The grand adventure: Location 1. Singapore
Singapore was muggy. It reminded me very much of Thailand in it's mugginess. We arrived at about midnight, and got to our hotel by 1:30am. The streets were quiet as we were driven to our hotel from the airport, and our taxi driver pointed out some of the landmarks to us.
We had inadvertently chosen the weekend of Singapore's Grand Prix, so expected greater crowds and more inconvenience, this was confirmed by our taxi driver who told us that the Grand Prix track running through the city made life very difficult!
We had been given a list of things to do during our one whole day in Singapore. The very first thing we did was wander up Orchard Rd. Silly us decided to do that outside, until we realised that we could have gone through the shopping malls.Which we then did. There were so many stores- Singapore takes its shopping seriously - but we didn't buy anything. Although we did come across a chain of supermarkets called "Cold Storage", which led to many jokes about where they keep the bodies.
We then took the train from Orchard Rd down to Marina Bay. So easy! Wandered around Marina Bay, and also into the shopping mall there. There was a 'river' running through the mall, and you could take a boat ride along!
One of the things on our list was to go right up to the top of Marina Bay Sands and watch the sun set. Unfortunately we weren't able to as the area was booked out, we suspect for a function related to the Grand Prix. So instead we just went straight on to the next item on our list - Lau Pa Sat for dinner. We sat inside and had a drink and soaked up the atmosphere of the early evening, then moved to sit outside and eat satay. Delicious!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next flights - Singapore-Dubai then Dubai-Rome - as we had to be at the airport by 6:30am.
Overall impressions: very busy but well laid-out city, with lots to do and see as long as you can brave the temperatures!
We had inadvertently chosen the weekend of Singapore's Grand Prix, so expected greater crowds and more inconvenience, this was confirmed by our taxi driver who told us that the Grand Prix track running through the city made life very difficult!
We had been given a list of things to do during our one whole day in Singapore. The very first thing we did was wander up Orchard Rd. Silly us decided to do that outside, until we realised that we could have gone through the shopping malls.Which we then did. There were so many stores- Singapore takes its shopping seriously - but we didn't buy anything. Although we did come across a chain of supermarkets called "Cold Storage", which led to many jokes about where they keep the bodies.
We then took the train from Orchard Rd down to Marina Bay. So easy! Wandered around Marina Bay, and also into the shopping mall there. There was a 'river' running through the mall, and you could take a boat ride along!
One of the things on our list was to go right up to the top of Marina Bay Sands and watch the sun set. Unfortunately we weren't able to as the area was booked out, we suspect for a function related to the Grand Prix. So instead we just went straight on to the next item on our list - Lau Pa Sat for dinner. We sat inside and had a drink and soaked up the atmosphere of the early evening, then moved to sit outside and eat satay. Delicious!
After dinner we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next flights - Singapore-Dubai then Dubai-Rome - as we had to be at the airport by 6:30am.
Overall impressions: very busy but well laid-out city, with lots to do and see as long as you can brave the temperatures!