Started today with the Singapore Zoo. Used the MRT to get there (train and bus) and it's very efficient and cheap - £5 for a one-day pass. We were told good things about the zoo by different people and it certainly lives up to the hype. It's huge with a humongous selection of animals, many of which you can get pretty close to.
Yes - that's a polar bear in Singapore.
The star of the show was definitely the white tiger (with the baboons were a close second).
Tourist tip for anyone going to the zoo. Buy your ticket online and just show the confirmation receipt on your mobile phone. This would have saved us 40 minutes queuing when we got there. Note to self for next trip: get better guide book.
After the zoo made our way back to the city centre (the zoo is 22km outside the centre) and things took a wrong turn at this point. Unfortunately, i forgot my camera charging cable in London so had to buy one. This you would think would be a simple thing to do but we ended up going to 4 different shops in different parts of the city before we found one. Then to make matter MUCH worse, I was charged £24!!!!! This for a cable you can buy for £4.95 on Amazon. I was almost in tears. I think the guy knew he had me over a barrel.
At one of the MRT stations there was a poster for face cream with an unusual ingredient.
To cheer ourselves up, we headed off to the legendary Raffles for cocktails. Cliched but it has to be done. I was surprised that the hotel is actually on the road side. For some reason I expected it to the set in its own grounds. It is impressive (in that British colonial kind of way) but 2 cocktails cost the same as the cable!
David had a Singapore Sling (it's the 100th anniversary of the drink) and declared it good but not enough alcohol.
Next stop Chinatown. Not a huge quarter but we did eat very cheaply there (I liked the food but David was not impressed).
The Hindu temple was interesting.
Next to the ArtScience [sic] Museum to see an exhibition on creatures of the deep ocean which I was really looking forward to. The museum shuts at 19:00 but the last entry is as 18:00. We got there at 18:10 so missed it.
We then planned to go to the Gardens on the Bay but as we were walking there, there were lots of photographers waiting. We asked why and were told that there was a firework display. Decided to go to the top of the Marina Bay Sans Hotel to watch.
There are two bars at the top of the hotel. We tried the first one but the banging club music was too much for us geriatrics. Went to the nice and quiet second bar. They took one look at us and denied us entry as we failed to meet the dress code.
Back down to the waterside to watch. Then the good stuff happened. First there was whole series of barges going across the water all loaded with military dressed in their full whites. This was followed by a fly-by of a group of 15 helicopters and then same number of commercial aircraft. But the best part was the 6 fighter jets that flew over trailing smoke. Two banked to the left, two to the right and 2 then flow flew vertically upward into the clouds. The roar of the jets was unbelievable and the crowd went wild. This was followed by a not overly long firework display. ps: it aint easy taking pictures of planes - or fireworks for that matter.
Evidently, it's Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence and what we saw was the rehearsal for the big event in August.
Feeling really hungry by now and tonight is what we have been waiting for - the chilli crab. Went to Jumbo Seafood as both the guide and a taxi driver recommended it. Have to say I liked it but David thought that Lombok in Herne Hill does it better.
Jet lag kicked in in a big way so back to the hotel and fell into a coma.
No comments:
Post a Comment