Singapore again! Ok, so the first time I only stayed at the airport overnight and it doesn't really count.
I took the train into the city, the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport). Pretty easy, a single change and 40 minutes later I'm in Chinatown 3 minutes walk from my hotel, 'Atlantis Pods'. I had booked this myself online and it was cheap, but really good. Quite a backpacker place with shared bathrooms, and you don't actually get a room - you get a pod. It's the size of a double bed, has aircon, lights, power and is basically just somewhere to lie down. Did me perfectly.
First stop was out to have dinner with with Jamie, Natsuko, Manami and Archie. Managed to bump into Jamie on the MRT, so went back to their place and played with the kids while Jamie had a work call. They were both extremely welcoming, Archie showed me lots of his toys, Manami showed me some of her fantastic artwork, and then we played hide and seek for a while.
Dinner was at their local favourite hotpot shop. The table has a hot pot in the middle and then you go up to the refrigerators and help yourself to skewers of pre-prepared things, chicken, beef, fish balls, veg of every variety. Dunk it in the boiling broth for a while and then eat! At the end, you add vegies to the broth and have a lovely soup to finish off. Archie and Manami's favorite was the Angry Birds shaped fishcakes.
After dropping the little ones off to bed, Jamie and Natsuko took me along the street to the Ramadan night market. IT covers an enormous area and everything imaginable is being sold, from food to clothes, shoes, carpets, curtains and cars. Here's a variety of the more interesting food stalls, but pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.
We rounded off the evening with some desert, followed by drinkies at the local and I got the bus home.
Next day I started out with a very late start, and then on to the list of things Natsuko and Jamie had recommended. First up, the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Sounds like an unlikely stop, but it was really interesting! Singapore is a very small chunk of land with a lot of people living on it, and the government has taken an awful lot of time and effort to work out what they want to create for the people, and how to do it in a practical and ecological way. There are models for everything, including how Moo-zilla will attack the city, though it's possible that there is some problem with the master plan.
Next up, the iconic Gardens by the Bay. Lots of green space is included in the designs for the city, and the Gardens by the Bay are part of that design. A large garden with various sculptures and statues, the 'Supertree Grove', and 2 massive greenhouses - Flower Dome and Cloud Forest.
Both greenhouses were fantastic, packed with all sorts, including some lovely wooden sculptures! Very natural looking. Maybe I'll include a Wood Dragon in my next roleplaying game.
The Flower Dome had various regional areas, succulents, and a big display of tulips.
The Cloud Forest had a mini mountain inside with all the appropriate greenery and plants at the different levels.
After that I went for a late lunch/early dinner before planning to go up to the observation deck on the Marina Bay Sands for sunset. The weather had other ideas however, and the skies opened in what was to become a regular occurrence during my time in Singapore, a late afternoon/early evening thunder storm. I decided that going up the Sands in a thunderstorm probably wouldn't be very good for photos, and made my soggy way back to the pod for an early night.
Next morning I was up fairly late again and off to Pulau Ubin island. Another of the Thom's recommendations, and quite out of the blue for what I was expecting from Singapore. The island is a short train, bus and ferry ride from the center and is really rural and undeveloped - a big change from the modern and bustling city itself. As instructed, I hired a bike and cycled through the forest to the wetlands in search of wild boar, though I unfortunately didn't see any. Loads of other stuff though, as you can see below.
After a good few hours wandering around there, I got myself back to 'civilization' and went to see Avengers: Endgame before heading to the Sands again for the view. Endgame was so long I missed sunset, but the night view itself was worth it, though not a patch on Shanghai.
My last full day I went to the Botanic Gardens, and in particular the Orchid Garden. It's a big area, and it was quite a long walk in the heat to get from the entrance to the Orchid Garden, but there was some shade, and the threat of another downpour to keep things interesting.
I do like the exotic look of orchids, and I did have 4 or 5 of them for quite a long time, but it seems like they didn't make it back to Glasgow as Mum hasn't got them. I can't remember what I did with them, must have decided to leave them behind as a house warming present or something! Anyway, The Orchid Garden had a good variety of baby orchids on sale and I decided to get a few to post home. That lead to a very fruitless afternoon trawling round various post offices and delivery services as none of them wanted to transport live plants. I eventually found a DHL, who would take them, but after about an hour there, the price for next day postage (I doubt they will survive a week or two in the dark) was ridiculous, so I've been toting 4 baby orchids around since then! Luckily they are nice and small and in sealed, sterile, self contained containers that the instructions say not to open for a month or so until the plants get too big. I've been very carefully sitting them on the window sill of all the hotels I've been in and so far they have survived 3 weeks through India OK. Just hoping they survive the next 3 till I get home.
My last day was another lazy start and off to the airport for the 6pm flight to India. I had a good few hours in Singapore airport, so went to 'Jewel', a fairly new shopping centre that has been built in the middle of the airport specifically for people who are transferring through. It's amazing! Reminds me of E.T. somehow.
