Wednesday 10 July

12-hour flight, no dramas, slept a bit (Pete slept more than a bit).    By 5pm German time the whole plane was in darkness and supposed to go to sleep – not a chance!   I know they say adjust your watch to your destination time but I wasn’t really ready for a 5pm nana nap.     

It was good to get to Changi.   We were on a Singapore Stopover package so collected our information about free sightseeing which came with a smart card to use at each venue and on the hop on/off buses, then took the hotel shuttle (also included).    On the expressway into the city we noticed that in 14 years that road hasn’t changed much; there are still silk trees, frangipani, colourful bougainvillea, palm trees in the middle of the road and to the sides, and looking out to sea the dozens and dozens of ships are still lining up to get into the container terminal.        We stayed at Hotel Grand Pacific where we’ve been before; decent-sized room, comfortable, pleasant staff, but in the room we had this time the bathroom was in dire need of a makeover – not dirty but poorly finished repairs to the bath and basin and some mould stains to be seen.    A shame, and I will note that on TripAdvisor, but that was the only downside to it.   We’d stay there again, it’s convenient for buses, train etc and close to Raffles City shopping if needed.    

We checked in but it was too early for our rooms so, around 9.30 we went off to use our hop on/hop off passes, did two of the three circuits and ended up at my old workplace for almost six years, Ngee Ann City, for lunch.   Six floors are taken up by the Japanese-owned Takashimaya department store and there’s also independent shops, restaurants, a very good library, a Kinokuniya bookstore.  So I got my fix of Japanese stuff in some of the specialist shops and the supermarket (hugely expensive grapes and peaches, just like we used to see in Hiroshima) and we had my favourite Yakitori chicken for lunch at the food court.   That used to be my go-to meal when Pete was working away, got it on my way home.    I have very happy memories of those six years, I was really lucky to work for three excellent Defence Advisers, and Singapore was an easy place to bring up teenagers, and also to live by myself for about two years.    

Anyway, nostalgia trip over and we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep then went for dinner with Andy’s old school friend Justin (who used to spend a fair bit of time at our place), his wife Rachel and their 9-week-old Noah.    It was great to see them again and to meet the baby, lots to catch up on.  So that was a good start to our Singapore stopover.

Thursday 11 July

We slept until 8.30, really needed it.   We just pottered with emails, I did some of the blog until midday when we went to Raffles City for a very late brunch – they have a huge food court with everything you could possibly want from western and Italian to Japanese, Indian and other more local fare.     I’d seen a Marks & Spencer’s so went to have a look and ended up with three tops and a dress, I couldn’t believe my luck.   It was really funny though, some Singapore shop assistants will never change.    I’d tried on one top and it was a bit roomy so I asked the young woman (who of course was about the size of my leg) ‘Please could I try the smaller size?’.     She looked me up and down, looked at the size of top I was holding and in a totally disbelieving tone snapped ‘You want size 14, ah?’  I nodded and she said ‘Size 14, too small lah’ and flounced off to get it.   I’m sorry to say she then disappeared from the fitting rooms and I didn’t have the pleasure of telling her ‘I told you so’ when the 14 was a perfect fit!    

Back on the Ho/Ho bus and off to the Marina Sands hotel, the big one with what looks like an ocean liner on the top, because Pete said we should repeat our experience of a few years ago and have a margarita up in their viewing deck bar.  Who was I to argue?   They’ve changed their access to the deck, I seem to remember you could just go up and wander round, buy a drink if you wanted and  there were tables (though I could be wrong), but today we had the option of paying $24 to just go up onto the viewing deck, or paying $30 and getting one drink but nowhere to sit, just walk around and sip.  That didn’t appeal so we paid $22 each to go to the Ce La Vie bar which gave us access to the upper viewing deck and you got a coupon in return for your $22 which was redeemable against your drinks.   That was fine, a margarita was $23 so we didn’t really lose anything and we were very comfortable with a good view north and out to sea, and over the gardens.  A very pleasant way to spend the best part of an hour.   

After that we walked to Gardens by the Bay to the two glass pavilions and saved ourselves almost $60 because entry was free with our stopover card.  We’d been there before but it’s worth a visit to the flower dome which has temperature controlled areas with appropriate gardens: Australia, Mediterranean, African and so on, and a very pretty little rose walk with statues.  It’s so well done.    Next stop was the cloud forest which has a huge seven-storey waterfall cascading down one side of a plant-covered mini-mountain – anthuriums, orchids, fuchsias, a whole pile of pitcher plants at the top, mosses and more.  You go up in a lift then walk down, circling around the outside of the mountain so you can admire the plants, and also the view outside through the glass dome.  

Had a bite to eat then it was time at 7.45 for the 15-minute sound and light show at the treetop walk by the gardens, the trees being enormous metal structures, ten I think, with high walkways linking them and they have climbing plants and strings of lights all over them.   The sound and light is music with the lights and colours, a big crowd there too.       

Seen in the hotel lobby, this notice about an Email Etiquette seminar lasting ALL day!  You'd be asleep inside an hour?  

Friday 12 July

When we went a bit further we found that the giant culvert next to our house, which was probably 4m deep and across, and sometimes full to the brim if we had a big rain storm (I‘ve added a ‘before’ photo), had been filled in and in now there’s a pleasant paved walkway with lots of grass and even a children’s play area.   No snakes to be seen – I’ll never forget my friend Irene stopping at the corner when walking her dog, I was talking to her from our porch and a cobra reared up from the grassy fenceline a few meters from where she and the dogs were standing.    No chance of that now - things have certainly changed, and for the better.  

We had a wander around then went for lunch, chicken biryani, at the hawker centre at the end of the road.  We used to eat there at least once a fortnight, possibly more, with a choice of satays, Indian, Chinese meals.      There are newer and more upmarket shops now in the area, and even a doctor’s so I guess the MRT has helped open things up a bit.  And the population has grown too, now 5.5 million – 3.5 million are citizens, 500K permanent residents and the rest have work permits or are ‘guest workers’ mainly in the construction industry. 

Last stop for the day was at Raffles Hotel Long Bar where we sat and had a Singapore Sling – we sat at the bar and watched the barmen getting the drinks ‘lined up’ – they have pre-prepared cocktail shakers with all the ingredients, then fit the shakers into a very hefty machine called a ‘Raffles Sling Shaker’ which the barman gets going turning and turning a wheel on the end, then they line up glasses filled with ice cubes and in goes the shaken Sling mix.   But you certainly pay for the name – SGD 77, so close to NZD 85!    It was busy there too, half a dozen people lined up at the door waiting for a table pretty much all the time we were there. Raffles is only partly open at the moment with a major renovation going on, some of the bars are back in operation now.   There are lots of little shops on the ground floor around the courtyards and the five-foot way, they’ve been renovated too and will re-open soon but probably with different tenants as the hotel let the leases lapse when they were due for renewal.   We sat at the bar and chatted to the barman – he’s been with Raffles for nine years around all the bars in the hotel, has been overseas representing the company for promotions and competitions, and is shortly to go to Dubai Raffles for three months.      It made a good end to our holiday.

All we had left to do was have a shower in the pool area at the hotel, grab a cab to the airport (interrogation by driver: how much is a comfortable income in NZ, do you make that much, house prices NZ and Singapore, bringing up kids, being a taxi driver……. all sorts, they don’t change much), then a meal before we boarded at 10.30.   Another easy day for us and a good idea to break the return trip into two.