Thursday 12 February 2010
Omelette comprising of mushrooms, tomato, onion and peppers together with fresh green salad and Singapore noodles and chilli sauce was the order of the day for breakfast for me and wonderful it was too. There was also cereal, bacon, eggs etc if that's what you wanted but mine was really an early lunch / late breakfast. Kath had a boring cheese omelette.
We took a taxi out to Orchard Road where the Tourist Information Centre is situated along with the large shopping malls and other assorted shops that will make you a suit in six hours or a shirt in four or sell you the latest i-phone and when you tell them you don't want that, a camera. I showed the man that I already had a camera. He took it from me and said I needed to buy a screen cover to stop it getting scratched. "No", said I, so he told me my memory card was too small. "I have another", I said, at which he told me that the battery didn't hold enough charge and he could sell me a better one. "I re-charge it every night and I haven't had a problem with it", say I and so he tries to sell me a tri-pod etc etc.
Kath bought a nice watch from a 'non-haggling' shop that actually displayed prices. It was a bit over £100 so it had better last more than a few weeks ! We then found a store selling Lyle & Scott clothing in the sale. The polo shirts were less than £20 and are original whereas I would have to pay in excess of £70 in the UK. I bought two, plus a t-shirt and some shorts. We then went back to the hotel to await a taxi as we had been trying to decide which organised trip would be best for us and went for the City Experience, starting at 5.30pm with a pick-up from our hotel. We booked it at the Tourist Info office at a cost of $S53 each. The Guide was called Ben and we were joined by 7 other people. We started at the Royal Selangor pewter shop where we were taken behind the scenes to see girls making objects from liquid pewter and then polishing the finished product. We were of course invited to part with our money and purchase something from the shop but we somehow resisted. We then went to Clarke Quay, more or less next to our hotel where we were given some history on the old buildings and how they have been renovated into the modern day shops. We stopped at the Lion City Cocktail shop where we sampled the famous Singapore Sling from a bottle before making our way to Boat Quay where we sat and had a meal at the side of the Singapore River. It consisted of prawns, chicken satay, rice, mushroom and vegetable something or other (nice) and sweet and sour prawns. Not brilliant but could have been a lot worse on tours like this. Chinese tea was free but anything else was at a premium cost. After the meal we caught a Bum-boat down the river past Clarke Quay and all the sights in that area. It was just coming dusk but by the time the boat trip finished, it was dark. I think the photos I took were pretty good, see what you think. We got off the boat by the Fullerton Hotel and then caught the bus to Bugis Street market. It was just as you would imagine a Chinese Market to be and it was probably more crazy due to the Chinese New Year this coming weekend as everyone was out buying things for their family get-togethers. Due to Kath not being too good on her legs and the fact that we had left the wheelchair at the hotel, we made our way up some steps onto a concourse where the locals were sampling the delights of the many cafe's and bars in that area. We bought two large bottles of Heineken lager for $S6.40 each that were selling for $S15 at Clarke Quay last night.
From there it was on to the famous Raffles Hotel. We were given only a few minutes to enter and see the Long Bar before coming back down and re-joining the bus back to the hotel. Kath and I decided that we would say goodbye to our fellow tourists at this point and stay at the Raffles for a drink and make our own way back to the hotel by taxi. We both ordered a Singapore Sling at $S26.40 + tax each, which is over £12 each. I then a couple of lagers and Kath had another 'Sling'. We stayed until almost midnight and enjoyed a seven piece band that were very good. Total bill for 6 drinks.....$S148.30 which is over £67 and worth every penny. We really had a great night and thought, sod the expense.
Back at the hotel now and Kath is once again in the land of nod. The holiday is really over tomorrow and a long 14 hour flight back to the UK is in the offing. Dave is coming to fetch us from Heathrow so that we can be back without having to wait 6 hours for flight back to Manchester, what a star. No real plans for tomorrow but we don't leave until almost midnight so we will no doubt be up to something.
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