SINGAPORE 3rd – 5th JUNE 2019

It’s almost like coming home arriving in Singapore now. We had the frequent visitor pass in our passports so whizzed through immigration etc and off to our hotel. This time we’re at the Holiday inn express, Clark Quay and it’s a great set up here included breakfast buffet is great and as it’s busy they’re restocking frequently, our room is smallish but comfortable and we have no complaints about non maintenance.

The first evening we had an amazing steak dinner together with Allison and her James at a restaurant just downstairs from their apartment at Marina one.

A bottle of wine which we hadn’t had since we were probably there last time went down a treat as well.

We picked up our things that we had left with them, thankfully, as at Penang airport they weighed our carryon and at 10 kilos each were over their 7 kg limit.

So our hi vis vests finally came in to play, we went off got them out of our bags put them on stuffed the many pockets they have full of our iPads, kindles, phones, I put a pair of shoes, raincoats, etc in mine, James had his snorkel and mask in his. Hilarious but hey we got those carryon bags down to the required weight.

Luckily we’re using our frequent flier points to fly business class to the UK so our carry on weight won’t be a problem, apparently we’re allowed two bags up to 23kgs each as CARRYON! As long as they fit the measurements we’re good to go.

Our first morning after breakfast we took off walking around for about two and a half hours. Really the more we come here the more we see, so interesting and it’s easy walking except the humidity. There’s a lot of similarities between the old architecture in Singapore and Malaysia with the Shop houses and street art. There are also a similar mix of religions as well. We walked one street and went past a Hindu temple, a mosque, a Christian church and Chinese temple.

We had a date with our friend Catherine that we met on a day cruise of the Doubtful sound in New Zealand, high tea at the Goodwood hotel near Orchard street. What a beautiful property and an amazing buffet of goodies.

Catherine is another avid traveller and it was a lovely way to catch up, two and a half hours went in a blink.

Back to our hotel to face the final pack for our trip north to the UK and then Spain, plenty of new adventures to look forward to.

Luckily our last day here in Singapore was a public holiday and Allison and her James had the day off so we were able to check out and take our bags to theirs and spend some of their day off together strolling around part of the botanical gardens. It really is stunning and apart from the amazing plants etc we saw big lizards and turtles.

But the humidity got to us all and two hours was more than enough to decide to head back to theirs to relax pool side before we had to say our final farewells and head to the airport to enjoy the Business class lounge before our flight to the UK.

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED ABOUT SINGAPORE.

The more we went the more we saw to like.

There’s still a lot more to do here that is on our list but the humidity really means you should take it slowly.

It’s easy to be here with English widely spoken and it’s first world Asia for those who can’t cope with more basic facilities as found in some other Asian countries.

Cheap food can be found and is brilliant at the hawker markets.

Afternoon tea is a real thing here and not only popular but sensational.

Taxis are cheap and they also have grab and gojek.

The airport is great if you need to spend time there before a flight.

Flights to other Asian countries are easy and cheap from here.