Hmm, red eye flights....good and bad points! It was a very long day since waking up early Friday morning in Yamaguchi to bid everyone a safe journey home.

Good points - The most amazing service on Singapore Airlines . We get so used to Air Canada, WestJet and the American Airlines sometimes we forget what real airline service is like! We were on an Airbus A330, capacity about 400 people. Tonight's flight was not full which allowed some people a little extra space to stretch out. In addition to the captain and the first officer, we counted at least 10 stewards and stewardesses. At each seat, a pillow and blanket were waiting for us, along with complimentary earbuds. Plus each seat was equipped with a tv with a remote, a light under the tv (as well as the one over top) and a USB connection and auto/video jacks (separate from the sound/headset plug ins on our arm rests) in the seat back in front of us. There was a very surprising sooooo many movies, tv shows past and present, music, radio and other programming options to choose from.  

Once everyone was settled the stewardesses and stewards came around with refreshing hot towels, booklets noting Singapore Airlines meal service and drink options for the Osaka to Singapore flights only, complimentary nylon pouches with a pair of socks as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste for our overnight comfort, complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink service and not only one, but two large pouches of peanuts for each of us . It was a 6 hour flight, departing the gate at Osaka on time and arriving in Singapore a few minutes early. Breakfast was served on board before landing - we both had the Japanese option - grilled mackeral, rice, eggs served with a little broccoli and potato (a very stuffed full hot serving dish) as well as, soft warm bun, fresh fruit, juice and coffee/tea, all served on melamine dishes with real cutlery. 

Very bright 'Super' moon tonight, it was reflecting off the wing and engine in the total darkness. Hopefully we will get a chance to see it Sunday night, in its full red glory. 

We landed at Singapore's Changi Airport at approximately 4:30 am local time this (Saturday) morning (5:30 am Japan time, 2:30 pm Friday afternoon time in Regina). We were one of about 10 flights landing between 0430 and just before 0600. Though not all, some restaurants, stores, a few currency exchange companies and 4 tourist information desks were open! Changi Airport is noted as the world's best airport - there are some really cool things about this airport (other than the amazing shops like most international airports these days); it has a movie theatre, cactus garden, orchid garden, sunflower garden, "enchanted" garden, butterfly garden, Koi pond, 9 metre high "social tree" where people's photos and videos of the airport can be posted, rooftop swimming pool and my personal favourite, the longest slide found in an airport - 4 storeys high (for every $10 receipt for monies spent at the airport, you can redeem it for 1 ride!)

This year, Singapore is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence . Celebrations and events have been going on all year (we picked a great time to visit!) The local people and businesses are celebrating how far they have come as a country and a people. Its a very multicultural place with a population of mostly Chinese, then Malaysians and Middle Eastern peoples. English is widely spoken here. The Singapore dollar (like the Japanese Yen) is currently close to the Canadian dollar - for ease of calculations, we've just been going with par. Singapore is known as the "Lion City", "Garden City" as well as the "Red dot" (because hey are just a little dot on the map!) This is the first time either of us have been to Singapore - new adventure for both of us!

Our plan was to our way to our hotel by MRT - Singapore's Mass Rail Transit. It took us a few minutes to figure out the ticket machine. We were going to get a 3 day pass, but the office wasn't open yet, so we paid the $2.30 each. We did get a Tourist MRT pass later in the day, $30 each of us for 3 days (refund of $10 when we return the card) . It allows us unlimited rides on the MRT subways, trains and buses (with the exception of the one going to the resort island) for just under $7 a day. One thing we noticed early today was that the escalators move at a very quick pace here - not for the hesitant or slow that's for sure!!!

When we arrived at our destination subway station, "Novena" we popped out of the underground only to be in the Singapore's medical hub. We were surrounded by a neighbourhood of medical buildings; the medical centre, neuro centre, skin centre, hospital for the aged, ER and that was just at the first glance. Excellent in case the heat or anything else gets us! Our hotel was a few blocks longer from the MRT station than we expected, it tried to hide, but we found it!

We dropped off our luggage at the hotel then set out to kill some time before we could check in. We checked out the immediate neighbourhood of the hotel - we're not sure why, but apparently our hotel is located by a LOT of plumbing and lighting shops . Its not the first time we noticed the same types of stores all literally competing side by side, a little strange we thought.

We took the train 2 stops down the line to Orchard Road, which we read is about 2 kms long and noted as Singapore's shopping and entertainment hub. This time we popped out of the underground and were held in amazement with the awesome trees lining the boulevard (so beautiful) and looking at all the HUGE designer stores - everyone who is remotely anyone, was represented and many more than once (like in Vegas!); to name a few, Gucci, Armani, Tiffanys, DKNY, Channel, Rolex and a huge H & M store!. It certainly had a "Vegas-larger-than-life" feel about it. In the midst of all these very high end stores, there was a mall more fitting for us - full of discounts and bartering; LOTS and LOTS of souvenirs, clothes, groceries in small stalls and a very reasonably priced food court. Greg was very content there!  

After soaking in the experience and beauty of Orchard Street, we headed back to the hotel, after an especially long walk to the hotel after we tried an "alternate" walking trail from the MRT station - not a good plan after not getting enough sleep and being in a very hot and very humid climate (Red eye "bad" point) . We were delighted to get into our room early and finally get out of our "all day" clothes, get a much anticipated shower and some air-conditioned down time (code for a short nap!)

When we headed out later in the afternoon we found out there's a complimentary hotel shuttle to the MRT station - SWEET!!! We decided to go and check out Chinatown as the "Mid-Autumn Festival" just started today. On this Subway line we noticed a sign with a few thing not allowed onto the subway, and interestingly enough, durions ware NOT allowed(as it should be, right Chris?).The entire area was decorated with paper lanterns including a huge Lion one! It looked amazing! There were lots and lots of vendors on the street, in side and main stores and a ton more tourists checking out all the foods and the wide variety of items available for sale.

We stopped at the "Chinatown Food Street" for supper - we went with one of the street vendors and had BBQ pork with noodles and roast duck with rice, each came with soup and were about $5.00 each. It was random seating on the closed street, ironically at tables set up in front of other "sit-down" restaurants on the street. One surprising aspect was all the food on the street was served on dishes with "real" cutlery, so all could be reused. Seating was limited as there were so many people and we ended up sitting with an older couple from Melbourne, Australia currently on vacation (we have seen and heard several Australians and New Zealanders since our arrival). They used to live on Vancouver Island for a few years, so it was a very nice visit.

While we were strolling down one of the Chinatown side streets, we noticed a large temple - turns out it was the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu Temple in Singapore. We didn't go in but the artifacts we could see looked amazing and totally worthy of a picture!

We stayed to see the lanterns all over Chinatown light up in the evening before starting back for the hotel - very beautiful and LOTS of tourists on the streets like us taking pictures!

Oh boy, Oh boy..... now we're looking forward to a good night's sleep.....in a bed!