Blog Singapore
Come fly with me......
Australia here we come again, living the dream! Fiona kindly dropped us off at Heathrow Terminal 2 at 7.30 am on Wednesday 20th September. Our flight with Singapore Airlines (an A380-800 airbus) took off at 11.50 am. Our flightpath took us over Eastern Europe, across Afghanistan, Northern India and down over the Bay of Bengal, Thailand, Malaysia arriving in Singapore at 7.30 am Thursday morning. 13 hours was a l-o-n-g flight and not able to get much sleep. Par for the course, they say!
Our stopover hotel was the Peninsular Excelsior, very close to Clarke Quay in the centre of the city. With Singapore Airlines we were given a stopover voucher entitling us to free use of the Hopon Hopoff bus and entry into many of the delights Singapore has to offer.
Singapore is a very clean, vibrant city with much to see and the people are very friendly and helpful. However, like most cities, there is a lot of construction work taking place.
Our first visit on the itinerary was to the Botanical Gardens. It was amazing to see broad leaved European trees and plants sitting alongside much tropical vegetation. We even saw an African sausage tree. |The orchids were amazing with so many varieties. Interestingly in the Celebrity Garden all the small varieties were attributed to females eg Princess Diana and Angela Merkel while the larger blooms were dedicated to male celebs!
In the afternoon, we went on a river cruise, from Clarke Quay to Boat Quay and then Marina Bay where the Merlion (symbol of Singapore is a white lion with a mermaid’ tail) sits and the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel stands. Completed in 2010, it comprises of three very tall blocks on top of which is a boat shaped construction. We believe most of the F1 fraternity stayed there last week for the Grand Prix. We saw the main stand, starting grid and pits and we criss crossed the circuit on our bus rides.
Come fly with me......
Australia here we come again, living the dream! Fiona kindly dropped us off at Heathrow Terminal 2 at 7.30 am on Wednesday 20th September. Our flight with Singapore Airlines (an A380-800 airbus) took off at 11.50 am. Our flightpath took us over Eastern Europe, across Afghanistan, Northern India and down over the Bay of Bengal, Thailand, Malaysia arriving in Singapore at 7.30 am Thursday morning. 13 hours was a l-o-n-g flight and not able to get much sleep. Par for the course, they say!
Our stopover hotel was the Peninsular Excelsior, very close to Clarke Quay in the centre of the city. With Singapore Airlines we were given a stopover voucher entitling us to free use of the Hopon Hopoff bus and entry into many of the delights Singapore has to offer.
Singapore is a very clean, vibrant city with much to see and the people are very friendly and helpful. However, like most cities, there is a lot of construction work taking place.
Our first visit on the itinerary was to the Botanical Gardens. It was amazing to see broad leaved European trees and plants sitting alongside much tropical vegetation. We even saw an African sausage tree. |The orchids were amazing with so many varieties. Interestingly in the Celebrity Garden all the small varieties were attributed to females eg Princess Diana and Angela Merkel while the larger blooms were dedicated to male celebs!
In the afternoon, we went on a river cruise, from Clarke Quay to Boat Quay and then Marina Bay where the Merlion (symbol of Singapore is a white lion with a mermaid’ tail) sits and the famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel stands. Completed in 2010, it comprises of three very tall blocks on top of which is a boat shaped construction. We believe most of the F1 fraternity stayed there last week for the Grand Prix. We saw the main stand, starting grid and pits and we criss crossed the circuit on our bus rides.
Highlight of the day: the beautiful orchids.
On Saturday morning, we went to the Marina Bay Gardens built on reclaimed land. There are two domes: one is the Cloud Dome. Once inside one was greeted by a huge waterfall dropping from the top of the dome. We worked our way to the top which had vegetation typical of that from the high mountain regions of the world. Following a tree top trail, we wended our way downwards through simulated different climatic regions, going through the crystal mountain and finally the Secret Garden of the Jungle floor. It was amazing. Underground, was a display with videos showing how ‘man’ is gradually destroying our planet by pollution, industrialisation and over farming. The next dome was dedicated to gardens of the various continents and was dominated by a huge display of pumpkins for the Harvest Festival. We made our way back to the hotel for an afternoon swim.
Then in the evening we took a shuttle bus to the Night Safari Park. It was an extremely busy place, but well organised chaos. We boarded an open tram and spent the next 45 minutes travelling through the park in the dark, seeing giraffes, elephants, rhino, hyenas, hippos, a white lion and a Malayan tiger amongst many other animals.
Highlight of the day: The tree walk in the Cloud Dome.
This morning, Sunday, we went on the Singapore Flyer, a larger version of the London Eye. That was very interesting too seeing all the skyscrapers and different districts of Singapore.
So tonight, we find ourselves at Changi airport waiting for the flight to Melbourne at 02.00 hrs ( 10 hrs flight). We will catch a connecting flight to Hobart around 4.00pm tomorrow. So we’ll catch up with the blog again in a day or two. Watch this space!
Highlight of the day: Seeing Singapore from the top of the Flyer.
No comments:
Post a Comment