Arriving at 8am, slightly sleepy but happy to be in a new country we left the train and went to find a taxi – our first experience of the amazing Toyota Crown and the even more incredible city of Singapore. The station is located in the south, just below Chinatown and as we sailed through it was coming to life, stalls were opening, the street cleaners were out in force and delivery vans were everywhere – the difference here was that there was no congestion, everything worked like a well oiled machine. Mickey D’s for a quick coffee, an introduction to Singapore from a brilliant taxi driver and we were ready to get on the net and then pound the streets looking for a nice place to stay. Raffles was slightly out of our price range but we found a charming boutique hotel round the corner and settled in there for a few days before our flight to Hong Kong.
Of course we did find time to go for the ubiquitous Singapore Sling but before that we needed to see the sights. Orchard Road is a feast of shopping where everything is available, from high-end electronics to designer clothing – costs a bomb though! Chinatown was the same as anywhere really and as we were going to Hong Kong in a few days we only really stopped in there for cheap eats. Further north was Little India wher you can get some of the best curries outsinde of India, or so they claim. An island to the south holds a massive theme park and out to the west is the Zoo and night-time safari. Everyrthing you could want is here and all withing a short taxi ride.
We were expecting the nightlife to be quite tame based on the city’s reputation but we were pleasantly suprised. Down at Merchant Quay we found loads of ex-pats sitting round drinking cocktails and German beers at a brilliant Brewhaus right on the river with seats in the sun and burgers as big as your head! As their menu meant that the beer got more expensive as the day wore on, we all decided to get there for a late lunch and stay for most of the day before heading home for a shower and a doze and then out to Ministry of Sound that night. MOS wasn’t to our taste (“it’s all just noise!”) but the club was something else, loads of different rooms with different themes and different crowds of people. This was the place to be to show off and spend money – the car park was all Lexus, Lotus and Porsche, the women wore little and the men were buying Champers and bottles of brandy.
As Singapore is such a safe place we decided to walk off the evenings excesses on our way back to the hotel at 2am. A good 30 minute walk along the river and we decided that a taxi was in order – a taxi that promptly did a U-turn and took us in the correct direction! He dropped us at the food market near our hotel where we had a mountain of Chinese food for a fiver and then off to bed aiming for a lie in the next morning.
The next day was spent ding little, we ate in a converted nunnery, had a drink on the 88th floor of a friends hotel overlooking the city at sunset and retired early to watch a DVD and pack for Hong Kong. Normally the thought of spending a few hours in an airport is viewed with mixed emotions – boredom, overpriced food, hordes of tourists heading to Spain etc. Changi, however is a different kettle of fish – winner of best airport in the world several times and full of great restaurants, free wi-fi everywhere, shuttle trains between terminals, brilliant staff, exotic gardens and free lounges with massage chairs – nope, spending time here is brilliant. We had a fair few hours where Nick downloaded lots of Top Gear episodes, Christine spent all day on facebook and we generally enjoyed being there. For once, being told that your flight was boarding wasn’t a relief.
Another nice touch was getting free sweeties from the immigration desk – altogether a pleasant experience. Off to Macau....
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