AUSTRALIA!!!

The overnight flight to Melbourne is good, well as good as overnight flights are, we arrive in Melbourne ready for a long and stern examination through immigration/passport control. It never happened, it's all more automated than the UK and we only saw inboard looking officer who couldn't wait to wave us through - our passport was far more thoroughly interrogated for us to leave Singapore



Night view from our apartment - Eureka Skydeck far left

The Riverside Apartments will be our home for the next 3 days and we cannot believe the size and excellent location we have, with great views of the Yarra River and city. We've settled in and even managed to find the tram to the supermarket to stock up the fridge with coffee, milk, beer, G & T and wine, what more do we need?



Trees dressed for winter?

The evening is taken up with a walk to Federation Square, there's beautiful old and new buildings around it and even an open air film being shown with people lounging on deck chairs watching it while having a picnic. it all gives a great impression of a lovely laid back city. We join the city workers feasting on gourmet burgers and fries while enjoying a post work drink, it was the best burger I've ever had but also the most expensive - gulp!!



Flinders Street Station

Goodbye Singapore - Hello Australia

St Andrews Cathedral

Our last day in Singapore which means more bag packing later, but for this morning a walk to St. Andrew's cathedral and Singapore cricket ground is our final objective. The walk isn't far but in 33 C heat with a breeze it's like walking in a fan assisted oven. The cathedral is lovely just like one of our English churches but all in white on the outside. The surprise is the walls being painted blue inside but this enhances the stained glass windows.

The cricket ground is just across the road next to Singapore's highest hotel. As cricket grounds go it's small, no fencing and surrounded by busy roads. It must be a challenge fielding by the boundary here, I wonder if any of them get run over!






Singapore Cricket Ground

By now Dave and I are so hot and have probably lost pounds in weight in the outside sauna, we need an air conditioned mall. At last one appears like a mirage, we rush inside behind all the other boiled people and follow them to the lift up several floors before getting out. Oops we seem to have followed a couple of locals home but at least the public areas are air conditioned, self consciously we return to the ground floor and search out the mall entrance. We work our way back to the hotel hoping from air conditioned area to icecream shop to micro brewery - black raspberry beer is lovely nothing like normal lager.

And so to packing, once it's done it's time for cocktail hour in the lounge, such a hard decision what to have...

Sunbathing, Bumboats and Ku De Ta

Singapore skyscrapers

A lazy morning of sunbathing by the pool before we take a bumboat cruise to the Marina Bay area. The bumboat has an English commentary picking out the places we can see from the Singapore River. It drops us at  the bayfront area where we can stroll to the Marina Bay Hotel, but only by walking through the shopping centre filled with every high fashion brand you could name, Louis Vuitton, Kenzo, La Perla, the list goes on.



Marina Bay Sands Hotel with Sky Park on top

In the foyer of the hotel we head for the lift to the 57th floor, however we have no key card, luckily for us a burly security guard from the bar gets in, uses his card to take us to the bar. The Ku De Ta bar is amazing panoramic views of Singapore, the city, the port and the bay gardens. We stand open mouthed watching the view as it slowly turns to night and all the lights in the sky rise buildings come on. The lazer and light show entertains us while we sip a drink, before we leave we take a last look at at the amazing 360 degree view and retrace our steps back to the bumboat in near silence.


View from Ku De Ta bar (57th floor)

Bumboats on the Singapore river

        The bumboat drops us at Clarke Quay, feeling rather hungry and the need to experience an authentic Chinese we walk to china town. The streets are heaving with people, the chinese market is in full swing and there are excited chinese children everywhere. The traditional sechuan restaurant is an oasis of calm in comparison. Dave fancies a "steamboat" meal but we haven't a clue what to do with the large steaming wok that could be heading for the centre of our table very soon. I'm ashamed to say we bottle it and opt for what we know fried rice, beef with ginger and beef with green peppers that turn out to be chillies!!! I'm sure we missed out on a treat as all the other Chinese diners were enthusiastically tucking into their steamboats. What a great way to mark the end of our last full day in Singapore.




