Singapore 6

Last day of our holiday, which has gone very quickly!

We had breakfast in The Old Hen, which is where we had our first breakfast in Singapore. I was very impressed with them. Not only is the food nice, and the coffee delicious - but they remembered the variations we had with our orders. Avocado, no egg for Freyja. Eggs on toast, plain butter, not garlic butter for me. Oat milk latte, not cow's milk, for Freyja. Given that we had only been in once, 5 days ago, I thought it was remarkable that he remembered all that!

Checkout wasn't until 12:00, so we went back to our rooms and packed and got organised. At 11:30 we met in the foyer, left our bags, and made our way to the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, which Freyja had found while pottering around on the Internet.

We went by bus. So now we have: taxi, MRT trains, boat, cable cars, light rail and buses on our transport list. I think the only thing we have left is the monorail. No time for the monorail this time. We'll have to do it next time.

The MacRitchie Reservoir Park is lovely. An Oasis in the middle of urban Singapore. We only touched the surface of it, but we really enjoyed our walk around, even if it rained halfway through. At least this time it was warm, light rain.

Had time permitted and the Weather Dogs allowed we might have done the tree top walk. Alas, not this time. 

Freyja saw two small monkeys running up a tree. I did not 😔

When we said we were going to Singapore, Stella said that we had to go to Raffles. You can't, apparently, go to Singapore without going to Raffles - although I have. Several times! It turned out that people had also asked Stephen if he planned to go to Raffles for a drink. They were also asking Freyja. We thought, perhaps, that we had better go to Raffles.

So we did. On the bus.

The Weather Dogs were indulging in a tropical rainstorm when we got off the bus. Fortunately, the bus stop in next to a covered colonnade, which takes you to the staircase for the Long Bar.

Should you be minded to visit The Long Bar in Raffles, you might be best to go during the week, and not mid-afternoon on a Saturday. Be also aware that you might need to queue to get a table. Keep in mind  that the only food they serve in The Long Bar is a large, complimentary sack of unshelled peanuts, which they plomp on the table as you arrive. Peanut shells, by some weird tradition that I don't know about but which you can look up if minded, get thrown on the floor. If you want to eat as well as drink, you need to go into the courtyard, or some other place in the hotel. We did not feel the need to eat sitting outside in a torrential rainstorm!

We queued for less than 30 minutes to get in. We didn't particularly mind. We were undercover and had books with us, plus we could watch the street in the rain from a nice dry vantage point. Freyja and Stephen had Singapore Slings, as is customary. You will be aware that I am not really a drinker of cocktails. I had a glass of wine. We ate some of the peanuts and, as required, threw the debris on the floor. Freyja and Stephen enjoyed their Singapore Slings, though I don't know if they would have them again. We threw caution to the winds and had a second drink. The waiter recommended the Christmas cocktail menu.

Stephen had one of Rudolph's cocktails, I don't remember its name but it was chocolate flavoured and creamy. He said it was very nice, but it would best with a cup of coffee after Christmas lunch. Freyja had a Santa's Old Fashioned. At least, I think it was an Old Fashioned. I had another glass of wine. Nothing adventurous about me!

I'm not sure I would go again, although I wouldn't absolutely refuse. I'm glad I have been in, and it's quite interesting,  but it's a very expensive way to had a drink (which you would, of course, expect)

Then Freyja went to buy supplies for the plane from a nearby vegan deli. Stephen and I went in search of the cathedral, which I knew was nearby. It had stopped raining, and everything was more or less dry!

We fetched up in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, which is the RC cathedral. Stephen is an Anglican, and there is an Anglican cathedral somewhere close by. We went in anyway. I think it's beautiful. It's quite understated, reasonably plain, and (I think) gorgeous

We walked by the Anglican cathedral on our way to the bus stop, but didn't have time to visit. Stephen is just going to have to come back, for the monorail and the other cathedral. A perfectly good reason to visit Singapore from Sheffield!

Singapore 5

We did Chinatown yesterday. We took the metro and then just pottered around the markets, laneways and streets. Completely chaotic, compared to much of Singapore. Lively. Vibrant. Fun.

There are many murals like this in Chinatown

Taking my Christmas tree for a walk :D 

Then we called into a large Buddhist temple complex

Stephen made the comment that we hadn't really seen very much sunshine while we had been here. I think he regretted that comment when the sun did come out - and it got quite hot!!

