by Chinatown, which used to be on the coast of Singapore, but due to land reclamation done by dredging the sea floor and dumping it near the coast to make more land), Chinatown is now no longer beachfront property, it is now a good 5 or 6 city blocks from the waters edge! Chinatown’s main attraction is the Thian Hock Keng Temple built in 1821. Really impressive stone carvings, artwork etc on the walls, and it is a very tranquil place in the heart of a busy city.



The next part of the tour was to a local Gem Stone Factory where they cut and polish gems and make them into various jewellery, and other forms of artwork. Very expensive, and anything we bought would’ve probably broke during the flight. So we looked but did not touch. I dare say the Tour company gets a good cut of the profits for this part of the tour if any sales are made…

'Gem Paintings' made with 1000's of gems


Carved figurines


Globes

The final leg of the City tour was on a traditional Junket along the Singapore River (I think?). the tour comprised of up to 6 people per boat and a pre-recorded voice describing the buildings and bridges along the river. It was a nice relaxing boat ride, and the main attraction was the Mer-Lion, the symbol for the main ‘entrance’ to Singapore.
Merlion with Junket in foreground













Merlion


For tea that night we had McDonalds (terrible I know) and the Big Mac came with a chilli/garlic sauce sachet– which I used of course, and the fried come with ketchup or mayo if you want. Its all about the little differences!

That night we went on the Night Safari, which is a popular attraction for tourists and locals alike with a large range of animals mainly from tropical countries near the equator. We could not take any photos of the animals at night as we did not want to be charged at by a rhino, hippo, tiger, etc.





The first part of the Night Safari comprised of a guided tour on an electric car with a number of large trailers for tourists to sit on (like big golf buggy carts). This tour winded through the park and stopped at regular intervals so we could all see the various animals feeding as most were nocturnal. Animals included native tigers, rhinos, giraffe, elephants, zebra, jackals, ostrich, lions, boars, and many other smaller animals and birds.

The second part of the night was located in an amphitheatre with some animal handlers showing trained otters sorting rubbish into different recycling bins, possums hanging from overhead wires, carpet pythons scaring little kids, tigers feeding from a large rock within close viewing distance etcs. Overall very entertaining for a night trip.


The next morning it rained while we were heading from the Hotel to the airport, and we had a few hours to waiting the Airport before taking off to Heathrow London with Singapore Airlines.


Waiting to Leave Singapore Airport.