We arrived in Singapore on the morning of Saturday 18th August. This date was indeed fortuitous. You may already know that Trev, a man of many names, and one of the ushers at our wedding, lives in Singapore (here). He kindly offered us the sofa in the lounge of his flat to stay in while in Singapore, saving us a packet on accommodation. So why was the date fortuitous? It was Trev's 30th birthday. Taking time out from his busy schedule of having many happy returns, our gracious host spent the day showing us round Marina Bay Sands, a dead swank hotel/casino/shopping mall on reclaimed land. As you can see from the pics, it looks like a ship on top of three tall towers. We went up to the top and enjoyed the view (including lots of Panamax freighters out in the harbour in the distance, something that's fast becoming an obsession of mine (to Katie's chagrin)).
Later that evening we enjoyed a beer in the pool (yup, Trev's apartment complex has got a pool), and then we went out to celebrate. I shall draw a veil over the proceedings of the evening; suffice it to say that Trev was suitably refreshed by the end of it. Also, that the taxi driver on the way home told us to tell Barack Obama to keep an eye on China (this really happened, as far as I recall).
Apart from this revelry, we've generally pottered around Singapore for the last few days, taking in such low-level sights as Chinatown, Little India, Clarke Quay, and the Raffles Hotel (we didn't bother have a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar, but we did poke our heads around the door to confirm that it looks like a Canary Wharf Wetherspoons). As a result of this exhaustive survey, I can tell you of the three best things we found in Singapore.
The first thing is the food, which is probably the best of all the places we've been in terms of availability, variety, quality, and price. There are food courts and hawker centres everywhere and they've all got lots of different food options. And on top of all this, there are also several branches of Din Tai Fung here, meaning we could eat there twice more on our trip (we also ate there in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur twice, meaning a total of five visits - even more than we've been to McDonald's (well, close, anyway)).
The second great thing about Singapore is the Night Safari, tickets for which were kindly bought for us as a wedding gift by Tim Peach and Sarah Bailey, whose wedding we're flying back for this weekend, in a sort of tit for tat arrangement (this is not true (well it's true we're off to their wedding on our return to the UK, but not that it was in return for Night Safari tickets)). It's a zoo, but at night! And you get to go round most of it on the tram, handy if you've spent much of the day walking around the hard-to-navigate retail jungle of Singapore (or "in hell" as I might put it). The best animals were the clouded leopards, the Indian gharials, the tarsiers, the binturongs (not to be confused with the Bintangs from Bali) and (according to Katie) the elephants and rhinos. That's right: elephants and rhinos. What's that you ask? Are they actually nocturnal? No, I don't believe they are, particularly. One might question, then, why they are in a night zoo (ditto for hippos, giraffes, bears, lions, and various other stuff). I suppose the word "crepuscular" could be bandied about and applied to some of them. Anyway it was nice to see such great beasts, and they were all on show and fairly close up.
The final brilliant thing about Singapore is Changi airport. Free internet (see? I'm writing this on it!), free cinema (admittedly showing cack films), any number of free TVs, free and rapid transport between terminals, loads of shops, free XBox 360 (on which I beat Katie at Kinect Sports Table Tennis and drew with her 5-5 at football), free PS3 terminals, and the chance to be a Changi Millionaire (we're waiting anxiously for the prize draw, since a million Singapore dollars is five hundred thousand quid, more or less, which will probably buy a couple of pints in Zurich). It's the best airport either of us has ever been to. We checked in to our flight 6 hours early to get a good amount of time to try everything.
Speaking of which, we'd better go and check in to our flight. It leaves soonish and we've got to find the gate. See you soon, when we're back in the UK. Thanks for reading! There'll probably be photos up here soonish, or on facebook. Or coming soon to an excruciating evening near you...
No comments:
Post a Comment