I think he regretted even more that he had also commented that he hadn't seen any of the torrential downpours that people had spoken of. As if on cue - the torrential rains came at the exact time we were setting off to meet Freyja in a shopping complex where she had found a vegetarian/vegan Japanese restaurant. We were completely drenched by the time we got there. Soaked through to my underwear, I was! Fortunately, the rain was warm rain, but I really could have managed without a tropical downpour!

Me - soaked to the skin at the restaurant

Stephen's first taste of natto
and his first attempt using chopsticks

Food:

We walked back. The rain hadn't stopped, but it was no longer torrential and we were still wet anyway. And it wasn't far. Then we changed into dry clothes and met in the garden for our last evening's tipple. We're going home later tonight. Or, Freyja and I are going home. Stephen is also coming to Australia, but his home is in England. He's not going home until sometime later in January

They've Christmassed up the foyer in our hotel

Singapore 4

If you look at the little transit map, there is a section in the top corner that looks like little dragonflies

 

I quite liked the idea of traveling around by dragonfly, but it turned out that they were a small light rail system.

We went out to have a look, and travelled round the Punggol loop. It's very cute. The light rail trains are one or two carriages. We got a good view of some of the residential apartment blocks, and even glimpses across the strait into Malaysia

Then we took the metro all the way back down to the bay and went to play with the Gardens by the Bay. It was raining when we got there, so we couldn't buy tickets for the Sky Walk. But we could wander around the gardens themselves, which are free to access. It wasn't raining much, and it stopped shortly after we arrived

I take it that the next Chinese year will be the Year of the Rabbit 😀

I was not a little dismayed late yesterday afternoon to discover that our little community fridge, conveniently located right outside our bedroom doors, had been taken away for "maintenance". Due back in two days, according to the notice. Fortunately, my water bottle wasn't in it, only because I hadn't got around to putting it back after taking it on our day's adventures. But our milk was in it and I was definitely going to want a cup of tea this morning when I got up.

Freyja went to the cinema. Stephen and I met at the Pizza place in the foyer, bought pizzas and repaired to the garden to eat them and to drink our wine. We called at the convenience store for replacement milk. They only had UHT milk. But needs must, and I couldn't be bothered going all the way across the road back to the supermarket. 

When Stephen and I got back to our rooms - the fridge was back!!! And so was our milk. Although the KFC boxes which had been in the fridge since we got here had disappeared. So had lots of other stuff that had been there since we arrived. I was pleased to see the return of our milk, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the carton of UHT milk. I don't need it here and I can't take it back to Oz. I might label it as free for anyone to use and put it in the kitchen on Level 4

I have been doing very well in the Fitbit step challenge this week. Normally I am towards the bottom of the pack (made up of family members around the world, and one friend who bravely joins us each week). This week I am easily towards the top of the pack. Alas - I haven't brought my Fitbit charger cable with me and my Fitbit is about to run out of juice. I would buy a cable but you can't easily buy them in the shops and I don't need an actual new Fitbit. Back to the bottom of the pack I go. I shall just have to treasure the memory of the day I was at the TOP of the leaderboard. Until Freyja synched her Fitbit and pushed me to second 😂

Singapore 3

Our travel companion Stephen is something of a transport nerd. He likes trains, trams, buses, planes. So we are looking at fun, transport things to do while we are here.

We bought, as you may remember, travel passes on Tuesday. The ticket office did offer us tourist passes, which are $30 for three days of unlimited travel. We decided to go with the ordinary passes. And just as well. Our tourist passes would have run out tonight. So far on our ordinary passes, we have spent a little over $5. We definitely would not have got our money's worth from the tourist passes! 

Anyway. We picked up little metro maps when we got our travel passes. Freyja noticed that there were cable cars on the map. And yesterday we went off to find them.

We took the metro to Harbour Front, and then the cable car to Sentosa Island. Sentosa is marketed as an island of fun and frivolity. It has theme parks and theme park like attractions a-plenty. I have, in fact, been there before, on a hop-on-hop-off bus, with Jim. We did not hop off! And I probably wouldn't have thought to go this time, were it not for the cable cars which take you there, and the cable cars which take you around the island.

We had a great time. The cable cars were lots of fun. We did not go to the theme parks or attractions. We did walk the nature trails, and the sky trails and heritage trails

We had a late lunch in a vegan restaurant in one of the Harbour Front shopping malls. The orange and pomegranate salad was a highlight for me, although Stephen's Buddha bowl looked intriguing. My chips were lovely. Freyja's rice dish was a bit spicy for her. All in all a good experience - and we all enjoy trying new things.

Our usual wine in the garden in the evening finished off a good day.