Sunday 31^st July

We didn’t sleep much, what with the noisy a/c and the time difference so we were up just after 5am having a cuppa. Then back to bed we went until after 10am, still sleeping restlessly. There isn’t much point in being up before then as shops generally don’t open until 11am and stay open until late.

You see, Singapore is all about spending money especially through shopping. As workers starting between 8 and 9 can’t shop, you have to have the shops open for hours after they finish work. Many shops appear to stay open until well after 9pm.

Not wanting to pay the exorbitant price of a breakfast here, we wandered off to The Coffee Bean, a shop we found in our wanderings last night. It offered a breakfast with scrambled egg, pork sausages and toast with jam cheaply. In fact, it turned out to be even cheaper than we thought as we got a 2 for the price of 1 deal as well. So our breakfast total was under $S8, that’s a lot cheaper than $S52 here at the hotel. Of course, it was nothing to rave about. They didn’t have English Breakfast tea; they had run out. So we got Ceylon but it was highly fragrant and so I haven’t a clue what it really was as there is no label on the teabag distinguishing the type. I do not like such teas and even David wasn’t fussed about it. The toast was a bread roll halved and toasted and, strangely, a salad with dressing was served on the side! David does not like dressing! Still, it was filling enough and David was willing to go back tomorrow provided we got English Breakfast tea or used our own teabags. (We always buy extra teabags when we arrive at a hotel, as we get sick of asking for more. They presume everyone drinks coffee and only provide two teabags.)

Then it was off on the Singapore Airlines Hop on Hop off bus to the Singapore Flyer. Of course, we just missed a bus and had to wait almost a half hour for the next one. Still, when we got to the Flyer, everyone else must have been having lunch as we got a capsule all to ourselves, which was very nice and convenient. As the capsule goes up and over the giant ferris wheel, we could wander around freely taking any pictures we wanted although the glass/Perspex was, of course, dirty! This is a bit annoying as you pay $S25 each to go up for about 30 mins. You get an excellent view from the top although the weather was still cloudy. What particularly struck us was the hundreds of boats / ships in the harbour and there must have been lots more as we could not see all the wharves because of the skyscrapers. No wonder the Japanese wanted Singapore in WWII! The ships we could see were just those waiting their turns to unload. Immediately around the Flyer there is a lot of messy construction work associated with the F1 track and the Gardens by the Bay area, which is on the other side of the Singapore River. One large trumpet shaped structures surrounded by several smaller ones intrigued us. All we could think of was that they would have shooting fire coming out of their tops when completed. I guess that if this is the case then they would complement Singapore’s nightly neon and fireworks display. Not that the locals seem to take any notice. I saw the neons flashing about on the fronts of some of the buildings last night but the Singaporeans were walking about below without an upward glance.

Underneath the Flyer is a tropical garden with a fishpond surrounded by places to eat so we walked around it twice trying to select where to eat. The fish place was too expensive, the outside “Beach Bar” was deserted (not a good sign) and the locals were all eating cheap and unattractive noodles smothered in sauce. We ended up at the American chain of O’Leary’s where David had a hamburger (minus the pickles, of course) and I had fish and chips with coleslaw. Cost wise, it was somewhere in the middle of the options available. Then it was wait again for the Hop on Hop off bus as we had just missed one!

This time we got off near Chinatown and spent a couple of hours walking the streets, reading the historical signs and not buying anything. The narrow side streets were crammed with stalls and pushy salespeople. Unfortunately, we are not used to this and do not like to bargain etc; it just puts us off. Besides, there was nothing much worth buying, juts more junk and appalling colour combinations. Our baggage was just below our 40kg limit from Frankfurt so we cannot afford to buy much until we get to Sydney’s Duty Free.

In addition, I have to say that we are disappointed in Singapore as a shopping centre. Goods seem to be as dear or dearer than Sydney and / or Frankfurt. I have my eye on a Danish watch. It is cheaper in Frankfurt than here.

Around Chinatown there are several temples. The Hindu temple charges entry plus extra to take photographs. It would have cost us $S12 to go in! We didn’t. The Buddhist temple was free but the priests were conducting some sort of ceremony inside and the wailing and smell of incense kept us out. People were lighting incense sticks and bowed with them in all directions. Once more we felt the relief and freedom of being Protestant Christians. Along the sidewalks in several areas, people were lighting candles and burning paper. I am pretty sure the paper was pretend money and we saw a couple of stalls selling it. The burners did not seem to care where they lit their candles and left their offerings. Most were in the gutter and we saw a poor workman going around trying to sweep away the debris. In another place, they lit the candles right up against Peace Lilies planted along the footpath setting fire to and scorching the plants.

It was time to head back to the hotel but, guess what, we had just missed the Hop on Hop off bus, yet again! So we pondered the situation and decided we could walk back in less time as the bus route necessitated the bus travelling right out to the Botanic Gardens and back before getting near our hotel. So walk we did. It took about 40 minutes, saving us about 20, but in the heat we were tired and hot even though we walked on the shady side of the street. Our consolation was that we should sleep well tonight.

We opted for dinner in the hotel and just 1 course to keep the cost down. The restaurant was very nice, continuing the black and white theme, and we found courses within an acceptable price range. However, the wine is very expensive here. It cost $S24 plus 17% charges for two small glasses of house white wine. In Europe, we could have bought three whole bottles or more of much better wine for the same price. It rather made our less expensive dinner, expensive.

We could have eaten from the buffet here instead. For $S47 plus 17% charges you can have an eat all you want seafood buffet which is much cheaper than home. They even cook crab with the sauce of your choice for you as requested in that price. We are thinking about it for the final main meal of our holiday tomorrow night. The problem with such a buffet is that you eat far too much and then, besides putting on weight, you don’t sleep well. There were only a few tables eating form the buffet so the wastage must have been huge as well.

It is about 11pm and time for bed.