The flight was fine and I was terribly fortunate to have an empty seat next to me so was able to spread myself out. Once in Singapore we were immediately comforted by the warm climate which we had grown to love on our South East Asia tour and after a quick shower and change headed downtown. It was dark by now and getting late so our first stop was at a food market to sit at a random stall and enjoy a bowl of something, hot, local, noodley and very tasty washed down with a chilled mango juice; oh how we had missed all of this!
Our stroll round the bay at night was rewarded with some spectacular views and a real variety of modern architectural styles. Sitting on the marine promenade with hundreds of fellow tourists watching the waterfront light and sound show in relaxing late evening temperatures rounded off our day perfectly.
By day the architecture looked even better and more original, such as this pedestrian double helix bridge to cross over to 'The Gardens by the Bay'.
The gardens were a restful break from the high rises across the waterfront with some well needed shady spots, but not everything in the gardens was natural either. There are numerous huge 'super trees' dotted around which are all part of the whole ecological system of the park and several are linked by a high skywalk that we took to appreciate wonderful views out to sea and across the city landscape.
We strolled around Chinatown for some local culture, popped in to a temple and witnessed the preparations for the forthcoming Chinese New Year celebrations; 2015 is year of the goat if you are interested!
We were following a colonial walking trail leading us past a variety of buildings constructed during British rule, such as schools, museums, civic hall, cricket club, cathedral and the iconic Raffles Hotel. The hotel was larger than we had thought as there are shopping arcades all around it but it still looks very grand and classy. We poked our heads in to the famous Long Bar (which isn't so long at all) and weren't going to be around to partake of the famous Raffles afternoon tea so settled for a tasty 3 course lunch at one of the restaurants there instead. We were not quite sure what the dessert we ate comprised of but it was surprisingly delicious and refreshing.
My love for a good walk was not to be deterred by hot weather so we took the scenic Southern Ridges Walk to escape the busy city streets on our last morning here. It was quite amusing to experience the clinical Singapore idea of a national park and country walk as it was all along footpaths and long, winding 'canopy' footbridges, but the views were nice and we were strolling amongst lush tropical trees and flowers. It took us two hours from one end to the other and the most interesting wildlife that we spotted was an enormous spider weaving a web above our heads.
En route to our hotel we found the Maxwell Road Food Market for our last taste of singapore cuisine. A bowl of duck and noodles followed by a mighty strange bean curd and coconut milk dessert and washed down with passion fruit juice was well earned. Singapore has been a good stopover destination and the locals are of the same opinion of durian fruit as other South East Asian countries!
Sydney here we come...
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