Singapore and flying home: Friday 12 August / Saturday 13 August

We woke late this morning, after 8:30am - unheard of for David. We took our time getting to breakfast around 9:30am. I caught a staff member toasting my GF toast in the regular toaster that everyone was using this morning. I told them I couldn't have it and new toast would have to be done in a separate toaster, but David caught the girl doing it again while he was putting his own toast through and told her again (toast was dropping off the back of the machine and falling into all the crumbs, too). Apparently she looked very guilty! I didn't eat it! But probably had in the past few days without realising... They had told me that they were very familiar with coping with GF people at breakfasts...

We chatted to a couple from Auckland at breakfast. They were on their way to the UK to do a 22 day Insight Vacations tour (our originally intended holiday until it had been cancelled) so we were able to answer some of their questions and tell them how great our very similar 18 day tour was.
We had to be checked out by 12pm, with the shuttle pick-up not being until 4:30pm. The check-in or out process at this hotel is reported as being notoriously slow on TripAdvisor because they do it all with paper, not electronically - as we have also found - very strange.

We weren't game to go out into the heat again (and thus need showers again) so ensconced ourselves in the Lobby Lounge to read papers, catch up on the blog etc. Luckily there was a plug I could keep my iPad charged with. We hadn't been there long before there was a torrential downpour outside, that lasted an hour. We were glad we hadn't gone out and got caught in it, because thunderstorms and rain had actually been forecast the whole time we'd been in Singapore.

Just before pick-up time we were chatting to a Wellington couple, also waiting to be picked up, and who had done numerous Insight Vacation tours in the past (including latterly a trip to Iceland). Interestingly, it's we females who do all the chattering, and the men are mostly quiet.

I'd been worrying about my blocked ears with the upcoming flight in the evening. One ear was seriously blocked. They were both sore enough landing in Singapore. I had all the sprays, but my ear wouldn't unblock and I wasn't hearing much with it. I did some Googling and discovered there are special flight earplugs available (equalising the air pressure more gradually through a tiny valve, as long as they're fitted properly), so picked some up at a pharmacy at the airport (not the top notch ones I wanted, but similar).

The flight left 10 minutes late, but we were delighted to find, as on the first flight from Christchurch, our seats had been changed from the originals, to two on their own at the back of a section. I'll definitely phone Singapore Airlines in Christchurch and thank them.

I had another White Russian drink, then the appetiser (duck? cooked very rare) again - but not so rare that I couldn't eat it this time. Then a nice, moist fish meal, with a nice sauce; and the lovely rice pudding again. I gave the rice cakes a miss...

I got no sleep, simply couldn't get comfortable, no excuses - no screaming kids on this flight. David got a little sleep. Breakfast for me was a salmon omelette that tasted better than it looked. I ate the rice cakes...

We were fascinated by the 'gentleman' in front of us, who had been getting very angsty and bothersome towards the air hostesses, demanding his third glass of whiskey. Later, when the plane had landed and was still taxiing on the main runway, he was the only person out of his seat and he had even opened his overhead locker! He was sternly told to sit down (and not by me)!

I had been reading a book on my iPad, and watching for the time when the flight would start to descend. Then Dr Carol got to work trying to avoid burst air drums, and succeeded, thanks to (I firmly believe) the special ear plugs. No matter that I'm currently very deaf and blocked up in both ears now - there was no pain!

What a lovely surprise to be greeted by Mark and Jill at the airport, but with a moment of panic from me as I thought I'd doubled up on who was coming to pick us up. We'd clean forgotten that Jill's sister was on the same flight! We were very grateful that the Ward chauffeur service was waiting to greet us on a wet, 7C Christchurch morning!

There's no place like home, and no place in the world as comfortable as my own recliner chair!

Singapore: Thursday 11 August

Another busy day today! We spent some time after breakfast, Googling how to buy tickets and use the MRT. It was very easy to get directions to the correct lines and stations with the Singapore version of the app I'd used in London (by MapWay - free and able to be used offline to plan routes).

We walked down to the nearby City Hall MRT and headed to a ticket machine, where we immediately struck a problem. The machine accepted our first $2 note, but wouldn't accept the second one! Then it cancelled the transaction completely and swallowed our first $2. That was almost enough to put us newbies off but I don't like technology beating me, so I found a customer services desk nearby and explained the situation - no, the money hadn't been refunded at the bottom of the machine! So someone came over to look (where others were already having the same problem). The machine had apparently been jammed by a coin, so we were refunded our money. We started again on a second machine, with no issues - phew!

The MRT was easy to use, with a fair bit of walking between platforms and lines in some cases, but cleaner and easier and with more escalators than in London. We headed to the Harbourfront Station, to take our free cable car rides to Faber Peak and Santosa Island - the cable cars passing through a building - (and the newer cable car crossing the island from end to end). The views were spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed these rides. It was fascinating to see all the different areas and activities available on the island, including several resorts and sandy beaches (with not a person on them).

  

  

  

  

We got a bit lost on the island once or twice, which is tricky in the heat when I don't want to walk further than necessary. But we found our way to the Sentosa Express monorail ride (free) and headed to Universal Studios for a bit of a look around. Our entry was free with our Singapore Airline Stopover Passes (normal entry value of $60 each to the Studios). We had some lunch at the Studios (milkshake, fries, and a large fresh fruit salad for me), then looked at which rides we could do. David decided he shouldn't have had the large Coke with his lunch, as throwing that around on some of the rides would not have been good. And too many rides said not to do them if you had a heart condition or back/neck issues, so I decided my seriously herniated disc was too risky - it's hard enough turning over in bed! Anyway, the queues for these rides were 55 minutes long and it was so hot... This seemed to be the busiest place on the island! We did find our way to a tame ride (Madagascar) which also listed those risks, including motion sickness, but with only a five minute wait and it looked like a tame boat ride... It was very tame, but pleasant enough (even though I got my walking stick a bit stuck in the rack across my lap when they released it at the end). All of this made me feel a bit sad that my days of fearlessly going on every ride were now over :-(

  


    

We headed back on the cable car to Harbourfront, and back on the MRT to our hotel by about 4pm, where we enjoyed cool showers and the opportunity to freshen up - not that it lasts long when you step outside again shortly after!