I took the train into the city, the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport). Pretty easy, a single change and 40 minutes later I'm in Chinatown 3 minutes walk from my hotel, 'Atlantis Pods'. I had booked this myself online and it was cheap, but really good. Quite a backpacker place with shared bathrooms, and you don't actually get a room - you get a pod. It's the size of a double bed, has aircon, lights, power and is basically just somewhere to lie down. Did me perfectly.
First stop was out to have dinner with with Jamie, Natsuko, Manami and Archie. Managed to bump into Jamie on the MRT, so went back to their place and played with the kids while Jamie had a work call. They were both extremely welcoming, Archie showed me lots of his toys, Manami showed me some of her fantastic artwork, and then we played hide and seek for a while.
Dinner was at their local favourite hotpot shop. The table has a hot pot in the middle and then you go up to the refrigerators and help yourself to skewers of pre-prepared things, chicken, beef, fish balls, veg of every variety. Dunk it in the boiling broth for a while and then eat! At the end, you add vegies to the broth and have a lovely soup to finish off. Archie and Manami's favorite was the Angry Birds shaped fishcakes.
After dropping the little ones off to bed, Jamie and Natsuko took me along the street to the Ramadan night market. IT covers an enormous area and everything imaginable is being sold, from food to clothes, shoes, carpets, curtains and cars. Here's a variety of the more interesting food stalls, but pay no attention to the man behind that curtain.
We rounded off the evening with some desert, followed by drinkies at the local and I got the bus home.
Next day I started out with a very late start, and then on to the list of things Natsuko and Jamie had recommended. First up, the Urban Redevelopment Authority. Sounds like an unlikely stop, but it was really interesting! Singapore is a very small chunk of land with a lot of people living on it, and the government has taken an awful lot of time and effort to work out what they want to create for the people, and how to do it in a practical and ecological way. There are models for everything, including how Moo-zilla will attack the city, though it's possible that there is some problem with the master plan.
Next up, the iconic Gardens by the Bay. Lots of green space is included in the designs for the city, and the Gardens by the Bay are part of that design. A large garden with various sculptures and statues, the 'Supertree Grove', and 2 massive greenhouses - Flower Dome and Cloud Forest.
 |
| Irrigation system in the trees |
Both greenhouses were fantastic, packed with all sorts, including some lovely wooden sculptures! Very natural looking. Maybe I'll include a Wood Dragon in my next roleplaying game.
The Flower Dome had various regional areas, succulents, and a big display of tulips.
The Cloud Forest had a mini mountain inside with all the appropriate greenery and plants at the different levels.
After that I went for a late lunch/early dinner before planning to go up to the observation deck on the Marina Bay Sands for sunset. The weather had other ideas however, and the skies opened in what was to become a regular occurrence during my time in Singapore, a late afternoon/early evening thunder storm. I decided that going up the Sands in a thunderstorm probably wouldn't be very good for photos, and made my soggy way back to the pod for an early night.
Next morning I was up fairly late again and off to Pulau Ubin island. Another of the Thom's recommendations, and quite out of the blue for what I was expecting from Singapore. The island is a short train, bus and ferry ride from the center and is really rural and undeveloped - a big change from the modern and bustling city itself. As instructed, I hired a bike and cycled through the forest to the wetlands in search of wild boar, though I unfortunately didn't see any. Loads of other stuff though, as you can see below.
 |
| Mackack |
 |
| Hornbill |
 |
| Hornbill |
 |
| Collared Kingfisher |
 |
| Fiddler Crab |
 |
| Mud Skipper |
 |
| Monitor Lizard |
After a good few hours wandering around there, I got myself back to 'civilization' and went to see Avengers: Endgame before heading to the Sands again for the view. Endgame was so long I missed sunset, but the night view itself was worth it, though not a patch on Shanghai.
My last full day I went to the Botanic Gardens, and in particular the Orchid Garden. It's a big area, and it was quite a long walk in the heat to get from the entrance to the Orchid Garden, but there was some shade, and the threat of another downpour to keep things interesting.
I do like the exotic look of orchids, and I did have 4 or 5 of them for quite a long time, but it seems like they didn't make it back to Glasgow as Mum hasn't got them. I can't remember what I did with them, must have decided to leave them behind as a house warming present or something! Anyway, The Orchid Garden had a good variety of baby orchids on sale and I decided to get a few to post home. That lead to a very fruitless afternoon trawling round various post offices and delivery services as none of them wanted to transport live plants. I eventually found a DHL, who would take them, but after about an hour there, the price for next day postage (I doubt they will survive a week or two in the dark) was ridiculous, so I've been toting 4 baby orchids around since then! Luckily they are nice and small and in sealed, sterile, self contained containers that the instructions say not to open for a month or so until the plants get too big. I've been very carefully sitting them on the window sill of all the hotels I've been in and so far they have survived 3 weeks through India OK. Just hoping they survive the next 3 till I get home.
My last day was another lazy start and off to the airport for the 6pm flight to India. I had a good few hours in Singapore airport, so went to 'Jewel', a fairly new shopping centre that has been built in the middle of the airport specifically for people who are transferring through. It's amazing! Reminds me of E.T. somehow.
Glad about the orchids. I only remembered they were to be posted here yesterday, but hadn't seen them yet.
ReplyDelete