Singapore

After a quick couple of hour’s flight I landed into Singapore airport.  It was very clean, no smell of incense like Bali (which I actually quite liked).  Collected my bag and met Val in the arrivals area.  It was so lovely to see her and hear a friendly Scottish accent! We had a quick catch up at Starbucks in the airport and I already felt like I was back in civilisation!  Toilet paper in the loo’s, you betya!  We drove to her apartment on the island of Sentosa.  It’s connected to Singapore via a new underground tunnel, taking about 20mins or so to get into Singapore.  As we drove there the sign’s told me that Sentosa was ‘the island of fun’.  Wow where was I!  Disneyland is actually on the island, there’s a water park and loads of other exciting things.  We got to the apartment which can only be described as stunning.  The view on one side is over the marina, and the other to the pool and the sea, Indonesia in the distance.  I was shown to my own room with a double bed, balcony and own bathroom.  Was I in heaven?!  Val has a wee dog called Douggie.  He is so cute!  I unpacked my things and headed out to the cable cars.  I’m not a big fan of cable cars but Singapore seemed like a very safe place so I felt fine.  Enjoyed the views over the sea, seeing the big cruise ships coming in.  Then we had lunch at the top.  Later we went to some high rise flats called the Pinncale where you can go to the top and see views over the city.  Wow Singapore was not what I expected.  So many different areas to explore. Later I met Val’s hubby Murray and their lovely daughter Abby. We had dinner on the balcony and a glass of wine.  What a treat after just drinking beer in Indonesia for the last month.  Went for a walk around the marina with Val and Douggie the dog.  The sweat was dripping off me.  So hot and humid here.  Such a lovely day I headed to bed with a smile on my face.

Day 2 in Singapore started with walking the dog again and looking into some of the beautiful houses in Sentosa.  Some amazing houses here owned by very wealthy people so good to have a nosy in (as you do!).  We had breakfast in one of the bars by the marina then headed into Singapore to be proper tourists.  2 open top bus tours later I had seen most of the city and learned about the history and what life is like there.  Love a good open top bus tour!!  We met Murray and his work colleagues for lunch, then later visited Raffles Hotel for a Singapore Sling (when in Singapore….!).  The bar was lovely and so old fashioned, you could imagine distinguished ladies and gents sitting there in days gone by enjoying a drink or two.  That night we went for dinner at one of the restaurant’s in Sentosa.  I wasn’t feeling great though, think I had a bit of heat exhaustion.  Went home and had an early night.

Day 3 woke up and felt ok so we decided to go to the Botanical Gardens.  What a beautiful place.  Lots of open space, smells of flowers, tropical trees, lakes with fish and turtles, people doing exercises at different points around the gardens (saw a group of people doing line dancing…. Random but whatever floats your boat!).  As we walked around I realised I still wasn’t feeling great so I had an energy drink to help.  We visited the Orchid gardens which were gorgeous.  I especially liked the air conditioned room there!!!! Seriously, it was beautiful.  We stopped for a coffee, then headed to the shopping mall at the Marina Sands hotel for a bit of window shopping.  Gazed into the designer shops and entered the cheaper ones!  We managed to sneak our way almost to the top of the Marina Sands hotel (you normally have to pay) but we pretended we were staying there and a guest used his room key to activate the lift.  Ha ha!  Enjoyed the view but I was still feeling weak so came back and went for a sleep.

Woke up and felt a lot better and good job as it was my last night and we were going out for dinner.  We went to Arab Street which was so cool; little shops and bars, restaurants, buzzing atmosphere.  People relaxing and chatting after a busy working week (it was Friday).  We had some Turkish/Med food in a restaurant. OMG it was so good!  It was a lovely evening and I had to laugh as everyone I was with that night was Scottish -  8 of us in total.  All that way and I felt right at home, albeit if the sweat was running down my face the whole time!

Saturday it was time to continue my travels.  Was gutted to be leaving as had such a lovely time with Val and her family & friends.  But I needed to move on. I was really surprised as to how much I liked Singapore.  It’s such a clean city and there is loads for tourists to do, and I felt really safe there after crazy Bali.  Next stop: Malaysia!