Slings, spins and other things - Singapore 2019 - Day 7
 

Friday 13th September 2019


Cast:

Shaun - me, 50's, loves travelling
Alison - wife, 50's, loves travelling

Index: HERE

We had the usual struggle to get and out of bed again but still managed to get down to breakfast in The Town restaurant at a reasonable time.

The peace and quiet of the breakfast room was only disturbed by a small group of well to do pensioners trying to work out how to split a meal time bill from the previous night.

Once back in our room we packed for the day and headed out to the MTR to get the refund back on our Tourist cards and buy a one day travel card each. We thought we’d head out to Changi airport to see the Jewel. We were going to double up the trip with a visit to Changi Prison but the visitor centre was closed for refurbishment.

Changi airport was simply WOW! – An excellent mix of airport, shopping centre and restaurants and for many people, a destination in its self.

We saw a restaurant whose name wasn't instantly appealing...



The Jewel was simply breath taking and awe inspiring, not words that I use often or lightly. The Waterfall was simply outstanding and on a mind boggling scale, definitely worth a visit in its own right or if you have the time to visit if transiting through.







We took a look around the shops and stopped at Starbucks where I had my first Pumpkin Spiced Latte of the season.



We did however stop at the Pandora shop for local charm for Alison’s bracelet but unfortunately there was nothing suitable.

Drink and comfort breaks taken we used the sky train back to T2 and caught the MTR to Chinatown for a look around.



Feeling a bit peckish we found the famous Maxwell Hawker Centre and had some of the famous Tian Tian Hainanese chicken and rice – delicious!





As the Buddha tooth relic temple and museum was nearby we thought we’d pop in and take a look around.



Fascinating place and compares really well to other Buddhist temples we’d previously seen in Thailand and Hong Kong. Although it looks old, the temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha and only opened in March 2005!



We left the temple and ducked down some side streets into China Town proper where the community was getting prepared for the Mid-Autumn festival which is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid-September to early October of the Gregorian calendar – so now you know!

The whole place was really spectacular with many lanterns and lantern sculptures around the place making everything very atmospheric.





Another oddly named restaurant!



We wandered around for a while, taking in the sights, sounds and notably the (lovely) smells and did a bit of touristy shopping before taking the MTR back to the hotel and another refreshing dip in the pool with lovely views





After a bit of relaxing we went to the lounge again for a couple of snacks and cocktails – well, a super strong Gin Martini for me – wowsers!



We, or rather I staggered out and onto the MTR to go to the Gardens by the Bay where they were holding some mid-autumn festival celebrations.





The area was heaving with lots of locals and tourists alike for the celebrations and the humidity was going through the roof!







The lantern floats on the lake were something to behold even though I didn’t understand the story or symbolism they were portraying, must look into this later.



We thought we’d get tickets for the OCBC Skyway but by the time we got to the desk the people had just sold the last remaining tickets for the day – rats! I guess we should have thought about it before and booked online or earlier in the day but hadn’t considered the festival going on here.





We watched the music and light show display on Supertree Grove which was simply stunning, almost Disneyesque in many respects then needed to get out of the humidity so we walked over to Marina Bay Sands for some free soft drinks in the Casino



and a little flutter. Alison had her first ever go on a Roulette table and promptly lost a whole S$25 in one hit – well, that’s enough of that then!

We left the casino just at the perfect time to watch Spectra - A Light and Water Show by Marina Bay Sands. Wow! Certainly puts the Hong Kong light show in the shade and something that wouldn’t look out of place in Epcot. Beautiful blend of lights, lasers and water giving a potted history of Singapore past, present and future – and all for free!







We walked along the boardwalk to Collyer Quay then Fullerton Road to finally arrive back at our hotel via a “secret” subway link. Air con again at last! We thought we'd have a last drink in the upstairs bar (shut), 5th floor (shut) before asking concierge who showed us to the Post Bar.

The bar was once the transaction hall of the General Post Office and even has a red post box in the middle where you can actually send letters from.





We settled down and were given drink and cocktails lists along with some spicy dried fish skins and nuts. The fish skin sounds odd but was actually delicious – I’m sure my dog would have gone mad for them as dried Salmon skin was amongst his favourite stinky treats.




We sipped our cocktails – a Fullerton Concours, and a Post Mojito (both delicious)





and enjoyed the nibbles before reluctantly making our way upstairs to pack and go to bed.