Singapore!
Well, it's now Sunday evening, the first of July. I'm in the Qantas club in Singapore, and thought to rest my tired feet writing a few notes about yesterday and today.
The flight was good, I watched "Zodiac" and "Kenny" - couldn't get two more opposite movies! Did a little bit of study...
We got in at a reasonable hour last night and checked into our hotel, the Allson. It was really cheap ($65ea, AU), the cheapest I could find that was anywhere near orchard rd and Raffles, and I was kind of expecting a dive. But it was really nice and I couldn't fault it. The service was excellent, the rooms were nice, clean and had everything we wanted or needed. Highly recommended.
Last night we went for a wander and checked out some of the local shops and found somewhere to get noodles for supper. I wanted to have Singapore Noodles in Singapore, but that was surprising difficult to do, as of course they don't call them Singapore Noodles here! Didn't do any purchasing last night, but certainly had a good look around one centre.
Today we got up at a reasonable hour, had breakfast in the hotel (our $65 included full buffet breakfast) and then had a quick walk, to discover that shops aren't open at nine am. So we headed back to the hotel and took up an offer of a free shuttle to a shopping centre on Orchard rd. Which of course was a free shuttle to a particular shop, but it was right at the top of Orchard Rd, which suited us just fine. So we escaped their clutches and headed off. It seemed that all the shops we went to, they would ignore you until you set foot inside. So you could stand outside and look as long as you wanted, but step foot inside and you're fair game.
I needed new shoes, and would possibly have liked a new GPS, which I could have easily talked Alex into, had I been able to find one I wanted! They had the Garmin Legend, but thats the same as the one I can't find (thats another story, lets just say I can't find it and had to borrow a GPS to come away with) and why would you buy one the same? No upgrade in that! Anyhow, long story getting long, didn't find any shoes, no new GPS and I got a little slimline Nikon L10 5mp camera to keep in my handbag. Which is nice.
We walked and walked and walked, and only looked for one cache, which was behind a temporary event cache fence, no no luck there. It wasn't for want of trying, the caches here are few and far between, and just weren't in the same areas, or even close, to where we were. So, I'm checking all my travel bugs and coins through a cache I didn't actually find, so that their miles show close to correct.
We looked at some monuments and things around town, I was interested in seeing the history of Singapore re: world war II. Didn't see much really, but the architecture was really interesting. We took a 45 min boat sight seeing cruise on the Singapore river, which had a good commentary and was well worth the $15SGD and it was a good way to see parts of the city. The boys would have loved the river cruise, but would have hated all the walking!
With feet sore and mine starting to show signs of blistering, we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner next door, of Satay sticks and fried koy teow, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I love the local food.
After a quick swim in the hotel pool and a shower, we headed to the airport and here we are. Still nearly three hours until the flight departs, but we are both quite tired by now, we packed a fair bit into the day.
Photo's to follow.
The flight was good, I watched "Zodiac" and "Kenny" - couldn't get two more opposite movies! Did a little bit of study...
We got in at a reasonable hour last night and checked into our hotel, the Allson. It was really cheap ($65ea, AU), the cheapest I could find that was anywhere near orchard rd and Raffles, and I was kind of expecting a dive. But it was really nice and I couldn't fault it. The service was excellent, the rooms were nice, clean and had everything we wanted or needed. Highly recommended.
Last night we went for a wander and checked out some of the local shops and found somewhere to get noodles for supper. I wanted to have Singapore Noodles in Singapore, but that was surprising difficult to do, as of course they don't call them Singapore Noodles here! Didn't do any purchasing last night, but certainly had a good look around one centre.
Today we got up at a reasonable hour, had breakfast in the hotel (our $65 included full buffet breakfast) and then had a quick walk, to discover that shops aren't open at nine am. So we headed back to the hotel and took up an offer of a free shuttle to a shopping centre on Orchard rd. Which of course was a free shuttle to a particular shop, but it was right at the top of Orchard Rd, which suited us just fine. So we escaped their clutches and headed off. It seemed that all the shops we went to, they would ignore you until you set foot inside. So you could stand outside and look as long as you wanted, but step foot inside and you're fair game.
I needed new shoes, and would possibly have liked a new GPS, which I could have easily talked Alex into, had I been able to find one I wanted! They had the Garmin Legend, but thats the same as the one I can't find (thats another story, lets just say I can't find it and had to borrow a GPS to come away with) and why would you buy one the same? No upgrade in that! Anyhow, long story getting long, didn't find any shoes, no new GPS and I got a little slimline Nikon L10 5mp camera to keep in my handbag. Which is nice.
We walked and walked and walked, and only looked for one cache, which was behind a temporary event cache fence, no no luck there. It wasn't for want of trying, the caches here are few and far between, and just weren't in the same areas, or even close, to where we were. So, I'm checking all my travel bugs and coins through a cache I didn't actually find, so that their miles show close to correct.
We looked at some monuments and things around town, I was interested in seeing the history of Singapore re: world war II. Didn't see much really, but the architecture was really interesting. We took a 45 min boat sight seeing cruise on the Singapore river, which had a good commentary and was well worth the $15SGD and it was a good way to see parts of the city. The boys would have loved the river cruise, but would have hated all the walking!
With feet sore and mine starting to show signs of blistering, we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner next door, of Satay sticks and fried koy teow, which we thoroughly enjoyed. I love the local food.
After a quick swim in the hotel pool and a shower, we headed to the airport and here we are. Still nearly three hours until the flight departs, but we are both quite tired by now, we packed a fair bit into the day.
Photo's to follow.