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.

Singapore 2

Freyja had a hunt for possible breakfast places and found somewhere about 5 minutes from here called The Old Hen. We went there for breakfast. And, funnily enough, they do lots of egg based food!

They also do veggie/vegan food. Freyja had avo toast, and I had her poached egg. I had eggs and mushrooms on toast (and Freyja's poached egg :D ). Stephen had a full breakfast. The food was delicious - and so was the coffee which is so often a disappointment in places that concentrate on their food!

We have armed ourselves with travel cards, the equivalent of Myki/Oyster cards. Transport is quite cheap. There is a metro station right outside the hotel, by the shopping mall. Singapore is our oyster, so to speak.

So we took a train to Clarke Quay and then walked along the river bank towards the Merlion Park. My feet are not enjoying all the walking. This is disappointing. In the Before Times I could walk remarkably well. I'm not sure I can even blame the lockdowns for my lack of Foot Fitness. I suspect laziness is a more accurate description! Another disappointing thing is that I have forgotten to bring my Fitbit charger with me. Austin is, of course, quite right, that my health does not require a Fitbit - but the weekly challenge does. This might have been my opportunity to come towards the top of the leaderboard rather than towards the bottom.

I could, of course, set myself my own challenge to walk more when I get home!!!

We took a river cruise from the Merlion Park up beyond Clarke Quay. This was an excellent opportunity to sit down while admiring the city 😂 It takes about 45 minutes

There's a baby Merlion too, looking into the city, rather than out to sea:

We went to the Asian Civilisations Museum for a late lunch. We didn't actually go into the museum, but into their fancy pants restaurant, where we had fancy pants dim sum. An absolutely delicious, plant based lemon "chicken" plate, with plant based dumplings for Freyja, and meat and seafood dumplings for Stephen and me. They also threw in a fried, plant based dumpling each. It was all very lovely, and not all that expensive, considering we were in a Michelin mentioned, museum restaurant.

Freyja's very pretty lunchtime cocktail

Then we walked back along the river to Clarke Quay. It was much less humid. My feet seemed to be resigned to their fate. A nice, late afternoon walk.

We acquired wine and snacks in the supermarket across the road from the hotel. It was raining by then, so we repaired to the undercover area of the Level 4 garden for our evening wine and chat. Then Freyja and Stephen went in search of toast or sandwiches and I came back to my room. I had had enough to eat at our late lunch. However, I am hoping to be a bit hungry this evening - there is a pizza place in the foyer of the hotel. I would really like to try one of their pizzas

The Man, himself:

Sir Stamford Raffles

Singapore 1

 

I had breakfast yesterday in a (Japanese) Mosburger in the food hall near the hotel. I like Mosburger burgers, although I didn't have one for breakfast. I had a toast and breakfast plate with orange juice. Very tasty - although I wasn't expecting the frankfurter to be a garlic sausage! Sat a bit heavy for breakfast :D

Stephen's flight from London had been delayed by snow, so while we waited, Freyja and I had a potter around the shops, nature trails and other delights that can be found at and around Changi airport. 

Then we collected Stephen and made our way to our hotel home for the coming week. It's a lovely new-ish place in Little India, which is not a part of Singapore that I know well. It's a bit like a backpackers' hostel, but much fancier than that.

My room is equipped with a shower and a separate toilet.
A bit like very fancy student digs

My very snuggly bed. Would be even more
perfect if we happened to be in a snowy place :D

The view from my window

On Level 4 there is a garden, with egg chairs and tables and dining chairs, and a hopscotch court and a gym and all sorts of amusements. There is also a remarkably well equipped kitchen. We spent the evening sitting in the garden, sharing wine and conversation.

We are surrounded by streets filled with cafes and restaurants and shops, all serving Indian wares. We are, after all, in Little India. And across the way there is a large shopping mall, with a metro station, and a wide array of eateries. We had a late lunch in there

Everything opens later than I expect it to - but then again, it stays open later. We are about to head out for breakfast. And to plan what we might like to do today

Gone to Singapore

I had forgotten, in the 33 or so months since I last did it, how stressful international travel can be.

