We are off and the first of our four 10+ hour flights is now behind us. Had a good flight on Thursday with Singapore airlines. Upon arrival at the hotel in Singapore there was a message waiting for us from an ex-colleague from the UK who was staying at the same hotel. Bruce met up with him that evening and invited him to join us and other ex-SE Asia colleagues the following night for a dinner which had been organised before we left home.
 
The next morning (Friday) we had a wander around some of the electronic shops, Raffles Mall and then over to Suntec City Mall. It was a hot and sticky day which came as no surprise. In the evening we headed for Clarke Quay where we met the others and had a Chinese seafood dinner at one of the many restaurants along the river. There were nine of us and only one person could not make the dinner. The Chilli Crab, Pepper Crab, Cereal Prawns along with other dishes were delicious (as one would expect).
 
While it has only been just over 2 years since we were last in Singapore there has been a lot of new construction in the Marina area with new buildings and extensions to the MRT underground network. On Saturday we went to the most grand of these new buildings – the Marina Bay Sands. It is a large 58 floor hotel with a rooftop area called the Skypark. As the name suggests it is a park with an infinite pool (for guests only), restaurants and a lookout which costs $20 per person to get to. We went up to the viewing platform and wandered around as much of the top floor as we could as most of it was closed off for guests only. However, if we had been guests at the hotel we would have thought the pool area was too accessible to the general public and tourists.
 
In addition to the hotel there is a shopping mall (of course) and a casino. The casino is one of 2 in Singapore; the other being at Sentosa Island. A quick visit to the casino was of course in order. We had to show our passports twice to get in and once to get out. Singaporeans have to
pay an entrance fee of S$100 which did not appear to be a deterrent as the place was packed. After doubling our money we left and walked along the Singapore river bank past the Esplanade Theatres (buildings that look like durians) and back to our hotel.
 
Today (Sunday) will consist of visits to shops, sorting out emails etc, packing and heading off to the airport for our 11pm flight to Istanbul.