Hotel mishaps and Singapore sights

The day doesn't start well, plug the kettle in for a morning coffee and all the elactric in the room fuses, a call to housekeeping means we have to get dressed quickly. The electrician confirms the kettle is faulty & it's duly replaced.



Buddist monks chanting in the Temple

After breakfast we set off to explore china town. The streets are quiet to start with but the closer to china town the busier they are especially with the street market. After Bangkok it all feels very organised and calm apart from the group of 20+ Chinese in wheelchairs. The Buddhist Temple is an oasis of calm with monks chanting and the sound of alms being dropped into the many jars around the temple all with the back drop of ornate figures and decoration. The walk continues past chinese shops, bronze statues and decorations for the new year. A muslim mosque with devotees at prayer (one of the sites of the founders of Singapore) and a chinese temple (the oldest in Singapore) are on our route back to the river where restauranters are setting up their seafood restaurants for the day ahead.


The Merlion

A cooling drink in the hotel revives us before the afternoon's city tour. It takes in the highlights of Singapore: Merlion Park, Thian Hok Keng Temple (one of the oldest buddist-taoist temple's, uhh oh that makes it 4 in one day, strike 2, I'm out of temples!!!!), the national orchid garden and little india. On return to the hotel the safe won't work at all... panic everything of importance is in there. Another call to housekeeping for a safe breaker, fortunately he's more than competent but what else will break in this room! The only thing to do is retreat to The  Crystal Lounge (our upgrade treat) for (many) complementary drinks and eats, will we make it out of the hotel tonight....


Than Hok Keng Temple

Of course we did, a visit to Singapore means a visit to Raffles Long Bar for a singapore sling. It's the only place in Singapore you can drop litter on the floor in theshapeof monkey nut shells. Was it worth the extortionate price for the cocktails probably, at least we can say we've been there.






National Orchid Garden



Hanging out the washing Singapore style

Bangkok to Singapore

A relaxing morning with a late and lazy dreakfast, wonderful, then a trip to the airport. I'm surprised how emotional I feel at leaving Bangkok, at first it over whelmed me but within the last 3 days the city has crept under my skin and into my heart, such a different city with so many facets to it, could you ever completely discover it? Onwards to Singapore ... flying Tiger Airways on Friday 13th is a bit of a worry, hopefully this won't be our last blog!

Security at Bangkok airport is strict our passports are threatening to make the best sellers list. The chinese security lady's in a bad mood and I'm struggling to obey the instructions fast enough,"soo's n boo ox" turns out to be - take your shoes off and put them in the blue box. And at Singapore we must look suspicious or maybe the Chinese security lady phoned ahead as we have our cases scanned before being allowed into the country!

Another beautiful hotel with great city views and a lounge bar overlooking the spectacular Clarkes Quay. An evening stroll open mouthed at all the high rise buildings, shopping centre covered by giant umbrella like fans that change colour and chinese new year decorations everywhere. This city is so very different to Bangkok, modern, affluent, no visible cables, and wide walkways just like America. We're eating indian tonight at a quayside restaurant while people watching, it's a great combination.

View from our room

Floating Markets, Elephants, Monkeys and River Cruises



Thai Style Canoe

A very early start today to reach the floating market at Damnern Saduak. The tour is again led by Yeli and once more we're lucky to be in a group of 4. The drive takes us past Salt farms, and through the Maeklong market where the stalls are set up on the train tracks and have to be moved rapidly when the trains pass through. The final leg of the trip to the floating market is by narrow long tailed speed boat (James Bond style). This is the best bit of the trip as far as Dave is concerned and its a great way to see the traditional Thai style houses on stilts. Then there's the market negotiated on thai style canoes steered by long pole through the narrow waterways with stalls and boats selling fruit, vegetables, clothes, paintings, wood carvings, spices ...... the list goes on and on



Damnern Suduak Floating Market

Drunk with heat and sensations after the boat trip round the waterways we wander on foot round the market trying thai traditional coffee and delicacies. The coffee is a strong mix of both coffee and chocolate served in a tiny cup but delicious. The food is small coconut rice patties flavoured with black sticky rice, coconut or spring onions but somehow don't taste strongly of coconut and the savoury version is surprisingly good.