The first bit wasn't stressful at all. Lindsey picked me up from my place at 8:30 and took me to the station, where I bought a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and waited for the shuttle bus to the airport.

The bus trip was lovely. Peaceful, quiet, comfortable.

The airport was BUSY! Really, really busy.  That was definitely stressful. I don't go to many places that are really crowded these days.

Freyja arrived, ready for our adventure. We got airside relatively painlessly, though we were a bit disconcerted when the checkout lady asked if we had our visas for entering Singapore. Visas"? Surely we don't need visas? We checked. She laughed. As long as we didn't want to stay more than 90 days, we didn't need visas. Phew! We did, however, need to fill in an online entry form which we didn't know about. We did that airside, in the pub, over a glass of wine and a plate of olives.

There are lots of pandas at Melbourne Airport. I do not know why.

We boarded the plane with no real trouble. Everyone took their seats. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Apparently, one of the machines that loads the luggage and containers onto the planes had sprung a leak and spread hydraulic fluid all over the place. And wasn't loading things. We waited and waited and waited. If only they had noticed before everyone had boarded; Freyja could have sipped her coffee and savoured it, instead of guzzling it down at speed so she could board. No hot drinks allowed to be taken on by passengers.

Eventually, after not quite three hours waiting on the tarmac, everything was sorted out and we were on our way to Singapore, where we arrived with no further drama seven and a bit hours later.

We fortunately noticed the sign that suggested walking to arrival hall C before we went down into the very crowded arrival hall D. Arrival Hall C had almost no people in it. We were through immigration in no time. We could use the electronic immigration gates. We collected our bags, and made our way to the very conveniently located Yotelair capsule hotel, right in the airport, landside.

My remarkably comfortable capsule cabin. The bed was extremely snoozy.

And now we are waiting for Simon's father to arrive. His plane is also delayed, which means we have a more leisurely morning than we were expecting. He's on his way from the UK, breaking in Singapore for a week's stopover on his way to Australia for a Christmas and New Year Adventure. Simon and Freyja were intending to meet him here for Singapore Adventures. Alas, in the intervening No International Travel years, Simon's passport had almost run out of time. Singapore requires a full six months validity to let you in. Simon couldn't come. But I could. So I did (by invitation, you understand - I didn't gatecrash the adventure!!)

I too, however, have forgotten some things which previously would have been second nature. I didn't bring any teabags, and I always travel with teabags. I forgot to bring my travel cup. I did bring power adapters and charger cords. And at the last minute, I thought to bring my British bank card, I don't use it much. Usually I transfer money electronically to my Australian account. But I thought it might come in handy, and it paid for last night's accommodation with no trouble at all.

I got up too early this morning for the food hall and shops to be open, so have taken advantage of the coffee and tea room the hotel has available. And the free wifi. But I think things should be starting to open up now. I might go for a wander. And work out how to get from here to the hotel that will be our home  until next weekend.

Covid

I knew I would get run over by the covid bus eventually.

Freyja said that she had tested positive on Monday. On Monday evening I developed a scratchy throat. On Tuesday it remained scratchy and I developed a bit of a cough, but was RAT negative. I didn't believe the RAT. On Wednesday morning, the RAT turned positive.

Sigh!

All in all, it wasn't too bad. I had a mild sore throat, a cough and that was pretty much it. I did have a bit of a temperature, but never particularly high - my usual temperature is 36.6 and it got to 37.2 and only for a day. I had stopped feeling unwell by Friday, but had to isolate at home until yesterday.  I have a lingering cough - and a mighty bruise across my diaphragm!

In the Before Times I would have said that I had a moderate cold and probably not paid much attention. Obviously, under the present circumstances I couldn't do that. No going to the shops, no going to work and especially no going to visit Stella and Jim. Lindsey went instead when she wasn't working.

