Singapore

Sunday, June 17

Region: Located off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Population: 5,134,000 (2011)

Climate: Sitting one degree north of the equator with temperatures ranging between 73F and 90F.

Language: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil

Currency: Singapore Dollar (SGD)

The island city-state is home to 5 million people and is the commercial centre of South East Asia. It is a metropolis of modern high-rise buildings, Chinese shop-houses, Victorian buildings, Buddhist temples and Arab bazaars. Orchard Road is famous for luxury shopping arcades. The beautiful iconic Raffles Hotel is closed for renovations.

On our arrival we had to have a face to face with immigration which took a long time. It was at least 10.15 before we were cleared through immigration and on our way. This made a relative short day even shorter!

We shared a taxi with our friends to the Gardens by the Bay which cost $10SGD. The other alternative was to walk one kilometre to catch the MRT one stop then change to another train for one stop at a cost of $1.30SGD.

As it was a Sunday we thought the Gardens might be busy so we went to the pavilions first. I had prepurchased our tickets on line for $28 each. There was no real advantage in doing this as there were no queues and the price was the same.

We went to the Flower Dome first which has a Begonia exhibition on until the end of June. The flowers on display were stunning and the air con a real bonus given the hot and steamy weather outside.

Our next stop was to the Cloud Forest. This was another excellent exhibition complete with a huge waterfall.

We then farewelled our friends as we wanted to walk the Skywalk which they had already done on a previous visit. The walk was interesting as it gives you a good overview of the Gardens but not sure it was worth the extra $8 (no discounts for seniors) but hey we won't be back tomorrow!

After the Skywalk we made our way through the Gardens to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel and shopping centre. We have stayed at this Hotel previously and was keen to go back to the dumpling restaurant we had been to before. The shopping centre was busy as it was Sunday and our favourite restaurant had a 30 minute wait for a table. It was worth the wait as the food was as good as we rembered and we got to use their free internet while we waited.

After lunch we were hot and tired so decided to head back to the ship. Our intention was to get a taxi but came across the Bayside MRT station so decided a train would suffice. The ticket machine was very easy to use and the train system is all colour coded so easy to find your way around.

The one kilometre walk back to the ship was made easier by stopping to make use of the very fast free internet enroute back to the cruise terminal.

Another successful but tiring day!

Three sea days before our next stop.... Colombo, Sir Lanka.

Photos:

1. Arriving into Singapore

2. The Baby in the Marina Bay Gardens

3. Marina Bay Sands Hotel

4. Merlion

5. Waterfall inside Marina Bay Sands Shopping Centre

6. Din Tai Fung dumpling restaurant