Singapore

We made the most of our few days in Singapore. Stayed in a quirky retro 60s hotel near Chinatown. Pink lobby and  profiles of Elvis above our bed! It suited us fine -comfortable bed, great shower, and near an MRT subway station. The trains were frequent, cheap and took us wherever we wanted to go. Sometimes plenty of room and other times packed.



We left on a Sunday, catching the train at 6.15am and it was crowded. A man near us was hanging on to two hand straps and quite unselfconsciously doing his morning exercises. Others would seem to be sound asleep but never seemed to miss  their stops.

Nearby Chinatown had many interesting sights - the people, shops, food and general vibrancy.  Even managed to score some meals which Paul liked.  Photo is of my favourite stall- it always had a queue of locals, which is always a good sign. Food was very fresh, spicy and tasty -delicious. A few men carried out their shoe repair businesses sitting on stools out in the open- you can see one here. Customers would sit on another stool and watch with interest as the work was done.

We really liked the Marina Bay and Marina Sands Hotel area. The hotel is comprised of three tall towers with what looks like a ship perched on top. A large casino on the ground floor, and some classy shops. The nearby Marina Sands mall and shopping complex was huge. It had a skating rink which seemed to have an artificial surface, and a different waterfalls. The water was swirled around by jets then cascaded through a central port to a "lake" on the floor below, around which passengers were taken for rides in rowboats.

A cruise up the river on an original type boat showed the stark contrasts between old and new buildings, and I an excellent commentary outlined the fascinating history of the island.

The National Orchid Garden in the main Botanic Gardens has hundreds of species of orchids- most beautiful and some very unusual. Several shown in these photos.

Another amazing area is the Gardens by the Bay. The large glass dome in the photo houses a "Cloud Forest" - amazing plantings of trees, shrubs and plants. Another large dome is filled with colourful arrays of flowers.In the Supertree Grove are tall structures which support plantings of vertical gardens - they provide shade during the day and have spectacular light displays at night.  A walkway at 22metres between two of them gives panoramic views of the gardens and Marine Bay area.

So we found plenty to do and see at this cosmopolitan island city. From there we flew via Delhi to England.

Saw a quote on a billboard at Delhi airport which appealed to me "Travel is not for us to escape life; rather, it is so that life does not escape us".

We  stayed in a hotel near Heathrow for the night. As we walked in wondered how we would sleep as the noise from aircraft landing and taking off was very loud. We were relieved to find that our room was triple glazed, we didn't hear a thing, and slept soundly.

The next morning we flew to Dublin, but that is the next story....