Brandy and Whiskey were pleased to have me at home

Lindsey bought them a cat flap during the week, so they could go in and out onto the patio without letting in dozens of flies and hundreds of mosquitos

It slots in next to the sliding fly screen so no need for tools, or skills. Looks great. And Brandy and Whiskey hated it! I tried to show Brandy how to use it. He, remember, is the small, fluffy cat. He folded himself in half and stuck his elbows and knees out in a star formation and refused to go through it. Eventually, I took the heavy plastic flap off, so there is a small open space. They are using it now. Reluctantly, it must be said, but using it. I realise that leaves a space for creatures other than cats to come in, but it's a much reduced space and so far has equally reduced the ingress of flies and mosquitos.

We finally had a summery day on Sunday. It was lovely. Sunny, warm, high 20s, light wind. I made a start on  weeding the patio

And now I am allowed back out into the world (although not into the aged care facility until tomorrow, when I m also allowed back to work). The weather has reverted to normal. And, prompted by Austin, I have cracked out the Christmas jumpers

Melbourne

Some weeks ago I bought tickets for Lindsey, Ian and me to go to the Good Food and Wine Christmas Festival. Quite coincidentally, the Saturday was also the day of the State election.

Lindsey and I went to Melbourne together, stopping at the Warrenheip Primary School so Lindsey could vote. I like voting at the Warrenheip Primary School. They take the opportunity to have a proper school fete, with a cake stall, used book stall, trash and treasure stall. They also have a plant sale, a sausage sizzle and, this time, people selling egg and bacon rolls. I got in the egg and bacon rolls and had a potter around while Lindsey voted. 

I had taken the opportunity of early voting and cast my ballots on Tuesday. I had been surprised to see how many people were also wanting to vote on Tuesday. Fortunately, they were mostly from the Ballarat Division. I live in the Eureka Division, which is where the early polling station was. So I got to go in and vote quite quickly. The rest were treated as absentee voters, which takes longer.

We met Ian, and Emily and Andre who are over from Canada for Christmas. They went off for a weekend away. Ian came with us to the Exhibition Building for the Food and Wine Festival. I have long thought that they should really be called Wine and Food Festivals - there is always more wine to buy than there is food!

The Royal Exhibition Building.
You can see it from the flat
and it is in walking distance

Fountain    

Inside the exhibition space

Waiting for lunch

Ian's photo of us eating Maine style
lobster rolls and drinking extortionately
expensive glasses of French champagne

It was a great Festival - although they could have done with more tables for sitting for lunch. We gathered up spare chairs and used one as a table and sat on the other three. There was plenty of space for more tables; I don't know why they didn't set more up.

We took the tram back to the flat. We seem to have filled our bags up with food and wine and things for Christmas. After a bit of a rest, Lindsey and I took another tram into town and wandered around not one but two Daisos, and a few other shops.

I do like Daiso (which is more or less a Japanese ¥200 shop). I haven't been into one for three years or so. I was very happy to renew acquaintance with it 😊

Mind you, I did feel somewhat like a small country mouse as I wandered around the city centre. So many things had changed since I was last there fir a wander around. And yet - so much had stayed the same!

We met Freyja and Simon in Smith Street at Kinyoubi for dinner. I like Kinyoubi very much but I do sometimes think I should try some of the other eating opportunities that Smith Street has to offer.

Christmas has come to Melbourne:

On Sunday morning, Lindsey and I met Freyja and Simon again and went to the Alphington Farmers' Market. I haven't been before, but Freyja and Simon go quite regularly. It's a lovely little market. I left with lots of delicious veg and some Seville oranges (the smallholder was very anxious that I knew that I was not buying eating oranges!!) and other fruit and things.

We stopped in Station Street in Fairfield on our way back to Freyja and Simon's place, for a potter about, then Freyja and Simon went home, Lindsey and I collected Ian and we came back to Ballarat.

It was a great weekend in Melbourne, marred only by Freyja once again testing positive for covid on Monday morning. I am waiting for me to test positive. I can't possibly dodge that bullet indefinitely!!