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-   -   Slings, spins and other things - Singapore 2019 - Day 4 (https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1148953)

BONZO 9 Oct 19 11:24 PM

Slings, spins and other things - Singapore 2019 - Day 4
 
Tuesday 10th September 2019


Cast:

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

Index: HERE

We both slept really well – as always travelling eastbound means it’s hard to get to sleep but then you can’t wake up in the morning! Possibly a combination of the long flights to get this far, a really comfortable bed, black out curtains and copious amounts of booze the night before. I really, really didn’t want to get up when the alarm went off. But the sun was shining and the view was amazing! We had a coffee while showering and getting dressed (why is it that coffee always tastes so much better in a hotel room?)

We decided to give breakfast in the lounge a go this morning and as always for me, I try and concoct the full English equivalent which never really works and I never seem to learn my lesson on day one of a holiday – too stuck in my ways but I’ll try and remember next time. Tomorrow I’m going full native so let’s see how that works out!

Nice selection of breakfast items and they really try and cater for all tastes although curry for breakfast just seems to be something I’d have the morning after the night before or a student challenge. Alison stuck to the sensible option of cereal and pastries.





We mulled over plans at breakfast and thought we’d stick to our normal plan and get a tour bus just to get our bearings and see if there were other places we hadn’t considered going to. So, The Big Bus Tour Company it was then as there was a stop very close by and so we paid online and received our e-tickets for the day.

We went back to our room and got our things ready for the day, full of excitement to see Singapore in the daytime and to get a good feel for the city as a whole. We found the bus stop easily enough and there were already a few people there waiting. After a short while the bus arrived but the driver indicated that he couldn’t validate the ticket and that we’d have to go to a main office to swap out the e-ticket for a paper one. The good thing was we could remain on the bus until the appropriate stop.

We travelled way out West on the yellow line and into the Botanic Gardens which looked lovely but not our cup of tea, it was hot and humid enough already without going round gardens. Next main area was Orchard Road which was full of high end shops and shopping malls and eventually we stopped at Suntec City Mall where we hopped off to exchange our etickets for paper ones.

Here is a random selection of photos from the day:












As this was a natural break in the service we got off the bus and went into the mall where we had a Starbucks and a fruit juice as well as the obligatory comfort break for me and then we looked over the map to see which route we should take next.

We left the air-conditioned calm of the mall and stepped outside to pick up the Red route through to Little India and Chinatown. Both of these areas had a really distinctive look and feel and definitely places for us to visit in depth a bit later in the holiday. We continued on our tour before getting off on the stop where we had got on in the morning.

And some more photos!










We got off at our hotel stop, looked at our watches and figured that we’d be able to get into the lounge for afternoon tea – cakes, sandwiches and light bites.




All very nicely presented and a good selection of tea available, a nice end to the afternoon. Afterwards we went back to our room to change and popped downstairs to have our first dip in the swimming pool to freshen up. It felt quite privileged to have views like this direct from the pool overlooking Esplanade Park.





We read and lounged around for a while before going back to the room to change and go back to the Lounge for cocktails and canapes

– really delicious prawns, meatballs and samosas and too many Gin and Tonics!







Afterwards we wandered over to Raffles Place MRT station and bought 2 x 3 day tourist passes from the booth and off we went to explore.

The cost was S$20 (plus a deposit that we would get back). The MRT was very quiet and very clean!






We decided to go and check out Marina Bay Sands as you can’t really escape it and we’d been looking at it across the bay for a while now. First impressions that it was quite touristy and very, very busy which was not surprising really.

We made our way to the Casino just to try our luck and have a look around to see how it compared to Vegas and other places we’d been to. Interesting that everyone, including tourists, have their passports thoroughly checked when entering and leaving. Normal sort of set up but rather smoky atmosphere and a lot of table games including Sic bo that I hadn’t seen before.

We played a few slots and got some drinks from the free vending soft drink terminals or the AI robot!

Alison struck it big and came out on top – we started with S$50 spend each as a treat, and won S$40 (me) and S$366 (Alison)!





So we decided to call it quits at that stage. After the outgoing passport check we went upstairs to the Skypark (on the roof) for a look around, really lovely in the night-time. The views were stunning!

The bar at the top was heaving so we decided to give it a miss this time round.









We took the MRT back and strolled out along Riverwalk






before making it back to hotel and crashing out for the night.

kateh134 10 Oct 19 08:12 AM

No such thing as too many gin and tonics! The MRT is great and we loved the air conditioning which was such a welcome relief from the heat and humid.

Melbatb 10 Oct 19 06:00 PM

What a lovely city it looks! Certainly on my list for a visit!


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