At 5:15pm we again hit the MRT, this time to Bayfront and the Marina Sands Hotel, where (after getting rather lost trying to find a particular bridge entrance that turned out to be on the street by a bus stop) we headed up to the bridge and made our way across and into the amazing Gardens by the Bay. This has free entry, but you pay to enter any of the special gardens or domes. Our Pass gave us free entry to two domes, and we chose The Cloud, and the Flower Dome. Don't be fooled into thinking these would be like any other glassehouses you may have been in...

We visited the amazing Cloud Dome first - what a unique idea, modelling the high rainforest areas and their ecosystem, all in a humongous glass house dome, including the world's tallest indoor waterfall. This dome was multiple storeys high, with informative displays and many walkways between the levels. The atmosphere in there was amazing (and very muggy). 

  

The only annoyance was all the Asian and Indian tourists posing for photos and multiple selfies using selfie sticks (these should be banned in more places) - they have been taking selfies everywhere else in Singapore (even on the bus, with nothing to see in the background!). And kids seem to have boundless energy, rushing about everywhere, yelling, and risking knocking someone (me) down. Anyway, this is just a comment on what we've noticed everywhere, even in the UK.

Then we went right next door to the beautiful Flower Dome (the largest glass greenhouse in the world), featuring plants from Mediterranean and semi-arid subtropical regions, with garden areas representing the flowers of different areas of the world.

  

With the crowds, we eventually made our way to the Supertree Grove, where there are several giant metal trees (the tallest one measuring up to 16 storeys in height, but all 'trees' ranging between 25 and 50 metres tall). These are actually vertical gardens, designed with large canopies that provide shade in the day and are lit up at night. At 7:45pm the trees burst to life with an amazing 10 minute light and sound show. The theme was Retro Fever, with the music hits and disco lights of the 1970s. I captured some on video - it was stunning!

  

Rather than drag ourselves back to the hotel via the MRT (and it took a while just to walk out of the gardens because of the crowds) we walked to the end of the Marina Sands Hotel and quickly got a taxi back to our hotel. The fare was very cheap - just under $11.

Singapore: Wednesday 10 August

Wow - I had a further 8 hours sleep last night, and woke very late. David wasn't quite so comfortable, finding the bed a bit hard (and TripAdvisor reviews also comment on this). We headed to the Coleman's Cafe for breakfast (there was a half price deal there for all meals). I had to get my Chinese GF language card on my iPad before they could understand my query about some of the food on the breakfast buffet. All ended up ok, eventually... (I must comment here that deep-fried bacon is a bit of a stomach-turner, just looking at it)!

We eventually headed out closer to midday, caught the Hop On Hop Off bus (yellow line again) and headed first for Clarke Quay, where we had a free 40 minute river cruise - very enjoyable and informative!

  

  

  

  

Then, we were straight back on the bus, for delivery to the Singapore Botanic Gardens (a UNESCO World Heritage Park) and the National Orchid Garden. We didn't venture further around the gardens as it was at least 33C, and awfully hot, even under the canopy of the rainforest. On the way to the Orchid Garden David drew my attention to an animal bustling about amongst the plants - I recognised a Komodo Dragon!

  

We enjoyed an icecream each, then went in to see the beautiful orchids and gardens.

  

  

It was absolutely sweltering, so afterwards we went into the Halia Cafe to sit down in the air-conditioning with a cold drink. We each tried something different, both iced drinks. David enjoyed a Halia Infusion (sun-dried ginger and wild mountain honey) and I enjoyed a Spice Islands Coffee (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom coffee). I was intrigued with my drink as it arrived with a shot glass of milk, and another of glucose syrup. I was told to try it first as it was, then add in the shot glasses if I needed to. I did need to! It was foul without them, and divine with them. These were very refreshing and we felt revived enough to step out into the heat again and walk reasonably quickly out of the gardens for our next stop on the bus.

We 'hopped off' and called into the famous Raffles Hotel's Long Bar and indulged in an outrageously expensive (S$36 each, but delicious) 'Original' Singapore Sling cocktail! We enjoyed the supplied bag/sack of peanuts, but had to watch our footing because of the discarded shells on the floor. Again, a very refreshing and relaxing break (and we were coping very well with no lunch).

 

  

Our next stop on the bus was the Marina Sands Hotel's SkyPark Observation Deck. What an amazing spot for awesome views over the city - and I'd thought the views from the Singapore Flyer had been great! We considered the restaurants at the top, but they were way too expensive and we weren't really dressed suitably to enter (would probably have been turned away). So, we walked through the interesting hotel and back to find the bus.

  

  

Final stop of the day was our hotel, and a lovely dinner in the cafe again (same for me as last night), and I talked David into trying the steak too - he agreed, it was perfectly cooked!

My ears had been quite uncomfortable yesterday and only slightly less so today. I forgot to mention that they had been quite sore, coming into land yesterday. I'd had to work hard to keep them ok during the landing. They'd been very blocked up and deaf since then and were a bit achy today. I intended to be attacking them with Otrivine over the next couple of days, prior to flying home.