On the way back to Bangkok we stop at an elephant and monkey place, I hesitate to  call it a zoo as they all seem to have to work for a living. The elephants giving rides to tourists Nd the monkeys demonstrating their skills climbing trees and harvesting coconut - I suppose it's cheap labour! Exhausted once we reach the hotel, the pool and an afternoon nap beckons before the evening trip on a river cruise.



Thai dancing welcome



Jan on the dinner cruise

Ramos 8th Bridge at night

The pick-up time is 5.30pm for a 7.00pm departure and it takes over an hour to travel the short distance to the river. The Grand Chao Phraya Princess is festooned in lights, tables laid with white linen and gorgeous thai girls performing a traditional dance to welcome us aboard.The buffet is a superb mix od traditional thai (tom yum soup, spicy pork mince), international (fish in a creamy sauce, lasagne) and Chinese (pepper chicken) and the view from the river of all the temples and bridges lit up is stunning. We now realise how little we have really seen of Bangkok but at Dave's limit of 1 or 2 temples a day we may have to return many times to see the 600 within the city ...

Palaces, markets and China Town

The Grand Palace

A lazy start to the day with breakfast and sunbathing before our trip to the Grand Palace. The trip is for a select group of 4 plus our tour guide nicknamed Yeli. The traffic in Bangkok is as bad as ever and it takes ages to drive to the Grand Palace, the road to the Palace gates is over run with coaches, taxi's, bikes and tuk tuks, the noise is deafening when we get out to the minibus.

Yeli leads us through the Grand Palace outlining the importance, historical and architectural features and stories behind each of the buildings. We are spellbound with the opulence of the decoration and the grandeur of size. As Yeli says we Thais like bling being! and they certainly do. Each building, palace and temple is grander than the next, the highlight being the Jade Budda dressed in his winter clothes.





The Grand Palace

After the tour we opt to walk part way back to the hotel as we want to see the Flower Market area. The streets are hot and very run down in parts, overhead electricity cables everywhere. By now we are flagging and turning the corner, we come across an ultra modern, marble tiled mall and a very welcome drinks spot where we can watch the river taxi's collecting and disgorging people, all done in 30 seconds a stop. They take off like speed boats.






Marigold garlands in the flower market

Flower delivery Bangkok style

Refreshed, we head for the flower market, the scent reaches us before we see the flowers, as far as the eye can see, marigold heads being strung into garlands, orchids in bunches by the millions and ornate flower arrangements, it's an amazing sight. Down another street is the Sikh area with row upon row of shops selling every kind of fabric imaginable from cheap cotton to silks and wedding dress fabrics, the colours are dazzling. Turn another corner and we're in China Town proper, narrow, crowded alley ways where the sun hardly penetrates selling every item imaginable. I could easily shop for clothes on one side of the alley while holding a broom on the other! And everywhere there are street eating stalls - one person with a giant bunson burner, wok and plastic stools with tables. The noise and smells are overwhelming plus being so hot. An oasis of cool presents itself in the form of the restaurant of the Grand China Hotel, Chinese pork and rice with a cooling beer later we finish the walking tour by finding the Chinese Temple and China Gate at the entrance to China Town. Foot sore, tired and suffering from sensory overload the only thing to do is retreat to the hotel by Metro - equally efficient as the sky train. Roll on tomorrow for more Bangkok experiences.



China man in China Town (he is real!)